Any attempt to impeach the Rivers State governor, Mr Siminalaya Fubara, will be firmly resisted, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has warned. The party said it was delusional for the chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Mr. Tony Okocha, to issue a directive for Fubara’s impeachment.
The PDP told the Inspector General of Police that the subversive utterances of the APC chairman was capable of triggering crisis and derailing the Democratic Order in the country. The national publicity secretary of PDP, Debo Ologunagba, said such reckless and unwarranted statement by the APC chairman exposed the party’s desperation.
He said the APC chairman’s declaration showed the party’s arrogance and condescension for the people as well as its desperation to forcefully annex democratic rights under the Constitution. Said Ologunagba while addressing a press conference in Abuja: “In any event, the individuals that the Rivers State APC chairman directed to commence impeachment proceedings against Governor Fubara are not legally members of the Rivers State House of Assembly and cannot contemplate or exercise such powers under the law.
“These individuals, by virtue of Section 109 (1) (g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) have since vacated and lost their seats, rights, privileges, recognition and obligations accruable to members of the Rivers State House of Assembly after their defection from the PDP, the political Party platform upon which they were elected into the Rivers State House of Assembly
“For emphasis, Section 109 (1) (g) of the 1999 Constitution provides that: ‘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…’
“It should be noted that Section 109 (1) (g) of the Constitution is self-executory. The import of this provision is that the members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who defected have vacated their seat by reason of that defection.
“The unlawful directive by the Rivers State APC chairman to these individuals to commence an impeachment proceeding against the Governor is therefore a brazen call for anarchy as it amounts to an attempt to forcefully overthrow a democratic Order in clear violation of Section 1 sub-section 2 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
“For clarity, Section 1 Sub-section 2 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) provides; ‘The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall not be governed, nor shall any person or group of persons take control of the government of Nigeria or any part thereof, except in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution’.
“The PDP draws the attention of the Inspector General of Police to the subversive utterances of the APC chairman in Rivers State which is capable of triggering crisis and derailing the Democratic Order in the country”. The PDP added that the APC must perish the thought of forcefully taking over Rivers State as such is a direct assault on the sensibility of the people which will be resisted firmly.
Stressed Ologunagba: “The APC Chairman in Rivers State should come to terms with the fact that Rivers State is home to PDP and that the people of Rivers State are not ready to put their destiny in the hands of a corrupt, oppressive and anti-people Special Purpose Vehicle like the APC”.
