Rivers State was thrown into a legal conundrum on Wednesday when 27 House of Assembly lawmakers, who decamped to the All Progressives Congress, APC, and were declared to have lost their seats according to the Constitution, convened and said they have withdrawn their impeachment notice earlier issued to Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
The lawmakers, were led by factional Speaker, Martin Amaewhule and had gathered solely for withdrawing the impeachment notice against Fubara.
This comes barely 24 hours after a meeting between President Bola Tinubu and Rivers State warring parties in the Aso Villa in Abuja, where a truce that has been widely criticised was reached. Commentators say Governor Fubara gave everything in the 8-point resolution and got nothing in return, leaving him governing at the mercy of Nyesom Wike, his political godfather and now minister of FCT.
Wike was quoted as saying that he is fighting to keep his ‘political structure’ in the state intact.
The factional lawmakers, who met at the assembly quarters in Port Harcourt, said their change of mind was in pursuance of the resolutions reached at the truce meeting.
In the notice of withdrawal read on the house floor, they claimed that the decision was made out of respect for the President.
Reading the letter signed by 24 lawmakers on the Floor of the House, the Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, recalled that on 30th of October 2023 he read a notice of impeachment signed by 24 bembers of the House.
He said it was under Section 188 of the 1999 Constitution as altered, which contained particulars of gross misconduct, and was served on Governor Fubara.
The factional speaker said ‘the House’ would continue to perform its constitutional functions of lawmaking and oversight.
He added that they would abide by the letters of the agreement and the advice of Mr. President.
But Rivers State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Joseph Johnson, told the press that the Fubara government was not aware of the development.
This aside, the factional lawmakers who met today had ceased to be members of the Rivers State House of Assembly following the official act of the court backed-Speaker Edison Ehie, who had declared their seats vacant after they defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The speaker also communicated same to INEC, asking the electoral body to conduct a fresh election to replace the affected lawmakers.
Now the question for legal scholars is this: Can a resolution signed at the instance of the president vacate a legislative act? It is doubtful. Only a court of competent jurisdiction can set such aside.
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