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The National Coordinator of the South-South Leadership Forum, Anabs Sara-Igbe has stated that the pro-Wike lawmakers who defected to the All Progressives Congress have no right to impeach the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, citing that by the virtue of the law, they are now seen as impostors.
Speaking in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Wednesday, Sara-Igbe also added that President Tinubu also lacks the right to “overrule a court of competent jurisdiction.”
The coordinator asserted that despite a court ruling removing them from their seats, the 27 lawmakers still operate as if in power, accusing them of making up laws due to dissent.
“The people who call themselves members of the House of Assembly as honourables, are not honorable enough. An honorable person is one who stands by his word. In this instance, we have not seen that in them. If you cannot obey laws and you are a lawmaker, who will obey your law. We see them as impostors because by virtue of section 109 (F), they are no longer members of the House of Assembly and that is why the elders of Rivers State, including myself, went to court. Unfortunately, the chief judge took the case from the Judge that it was assigned to and gave it to the judge of the former governor who did not even listen to us.
“We are saying those 27 lawmakers are no longer members of the house of Assembly, this is before the court and by virtue of the rule of law, if a case is before a court, status quo remains; everyone will wait for the judges to make a decision. I expected the House of Assembly members who are making laws to wait for the judiciary to interpret the law. They went ahead to be reeling out laws; laws that they could not do when Wike was the governor, laws they amended to suit Wike’s administration, now they want to change it because they feel Sim is not in the same book with them nor taking orders from their master. We are saying they cannot put legality on illegality.
“Mr. President does not have powers under the democracy, particularly the 1999 constitution, to direct a governor who was elected the same way he was elected. The president does not have power to overrule a court of competent jurisdiction.”
He said the actions of the lawmakers are not only illegal but also lack legitimacy, questioning the validity of laws passed under such circumstances
“The whole process is illegal; they are no longer members of the House of Assembly; their seats have been declared vacant and a court of competent jurisdiction has accepted that verdict. So, I don’t know what they are still waiting for and they did not appeal. They ran to the president and gave him a script to read for them. The Rivers people are saying the script is illegal because As long as we are concerned, the Assembly members cannot do anything except they want River State to burn. We are saying the whole eight points of Mr. President is illegal.”
Sara-Igbe further expressed gratitude towards the APC for confirming the lawmakers’ defection, while highlighting that it hinders the lawmakers from denying their defection as the case progresses.
“I thank the APC for coming out to confirm that indeed the 27 lawmakers have decamped to APC so that they will not deny it as the case progresses. Since they have admitted to have decamped then the judgement will come. I know that these people cannot impeach Mr. Governor because they are not the proper persons in the house and by law, they are no longer members of the house and they cannot make laws for the people of Rivers state when they are no longer in the house. We will send them to prison if they continue to defraud the law.”
On Tuesday, The Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), through the Caretaker Committee Chairman of the party, Tony Okocha directed members of the State House of Assembly led by Martin Amaewhule to commence impeachment process against Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
The directive was formed following the governor’s recent declaration that the Assembly members do not exist anymore in the eyes of the law.
Okocha said no section of the constitution empowers the governor to declare the assembly members non-existence. He restated that the government of Siminalayi Fubara is clueless and therefore shouldn’t govern the state.
Chioma Kalu
– Arise News.
