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The Rivers State Government has attributed the demolition of the State House of Assembly Complex to structural defects arising from explosion and fire outbreak.
Mr Joseph Johnson, the state’s Commissioner for Information, said this in a statement on Wednesday in Port Harcourt.
Johnson said that the incident rendered the building unfit for human use, saying that there were visible cracks on the walls and the entire structure looked frail and unsafe for legislative business.
He said that professional advice was sought on the integrity of the building, after Gov. Siminalaye Fubara’s inspection visit to determine the level of damage.
“After the assessment of the integrity of the complex, experts warned the government that continuing to use the building in its present state would be disastrous.
“The government had tried all cost saving measures towards the repair of the complex until it bowed to superior view of rebuilding the complex to a more befitting edifice.
“In the interim, the Rivers Government has provided an alternative venue for the House of Assembly to conduct its affairs pending the rebuilding of the complex,’’ Johnson said.
Recall the assembly was attacked in October, after an attempt by some lawmakers to initiate impeachment proceedings against the governor and this divided the house into two factions, creating tension in the state.
Don’t heat up Rivers politiy, APC Chair warns Fubara
Meanwhile, the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Rivers has charged Gov. Siminalayi Fubara to refrain from acts capable of escalating the political crisis rocking the State.
The State Caretaker Committee Chairman of the party, Tony Okocha, gave the charge at a news briefing in Port Harcourt.
Okocha was reacting to the exparte order granted to the factional Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mr Ediso Ehie, restraining two PDP lawmakers, Martin Amaewhule and Dumle Maol, from disobeying the order relocating the conduct of the assembly’s “activities and meetings” to a more secure place.
Amaewhule and Maol still lay claim to the Speakership and Deputy Speakership of the house.
The exparte order was granted by a Port Harcourt High Court, presided over by Justice M.W. Danagogo.
The order also restrained Amaewhule from “disrupting and interferring” with Ehie’s activities, pending the determination of the motion on notice.
The court also warned against the use of thugs and Police by Amaewhule to forcefully gain access into the premises of the state House of Assembly Complex.
The court ordered the relocation of the house “to a secure and more conducive environment to ensure that the activities and meetings of the house are not disrupted during the period of the renovation of the burnt building, pending the determination of the hearing of the motion already filed”.
Ehie had been conducting the activities of the house outside the assembly complex, after it was torched on the night of October 29.
But the APC chairman decried Danagogo’s order recognising Ehie as the speaker, when judgment was reserved for January 2024 on a suit Ehie filed seeking to be recognised as speaker.
He said that granting an experte order on the same case that judgment had been reserved was an abuse of court processes.
Okocha said that APC would not sit and watch the experte order executed, alleging that the order was made in clear violation of known principles of law and disobedience of the National Judicial Council (NJC) law.
According to him, the fear of the massive defection of 27 of the 31 PDP lawmakers to APC led to the procurement of an experte order to enable the governor to present his 2024 budget estimates to the assembly.
He wondered how three remaining members of the house, plus Ehie, would legitimately receive the 2024 Appropriation Bill.
Okocha said that the party would be left with no option than to petition the NJC, if the judge did not reverse himself, immediately.
He said that the state APC would not tolerate any intimidation and harassment of its new members in any form.
He justified the December 11 defection of the PDP members to APC on “irreconcilable crisis in the PDP”, saying that the action was supported by a section of the country’s Constitution.
Rivers House of Assembly declares 25 seats vacant
The Rivers House of Assembly has moved a motion declaring vacant the 25 seats of members who recently defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The motion was unanimously supported by the four-member assembly, led by Edison Ehie (PDP-Ahoada 11), during Wednesday’s plenary.
In his remark, Speaker Ehie said that the house had received notices and correspondences including newspaper publications from 25 members of the house on their formal defection from PDP to the APC.
“We are aware that it is the right of members and for every Nigerian as regards freedom of association.
“While we respect that constitutional right, we are also mindful as a legislative assembly of our allegiance to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended and our oaths of office to defend the constitution which is our guide.
“The actions of these honourable members and colleagues who have been on suspension is a gross violation of the constitution which provides that a member of the state house of assembly shall only defect to another party other than the party on whose platform they were elected if there is a division or crises in the parent party.
‘As we all know, there is no crisis in our great party, the PDP, therefore, the provision of section 109 , sub 1, paragraph G of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria as amended attracts a vacation of the seats of these affected members,” Ehie said.
He also noted that there is no crisis or division in the party (PDP) as it had continued to operate with an undivided national leadership.
“Our party structure at the state level is also intact with a working committee led by Mr Chukwu Emeka as our state party chairman,” he added.