……………Clark, Rivers Elders, PDP Reject Peace Accord..
Gov Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State, said on Tuesday that no price was too big to pay for peace in the state.
Speaking at the 3rd Convocation and 6th Founders Day ceremonies of the PAMO University of Medical Sciences in Iriebe Town, Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of the state, he said: “There is no price that will be too big to pay to ensure that peace prevails.”
Fubara stressed that he was prepared and will continue to pay the necessary price that will ensure that peace. reigns in the state.
But the peace accord brokered by President Bola Tinubu has been rejected by certain stakeholders.
The terms of agreement brokered by President Tinubu include: “Impeachment moves against Fubara should be dropped; all matters in courts by Fubara and his team should be withdrawn; G27 lawmakers who defected from the PDP to APC are back with their leader, Martin Amaewhule, recognised as speaker; Governor Fubara to represent 2024 budget to Assembly; Remunerations, benefits of all lawmakers reinstated; House to choose where to sit; Names of commissioners, who resigned to be re-submitted to House; and dissolution of LG administrations are nullified.
Clark, Rivers Elders, PDP Reject Peace Accord……..
But elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark, has denounced the peace accord as unconstitutional and titled in favour of Wike.
He said: “I wish to commend President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for heeding the various calls, including our own, to mediate in the on-going crisis rocking Rivers State by calling Barr. Nyesome Wike to order so as to restore peace and tranquillity in the State and avert any problem similar to that which occurred in 2013, when Barr. Wike was Minister of State Education.
“However, the terms of settlement as contained in the Communique issued at the end of the reconciliatory meeting is what is baffling, appalling and unacceptable to the people, especially, the Ijaw ethnic nationality. From the terms of settlement, it is obvious that President Tinubu sees his role as a mediator, to once again, show gratitude to the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), for “delivering” Rivers State to him during the past Presidential elections, having first of gratified him by making him the Minister of FCT”
He continued: “The composition of the attendees of the meeting was one sided in favour of Nyesome Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), because while Martins Amaewhule, a former Speaker, (because he has automatically lost his seat the very moment he decamped to another political party), was present at the meeting, it would have only been equitable and expedient, for Edison Ehie, the Speaker as affirmed by constitutional provisions and by the granting of the court, to be in the meeting, if there were sincerity of purpose.
“The 8 resolutions reached, are the most unconstitutional, absurd and obnoxious resolutions at settling feuding parties that I have ever witnessed in my life. As a matter of fact, some medias captured it very well when they described it as Directives. And for the fact that such thing was done at the Villa, the seat of the Federal Government of Nigeria, is sacrilegious, because any place housing or is a custodian of symbol of authority, ought to be sacred”.
Meanwhile, the Acting National Chairman of the PDP, Umar Damagum, has also rejected the terms of settlement between Fubara and Wike.
Damagum who told journalists that the emergency meeting of the party’s NWC was convened to discuss unfolding political developments in Rivers State, advised the “25 former members” of the party to prepare for fresh polls if they were still interested in returning to the legislature because there “is no remedy for them.”
He said: “The PDP asserts that there is no remedy for the 25 former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, who by virtue of Section 109 (1)(g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) vacated and lost their seats by reason of defection from the PDP, the party platform upon which they were elected into the House of Assembly.
“Our party insists that having now vacated and lost their seats, the only option available for the former lawmakers, if they wish to return to the House of Assembly, is to seek fresh nomination and re-election on the platform of any political party of their choice in line with the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and the Electoral Act, 2022.
“The 25 former Rivers lawmakers freely and without any cause vacated their seats, being fully aware of the consequences of defection from the party upon which they were elected into the Rivers State House of Assembly without the conditions stipulated by the 1999 Constitution”.
On their part, elders and political leaders of the state led by former Governor Rufus Ada-George, rejected the resolution terms announced from the meeting held in Aso-Rock Presidential Villa.
The elders briefed the press following an emergency meeting during which they reviewed the “President’s directives for the resolution of the political impasse in Rivers State. The elders in a communique read by Chief Ada-George, said the agreement “unilaterally suspended the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by virtue of an attempt to reverse a court order recognizing Edison Ehie as the speaker and directing that the remainder of members of the House of Assembly constituted the quorum for legislative business.”
According to them, the President’s directive also contravened the doctrine and practice of separation of powers as it affect the responsibility of the judiciary and wondered if the president or Executive arm could overrule the decisions of courts of competent jurisdiction, saying “this portends executive rascality which undermines our constitutional democracy, rule of law and good governance.”
The elders stressed that Amaewhule ceased to be speaker by the decision of Rivers State High Court, and ceased to be a legislator following his defection to another party.
This is as they opined that the lawmakers cannot decide where to hold their sittings because “it is the duty of the Executive arm of Government to provide accommodation for legislators in a constitutional democracy as exemplified by the FCT Minister with respect to the National Assembly.”
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