The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said that the call by the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State on the State House of Assembly to institute an impeachment proceeding against the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, is an invitation to anarchy.
This is even as the Rivers State chapter of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) said it endorsed the call for the impeachment of the governor, accusing the governor of withholding and tempering with funds meant for the 23 LGAs in the state.
The crisis in the state, which started late last year between Governor Fubara and his immediate successor and estranged political godfather, Nyesom Wike, the FCT Minister, entered another level on Tuesday when the state chapter of the APC called on its 27 members in the House of Assembly, including the speaker, to commence the impeachment process.
Before then, the lawmakers had continuously threatened to impeach the governor, accusing him of not abiding by the terms of the peace deal brokered by President Bola Tinubu late last year. The lawmakers had also overridden the decision of the governor to decline assent to several bills earlier passed by the House. But the call by the APC leadership on Tuesday, according to observers, indicated that the plan for the impeachment of the governor might have been concluded.
But addressing a press conference at the PDP headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday, Debo Ologunagba, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, said the lawmakers who left the PDP for the APC have vacated their seats and can no longer institute an impeachment against an elected governor.
Quoting from Section 109(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution, he said, “A member of a House of Assembly shall vacate his seat in the House if… (g) being a person whose election to the House of Assembly was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected.”
“The PDP draws the attention of the Inspector General of Police to the subversive utterances of the APC Chairman in Rivers State, which are capable of triggering crises and derailing the Democratic Order in the country.”
