Victor Oko-Jumbo emerged as the speaker of a faction of the Rivers State House of Assembly on Wednesday.
The Clerk of the Rivers House of Assembly, Emeka Amadi, has disowned Victor Oko-Jumbo as the newly elected speaker of the assembly.
Mr Oko-Jumbo, a member representing Bonny State Constituency, is believed to be an ally of the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara.
A statement, signed by the factional speaker, Mr Oko-Jumbo and G. M. Gillis-West, said to be the clerk of the assembly, claimed Mr Oko-Jumbo emerged as “speaker” during plenary on Wednesday.
The statement was forwarded to PREMIUM TIMES by the governor’s spokesperson, Chukwudi Nelson, on Wednesday.
The development occurred about 24 hours after Governor Fubara declared that Rivers State had no House of Assembly.
‘No change of leadership’
But the Clerk of the House, Mr Amadi, in a statement later on Wednesday, said the claims that there was a change of leadership in the House was false.
“There was no change in the leadership of the House today (Wednesday) and Rt. Hon. Martin Chike Amaewhule remains the speaker of the House while Rt. Hon. Dumle Maol and Rt. Hon. Major Jack remains deputy speaker and majority leader respectively,” he said.
The clerk stressed that there was no vacant seat at the assembly apart from the seat of Khana Constituency II which was declared vacant following the death of the member representing the constituency.
He said Mr Oko-Jumbo, two others – Goodboy Sokari and Timothy Orubienimigha – who allegedly participated in the election of the factional speaker were suspended from the assembly in October last year.
“Their suspension is yet to be lifted and they cannot lay claim to be officers of the House,” he said.
Referencing Mr Fubara’s declaration against the assembly, Mr Amadi said there was a subsisting court injunction restraining the governor from “impeding or frustrating” the assembly under the leadership of Mr Amaewhule as the speaker.
The clerk said the House was still conducting legislative business in line with the Standing Order of the House and the Nigerian constitution.
He urged residents of the state to disregard the reported leadership change in the assembly.
Rivers House of Assembly
The Rivers legislature is a 32-member assembly. One lawmaker died shortly after the 2023 general elections, leaving 31 members.
Out of 31 members, 27 are loyal to the immediate-past governor of the state, Nyesom Wike, now the minister of FCT, while the remaining four are loyal to Governor Fubara.
Mr Wike, who was instrumental to the emergence of Mr Fubara as governor, has since fallen out with the governor, a development that split the assembly into two factions.
Mr Amaewhule is the speaker of the Wike-backed faction, while Edison Ehie was the speaker of the four-member faction backed by Governor Fubara.
The political feud between Messrs Fubara and Wike steadily deteriorated, prompting the intervention of President Bola Tinubu, who brokered a peace deal between them after the seats of Mr Wike-backed lawmakers were declared vacant following their defection to the All Progressives Congress.
After the peace deal, Mr Ehie resigned as speaker and also from the assembly. He was appointed chief of staff to Mr Fubara, leaving the governor’s faction with just three lawmakers.
With their overwhelming majority, the pro-Wike lawmakers, after their return to the assembly, have been at loggerheads with Governor Fubara.
They have, for at least six times, overridden the governor’s veto on bills passed by the assembly.
Barring of pro-wike lawmakers
Meanwhile, in a fresh twist, the Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt, on Friday, barred Mr Amaewhule and other 24 lawmakers, loyal to Mr Wike, from parading as members of the state assembly.
The suit was filed by Mr Oko-Jumbo and the two other House members loyal to Governor Fubara – Messrs Sokari and Orubienimigha.
The court adjourned the case till 29 May for hearing of motion on notice.