60 federal lawmakers said the 27 lawmakers of the Rivers State House of Assembly, who lost their seats after defecting to the All Progressives Congress, cannot serve Governor Siminalayi Fubara with an impeachment notice.
In a phone interview with PUNCH Online on Wednesday night, the spokesman for the group and member representing Ideato South/North Federal Constituency, Ikenga Ugochinyere, criticized the lawmakers for demanding Fubara’s impeachment.
“The call for the impeachment of the governor is a call to chaos that will cause the collapse of democracy if the President doesn’t intervene.
“Unless there is a supreme court order, these 27 lawmakers have lost their seats. We cannot allow this because the APC Minister is working with the president and you now want to overthrow a legitimate Governor.
“The President needs to step in because issues like these led to the collapse of democracy in the 70s and 80s. If they are popular, they should compete in fresh elections,” he said.
The G-60 lawmakers believe that the supposed negation of the governor's powers by the group of 27 individuals “Presenting themselves as Rivers State lawmakers” was nothing but excessive legislative misconduct.
The 60 federal lawmakers expressed this in a formal response to the alleged avoidance of Governor Fubara's approval to pass the Rivers State Public Procurement (Amendment) Bill 2024.
Fubara has been in a intense political battle with the lawmakers since falling out with his political mentor and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mr Nyesom Wike.
In a statement signed by the spokesman for the group, Ugochinyere, the group stated that the veto is invalid.
Ugochinyere said, “These clowns are still freely roaming around due to Governor Fubara’s mercy and in compliance with the peace agreement brokered by President Bola Tinubu to end the political crisis in Rivers state. However, while the Governor has adhered to the agreement, his predecessor and Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike has not, along with what his loyalists are doing.
“One piece of evidence is the supposed veto of Rivers procurement law, which is unenforceable legislative chaos by impostors who are afraid of the impact of Fubara’s infrastructure revolution.
“If not, how can people worthy of being called lawmakers even think that a mobilization fee of not more than 20 per cent of any contract sum is sufficient for suppliers or contractors to proceed to the site or provide goods and services in the current economic crisis orchestrated by their allies in the federal government?
“It is also important to note that these individuals, who make such declarations while sitting in hotel rooms in Abuja or wherever their paymasters take them, lost the status of lawmakers when they left the party, the PDP, which brought them to power and joined APC.”
He said that their action broke a rule in the Constitution of Nigeria, which says that a member of a House of Assembly must leave if they switch to another political party before their term is over.
These people are not lawmakers, and the Independent National Electoral Commission should hold elections to fill those seats and stop the continuous illegal actions of the non-existent lawmakers, which embarrass Rivers State and Nigeria.
We want to emphasize that the so-called veto will not be enforced. It is an extreme action by people whose existence in their party is allowed by Governor Fubara. He chooses to respect the President and promote peace, which is essential for the development he is dedicated to bringing to Rivers State.
