Factional Speaker emerges in Rivers Assembly
The member representing Bonny Constituency in the Rivers State House of Assembly, Hon. Victor Oko-Jumbo, has emerged as the new Speaker of the House, loyal to Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
The development might be a response to the opposition All Progressives Congress’ (APC) directive to the 27 Assembly members to impeach Governor Fubara.
Oko-Jumbo takes over from the former factional Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Eddison Ehie, who resigned as both Speaker and member of the House on December 31, 2023.
Ehie, who represented Ahoada-East Constituency 2 in the House, was later appointed as Chief of Staff to Governor Fubara.
The venue where the election that produced Oko-Jumbo, a staunch supporter of the state governor, was held could not be confirmed yet.
The emergence of the Bonny-born politician as the factional Speaker of the State House of Assembly came barely 48 hours after Fubara declared that the majority 27 members of the House, who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), as non-existent.
The governor spoke when a delegation of Bayelsa State political and traditional leaders visited him at Government House, Port Harcourt, on Monday.
He had said: “Let me say it here, those group of men who claim that they are Assembly members, they are not existing. I want it to be on record.
“I accepted that peace accord to give them a floating (soft-landing). That’s the truth. There is nothing in that peace accord that is a constitutional issue. It is a political solution to a problem. I accepted it because these are people that were visiting me and we were together in my house.
“These are people that I have helped in many ways when I wasn’t even a Governor. Yes, we might have our disagreements, but I believe that one day, we could also come together. That was the reason I did it.
“But I think it has gotten to a time when I need to make a statement on this thing, so that they understand that they are not existing. Their existence and whatever they have been doing is because I allowed them to do so. If I don’t recognize them, they are nowhere, that is the truth.”
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