The Peoples Democratic Party has slammed the Rivers State House of Assembly and the All Progressives Congress for allegedly attempting to stampede Governor Siminalayi Fubara to act outside the law.
The PDP described the renewed threat by the lawmakers to impeach Fubara as an embarrassment and a public nuisance to the state.
The state PDP Publicity Secretary, Sydney Gbara, said this in a statement issued in Port Harcourt on Monday.
Recall that the 27 lawmakers said to be loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, had on Sunday said they may revisit Fubara’s impeachment as a last resort to enforce their responsibilities and uphold the constitution.
Speaker of the House, Martin Amaewhule, who read a text of a communique to newsmen, accused Fubara of acting unlawfully despite signing the presidential peace agreement in the political crisis in the state, saying the state was running without an approved budget.
But Gbara called on the lawmakers, who he said defected from the PDP to the APC without consulting their constituents, to stop disturbing the peace of the state and allow Fubara to concentrate on governance and deliver his mandate to the people.
The state PDP spokesman reminded the Amaewhule-led lawmakers not to forget that the issue of their legitimacy is before the court.
Gbara said the lawmakers have continued to make retrogressive laws and utterances that are inimical to the growth and development of the state.
The statement read, “Those people were the first beneficiaries of the magnanimity and peaceful disposition of Governor Fubara by signing the lopsided peace accord despite a court of conpetent jurisdiction that recognised Rt.Hon Edison Ehie as the Speaker of the Ribers State House of Assembly, which gave them a live line to still operate, because having defected to APC without any crises in PDP, their seats were vacant constitutionally.
“But to show how ungrateful they are, the several court cases querying their legality, seeking the interpretation of Section 109 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, will settle the dust around them in due course. No matter how long they try to run away from it, justice most be served because they no longer represent their constituencies.
“Their actions are a total embarrassment to Rivers people and a complete show of public shame.
“The people elected them out of their goodwill, but they let those constituents down by pusuing selfish agenda that has further plunged the state into crises.
“The threats of impeachment is empty and and cannot stand. It is selfish and their pursuit of personal aggrandisement which will be resisted by Rivers people.
“If they want to know what Rivers people think about them, they should go to the streets to seek the opinion of the masses.
“As far as we are concerned they (lawmakers) are operating illegally, hence your illegal laws are inconsequential on Rivers people.”
He also responded to allegations by the acting Chairman of the APC in the state, Chief Tony Okocha, that Fubara has not implemented the eight-point peace accord brokered by President Bola Tinubu, saying the matter is subject to litigation.
Gbara stated, “Although we are not holding brief for the state government, but for the records, as a party, let us for the umpteenth time, tell Tony Okocha that Governor Siminialayi Fubara has in his desire to further deepen peace in the state, implemented the leace accord faithfully and in such a manner that is allowed by the Nigerian Constitution.
“As a law-abiding citizen, the governor has implemented that peace accord very religiously and any aspects that are not in tandem with the provisions of the law would not be implemented.
“So your attempt to try to stampede Governor Fubara into taking unconstitutional actions would not work.”
