Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State has refused to withdraw his suit against the State House of Assembly which was one of the resolutions reached during a meeting summoned by President Bola Tinubu to end all the political crisis in the state.
SaharaReporters reported on Monday, December 18, 2023, that President Tinubu had intervened in the political crisis rocking the state, as the factional Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Edison Ehie, was mandated to recognise 27 members of the Assembly who recently defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
SaharaReporters obtained the eight-point resolution from the closed-door meeting President Tinubu had with Governor Siminalayi Fubara; a former governor of the state, Peter Odili; Minister of the Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike and other stakeholders at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The political crisis ravaging Rivers State followed a prolonged disagreement between Governor Fubara and Wike, his predecessor and political godfather.
The state was plunged into a political crisis between October 29 and 30, when the hallowed chamber of the House of Assembly was burnt, following alleged moves to impeach Governor Fubara.
The crisis led to the emergence of two factional speakers – Matins Amaehule, loyal to Wike; and Edison Ehie, a strong supporter of Fubara.
However, as the crisis exacerbated, 27 house members said to be loyal to Wike announced their defection to the APC.
But one of them later made a U-turn.
Some commissioners loyal to Wike in Governor Fubara’s cabinet also resigned from office.
To stop the lingering crisis, the president and the stakeholders from the state held a meeting, which began Monday evening. The Federal Government during the meeting distanced itself from the political crisis.
Meanwhile, at the end of the closed-door meeting, an eight-point resolution was reached and all the stakeholders appended their signatures to bring the crisis to an end. Part of the resolution was that all the parties must withdraw cases in court.
However, when the suit No: IHC/230/2023 between Sir Siminalayi Joseph Fubara vs The Rivers State House of Assembly & Ors pending before a State High Court came up on Wednesday, the counsel for the governor, D. O. Okoro, SAN, told the court that he had not been briefed to withdraw the case.
The High Court sitting at Isiokpo was presided over by Justice O. Ben-Whyte.
But the counsel for the State Assembly, Chief Ferdinand Orbih (SAN) told the court that his clients had instructed him to withdraw the matter following the agreement reached by the parties.
Following the varying instructions, Justice Ben-Whyte told Okoro to seek clarification from his client concerning the recent development pointed out by Orbih.
The case was adjourned to January 31, 2024, for a report of settlement.
