Rivers: PDP Rejects Resolution, Insists On Fresh Poll To Replace 25 Lawmakers
…Clark Faults Tinubu’s ‘Imposed Settlement’, Threatens Lawsuit
…..Tinubu Can’t Reinstate 27 Cross Carpeting Rivers Lawmakers — Falana
…..PDP Will Show Wike He’s Not Above Us — National Chair
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected the peace deal brokered by President Bola Tinubu over the crisis between the Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara, and his estranged godfather and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday, the Acting National Chairman of the party, Umar Damagum, asked the “former lawmakers” not to be deceived by those in Abuja, insisting that they had willingly vacated their seats.
Damagum noted that the right thing for the 25 lawmakers, who defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), to do was to prepare for a fresh election under any political party they want as the PDP had already written to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to prepare for fresh polls in the affected constituencies.
Damagum, flanked by other members of the National Working Committee (NWC), “demands that INEC should, in line with Section 109 (1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Section 84 (15) of the Electoral Act, 2022 fix a date for the conduct of fresh election into the 25 state constituencies in Rivers State where vacancies have occurred by reason of the defection of the now former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, pending the determination of any suit in any court.
“Our party insists that having now vacated and lost their seats, the only option available to the former lawmakers, if they wish to return to the House of Assembly, is to seek fresh nomination and re-election on the platform of any political party of their choice in line with the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), and the Electoral Act, 2022.
“The 25 former Rivers lawmakers freely and without any cause vacated their seats, being fully aware of the consequences of defection from the party upon which they were elected into the Rivers State House of Assembly without the conditions stipulated by the 1999 Constitution.”
The party insisted that it had no crisis, adding that the claims by the lawmakers should be ignored.
The party chair noted, “For the avoidance of doubt, there is no division in the PDP at the national or any other level for that matter to justify the defection of the 25 former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly from the party.
“They therefore vacated their seats for reasons best known to them and cannot return to the House of Assembly without passing through a fresh electoral process in accordance with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the Electoral Act, 2022.
“Moreover, the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Ehie Edison, officially declared the seat of the defected, now former, members vacant in line with Section 109 (1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). The Rivers State House of Assembly, having become functus officio on the matter cannot re-admit the former lawmakers unless through the channel of a fresh election.
“Our party therefore counsels the former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly not to be deceived by anybody giving them the false hope and impracticable assurances in Abuja that they can return to the Rivers State House of Assembly without a fresh election or that the Independent National Electoral Commission can be stopped from conducting fresh election into the 25 Rivers State constituencies where vacancies have occurred by reason of their defection.”
Clark Faults Tinubu’s ‘Imposed Settlement’, Threatens Lawsuit
Also,Leader of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Pa Edwin Clark, has described as an “imposed settlement”, the truce reached between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, who is now the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
In a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, the elder statesmen said the communique issued at the end of the reconciliatory meeting was “baffling, appalling and unacceptable” to the people, especially, the Ijaw ethnic nationality.
After weeks of political tsunami in Rivers, the President on Monday met with Wike, Fubara and other political gladiators in the state at the Aso Villa in Abuja.
Rivers State has been a theatre of the absurd in the last three months with the state House of Assembly serving as the “boxing ring”. The rift between Wike and Fubara split lawmakers in the House with 27 of them decamping from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), a party in whose central government Wike currently serves as minister.
The feud also saw the emergence of parallel sittings, an impeachment plot against the governor, the demolition of the Assembly complex, and a gale of resignations of pro-Wike commissioners in Fubara’s cabinet.
The President and some elder statesmen had intervened in the crisis earlier in October but it degenerated into a full-blown fight.
However, after Monday’s meeting, the warring parties agreed that all matters instituted in the courts by Fubara, and his team, be withdrawn immediately. The
Wike camp also agreed that all impeachment proceedings initiated against the governor by the Rivers State House of Assembly be dropped immediately
The parties in the feud resolved to recognise the leadership of Martin Amaewhule in the Rivers State House of Assembly and not that of Edison Ehie.
In his immediate response to the armistice, Clark said, “From the terms of settlement, it is obvious that President Tinubu sees his role as a mediator, to once again, show gratitude to the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), for ‘delivering’ Rivers State to him during the past Presidential elections, having first of gratified him by making him the Minister of FCT.”
“The eight resolutions reached, are the most unconstitutional, absurd and obnoxious resolutions at settling feuding parties that I have ever witnessed in my life.”
The nonagenarian said Fubara was “ambushed and intimidated into submission”.
“President Tinubu should know that with all the powers he possesses, he cannot override the Constitution. From all that transpired at the meeting, the laws of the land have not been obeyed. President Tinubu simply sat over a meeting where the Constitution, which is the fulcrum of his office as President and which he swore to uphold and abide by, was truncated and desecrated.”
“Like I said, we will go to go court to resist this oppressive action using all available constitutional and legal means. It is on this note I wish to appeal to the youths who are aggrieved, to remain calm, as we will use legal means to dethrone this hydra headed monster, called oppression,” Clark said..
Tinubu Can’t Reinstate 27 Cross Carpeting Rivers Lawmakers — Falana
Amid the controversy trailing the intervention of President Bola Tinubu in the crisis rocking Rivers State, human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has said that the President cannot reinstate 27 cross carpeting members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
In a statement on Tuesday, Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), said that presidential interventions must always be grounded in the provisions of the constitution.
“With respect, the presidential reinstatement of the 27 cross carpeting members of the Rivers State House of Assembly by the Presidency is alien to the Constitution in every material particular,” Falana said.
Falana said, “The seats of the cross carpeting members have been declared vacant by the Speaker known to law. To that extent, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is mandatorily required to conduct the by-election once the ex parte order issued by the Federal High Court last Friday is quashed.”
The senior lawyer said the cross carpeting legislator can only retain their seats if they can prove that the political party that sponsored them is divided into two or more factions.
“Even if all the cases in the Rivers State High Court and the Federal High Court are withdrawn in line with the advice of the President, it is submitted that all actions taken by the Speaker (Ehie) recognised by the Rivers State High Court, remain valid, including his pronouncement on the vacant seats of the 27 cross carpeting members of the House.
“In other words, only a court of law is constitutionally competent to set aside the pronouncement of the Speaker which is anchored on section 109 of the Constitution. Furthermore, as the Speaker (Ehie) has not been removed by the required number of legislators, a presidential directive cannot remove him,” Falana stated.
The senior lawyer further asked INEC to conduct a by-election to fill the 27 vacant seats, adding that “the remaining members of the House are competent to conduct legislative business except the impeachment of the governor which can only be carried out by the two thirds of the entire members of the House”.
