The Rivers Assembly loyal to Governor Siminialayi Fubara has insisted that the seats of Speaker, Martin Chike Amaewhule and 24 others remain vacant following their alleged defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC)......KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE👈
The lawmakers said their seats must be filled through a bye-election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) adding that the Amaewhule-led House lacked the powers to declare their seats vacant.
The lawmakers in a statement by their Speaker, Victor Oko-Jumbo, in his office on Tuesday in Port Harcourt, explained that the 25 legislative seats were declared vacant on December 13, 2024, by Edison Ehie, and regretted that the commission had been foot-dragging on the conduct of bye-election to fill the vacant seats.
Oko-Jumbo said: “Today, the 15th day of October, 2024, Martin Chike Amaewhule & 24 Ors who ceased to be members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, on December 11, 2023, purportedly declared vacant the legislative seats of Rt. Honourable Victor Oko-Jumbo and others as members of the Rivers State House of Assembly. They have no such powers. This is an exercise in futility. It is a joke taken too far”.
Oko-Jumbo said that the inability of INEC to do the needful since December 13, 2023, had created room for unnecessary distractions from Amaewhule and called on the commission to discharge its constitutional responsibilities to the people of the state.
Oko-Jumbo said: “Please, recall that on the 11th day of December, 2023, Martin Chike Amaewhule and 24 others defected from the Peoples Democratic Party that sponsored their election into the Rivers State House of Assembly, to the All Progressives Congress. Their defection was headline news and widely reported in print and electronic media.