According to NIGERIAN TRIBUNE, elder statesman Chief Edwin Clark has said that 28 Rivers State lawmakers, including Speaker Martins Amaewhule, have acknowledged defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>>
Clark accused the lawmakers of filing contradictory affidavits in court to justify their defection and called this act perjury and said it was an attempt to manipulate the judiciary.
The crisis began in March 2023 after Siminalayi Fubara, the PDP’s candidate, was elected governor, according to Clark, former Governor Nyesom Wike’s influence over Fubara caused a breakdown in their relationship.
Clark claimed that Wike treated Fubara as a “boy” and “slave,” on October 23, Wike allegedly directed Amaewhule to begin impeachment proceedings against Fubara and the motion supported by 27 lawmakers, failed.
On October 29, the Rivers State Assembly building was set on fire by unidentified gunmen, the crisis deepened when Amaewhule and 27 PDP lawmakers defected to the APC on December 11, 2023.
Clark stated that their defection disqualified them under Section 109(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution, this law mandates that lawmakers must vacate their seats if they defect without a national division in their party.
He accused Justice Donatus Okorowo of issuing favorable rulings for the defectors and called for an investigation and cited a Supreme Court ruling from 2022 which stated that defection automatically ends legislative tenure.
He blamed Wike for planning the crisis to destabilize Fubara’s administration and criticized President Bola Tinubu for failing to stop Wike’s interference, warning that this crisis threatened governance in Rivers State and the Niger Delta region.
Clark urged the judiciary to enforce the law and disqualify the defectors and called for peace and a resolution to the crisis to prevent further harm to the state.CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>>
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