TheCable

The caretaker committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers has asked the state’s house of assembly to impeach Siminalayi Fubara, the governor.

In December, the house of assembly withdrew its notice on impeaching Fubara after President Bola Tinubu weighed in on a rift between the governor and Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT).

Both men have been at loggerheads over control of the political structure in Rivers.

Addressing a press conference in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, Tony Okocha, chair of the APC in the state, accused the governor of “insulting” Tinubu.

“It’ll be foolhardy for us to sit down and see someone way less than Mr President insult him under our very nose,” he said.

“It is also an absurdity to see the governor espouse impunity and intimidation on people who are members of our political party, and we stand akimbo doing nothing.

“As representatives of Mr President we won’t sit here and see the governor insult the President. We won’t sit here to see the governor declare on his own as if he’s a court to declare Assembly members’ seats vacant.

“To that extent, in consultation with my party, we are directing APC members who are in the Assembly to immediately commence the impeachment of Governor Sim Fubara.

“And if they don’t do that, there’s what they call party discipline, and we shall invoke that section of the constitution and deal decisively with them.”

On Monday, Fubara expressed dismay over the attitude of the assembly members to his administration, adding that the lawmakers only exist because of him.

The governor added that he accepted the peace deal offered by Tinubu because it was a political solution to the rift.

In December, 27 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) legislators in the Rivers assembly defected to the APC.  The seats of 25 of the lawmakers were subsequently declared vacant.