A group of 60 (G60) federal lawmakers have called for a Magistrate Court to declare 27 individuals who are posing as members of the Rivers State House of Assembly wanted for impersonation. The G60’s demand follows the alleged overriding of Governor Siminialayi Fubara’s assent to pass the Rivers State Public Procurement (Amendment) Bill 2024 into law on Monday.
According to the G60, Governor Fubara did the right thing by withholding his assent when the so-called bill was passed by the non-existent Assembly led by Martin Amaewhule on March 26, 2024. The G60 asserts that the group of 27 individuals led by Amaewhule had lost their legitimacy to perform any legislative function since their seats were declared vacant after defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in December last year.
In a statement signed by the G60 spokesperson, Hon. Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, who represents Ideato North South Federal Constituency of Imo State, he stated that the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Hon. Edison Ehie, obtained a court order to declare the seats vacant due to the legislators’ defection. Ugochinyere explained that Section 109 (1) of the 1999 Constitution mandates that a member of a House of Assembly must vacate his seat if he joins another political party before the end of the term for which the House was elected.
“Based on the above constitutional provision and its interpretation by the Supreme Court, the 27 defected members of the Rivers State House of Assembly have vacated and lost their seats, rights, privileges, recognition, and obligations accruable to members of the Rivers State House of Assembly,” Ugochinyere noted.
The G60 has criticized the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for failing to conduct fresh elections to fill the vacant seats, leading to this situation of illegitimacy. The G60 suggests that a Magistrate Court should be urgently used to declare the 27 individuals who are impersonating lawmakers wanted, to prevent further “rascality, aberration, and violation of the laws of the country.”
“For instance, how can people who are not lawmakers of members of a legislature legislate on important matters like enacting a law and sending it to a governor for assent, and after the governor being a law-abiding person refused to assent to such illegality, they will now go on another charade that they have vetoed the governor?” Ugochinyere asked.
