27 Rivers State Lawmakers Decamp to APC by Odiawa Ai
The ongoing political drama in Rivers State has taken an exceptionally fascinating turn as 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly have decamped from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
A member of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Enemi George, confirmed this to news sources that the 27 lawmakers were under the leadership of Martin Amaewhule.
He said the decision was taken during their sitting on Monday morning.
For some time, Amaewhule and another member, Edison Ehie, have been entangled in a Speakership tussle. Amaewhule is believed to be loyal to ex-governor Nyesom Wike while Ehie is known to be in the camp of Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
The Assembly under Amaewhule had in October served an impeachment notice on the governor and ejected Ehie as the House leader. In any case, some members of the Assembly loyal to Fubara immediately impeached Amaewhule and made Ehie the new Speaker.
The crisis in the 32-member Assembly had started as a result of a rift between Fubara and his predecessor, Wike, who is currently the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
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However, both politicians have both attended same public events in the last few weeks and all appeared to have been settled yet, with Monday’s defection of 27 lawmakers from the PDP to the APC, more episodes might unfold in the state’s political theatre.
Meanwhile, some political actors from other parties over the weekend declared their defection to the PDP.
Leading the defectors from the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the APC were the deputy gubernatorial candidate of the SDP in the 2023 election, Patricia Ogbonnaya; and former Ahoada-West Chairman, Karibo Wilson.
They decamped alongside their allies and other party excos.
The politicians dumped their former parties to pitch tent with the PDP group loyal to Fubara.
Likewise in attendance were some of the Ehie-led group of lawmakers, with the member representing Ahoada West, Goodboy Sokari representing the governor alongside Oko Jumbo from Bonny Constituency.