Four members of the Rivers State House of Assembly have made a dramatic U-turn, withdrawing their earlier call for dialogue and declaring renewed support for the impeachment proceedings against Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Prof. Ngozi Odu.
The lawmakers are the Minority Leader, Sylvanus Nwankwo; Peter Abbey (Degema Constituency); Barile Nwakoh (Khana Constituency I); and Emilia Amadi (Obio/Akpor Constituency II).
They announced their reversal on Friday during a live broadcast from the frontage of the Assembly complex in Port Harcourt, barely days after publicly urging their colleagues to embrace political reconciliation to resolve the lingering crisis between the executive and the legislature.
Explaining the change in stance, Nwankwo recalled that he and Abbey had on January 12 appealed for a political solution to the impasse.
He, however, accused the governor and his deputy of undermining that effort through sustained media attacks on the Assembly.
“During the pendency of this appeal, we observed that the governor and the deputy governor deployed their media aides to consistently attack the Rivers State House of Assembly instead of seeking the political solution we proposed,” Nwankwo said. “It is on this basis that we have resolved that the impeachment proceedings should continue.”
In separate remarks, Nwakoh and Amadi said they were convinced that Governor Fubara and his deputy had shown no genuine willingness to resolve the crisis through dialogue, leaving the lawmakers with no alternative than to support the impeachment process.
The latest development comes amid heightened tensions within the Assembly, led by Speaker Martin Amaewhule, which last week formally initiated impeachment proceedings against the governor and his deputy over allegations of gross misconduct.
The allegations include the demolition of the Assembly complex and the alleged expenditure of public funds without legislative approval.
Earlier in the week, the four lawmakers had announced their withdrawal from the impeachment move, citing the need for dialogue and political reconciliation.
Their reversal, however, appears to have reinvigorated the process.
On Friday, Assembly members insisted that the impeachment was constitutional and represented the only viable path to resolving the political deadlock in the state.
The renewed push follows the Assembly’s failure to reconvene for plenary on Thursday, one week after adjourning its last sitting, a development that had fuelled speculation of deepening internal divisions.
With the lawmakers’ latest U-turn, the impeachment proceedings against Governor Fubara and his deputy appear to have regained momentum within the Rivers State House of Assembly.
