The national leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has asked Rivers State governor, Sim Fubara, to submit himself to the dictates of the constitution and rule of law, noting that the governor’s disregard for the state House of Assembly amounts to an impeachable offence.
Recall that at the heat of the political crisis in Rivers, 27 members of the PDP in the state assembly loyal to the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, defected to the APC.
But while there is a case in court to determine the legality of their membership of the assembly after their defection, Fubara had declared that the state assembly is non-existent.
But addressing a press conference on Friday in Abuja, the APC National Publicity Secretary, Barrister Felix Morka, said Fubara’s quest to repudiate the Constitution and govern in denial of the existence of the state legislature “is in and of itself, among other grounds, an impeachable offence”
“If, indeed, the House of Assembly does not exist, as Governor Fubara has declared, then the governor must necessarily shut down the entire government of Rivers state, especially the office of the governor, as he lacks the authority to expend public resources without valid appropriations by the legislature.
“Attempting to impose an illegal 3-man House of Assembly is executive lawlessness in the extreme. We strongly counsel Governor Fubara to submit himself to the dictates of the Constitution and the rule of law.
“If his declaration that the House of Assembly is nonexistent is based on the fact that the 27 members who decamped from PDP to APC have lost their seats, then Governor Fubara is sorely misled.
“To be clear, the 27 Assembly members did not lose their membership of the Assembly by virtue of their decampment. There is nothing homeostatic about Section 109(1)(g) of the Constitution.”
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