The Rivers State Elders’ Council has rubbished the renewed threat of impeachment against Governor Siminalayi Fubara by members of the state House of Assembly loyal to ex-governor Nyesom Wike.
The council said the 27 pro-Wike lawmakers lacked the legitimacy to take any action because, according to the council, they had lost their seats by defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.
The 27 pro-Wike lawmakers had, on Saturday, threatened to revisit the impeachment proceedings against Fubara as a last resort to uphold the nation’s constitution.
Fubara had last October survived an impeachment plot by the lawmakers amid his feud with Wike, his estranged political godfather.
The lawmakers dropped the impeachment threat following an intervention by President Bola Tinubu.
The renewed impeachment threat came in the wake of a press briefing in Port Harcourt last week by a former PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, and members of the PDP Rivers State Presidential Campaign Council, where they declared support for Fubara and heavily knocked Wike, warning Tinubu to be wary of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.
The Assembly Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, who read the text of a media briefing, accused Fubara of consistently acting outside the law despite being a signatory to the Abuja peace resolution superintended by Tinubu.
Amaewhule fumed that Fubara had shunned the part of the eight-point resolution that he should present the 2024 budget afresh to the 27 lawmakers.
The Speaker warned that the governor was treading on the brink of impeachment.
However, reacting to the threat in an interview with our correspondent on Sunday, a member of the Rivers Elders’ Council and pioneer spokesman of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, High Chief Anabs Sara-Igbe, described the impeachment threat as mere ranting.
Sara-Igbe noted that the lawsuit challenging the legitimacy of the pro-Wike lawmakers was pending before the Court of Appeal.
He stated, “Well we are appearing before the Court of Appeal on April 8, 2024. When we appear, then we will know where they are. They are only ranting because they are an illegitimate House of Assembly.
“The governor himself does not have the power to legitimise them. For the sake of peace, he just gave them little recognition and they are now ranting and doing what they like.
“It is quite unfortunate. If you tell the governor the implication of these things he does not believe that these people that you think are making peace don’t mean well. But as I said, we are in court; so, let them continue to rant. We will see where it will end and the proud will be humiliated within a short while.
“Let them do whatever they like but I can assure you everything they are doing is illegal.”
On the call for Fubara to present the 2024 budget afresh, Sara-Igbe, “As far as we are concerned, all the eight-point agenda that was signed are illegal. And that is why we are in court to contest it. So, when a matter is before a court, it means the status quo remains.
“So, if they refuse to do that, then the court will take its own stand. You don’t take the laws into your own hands when you are in court. The governor cannot present any budget when we are in court.
“So, if they feel that they are more than the court, then the court should take a decision on it. But so far as we are concerned, we need the legal implication whether or not they are legitimate members of the House of Assembly.”
