Rivers Assembly reinstates three lawmakers after appeals

The Rivers State House of Assembly has reversed its earlier decision declaring the seats of three lawmakers vacant over their prolonged absence from plenary.

The Assembly has directed the affected lawmakers to resume legislative duties following appeals they submitted to the House.

The lawmakers are Timothy Oruibienimigha, representing Opobo/Nkoro Constituency; Victor Oko Jumbo, representing Bonny Constituency; and Sokari Goodboy Sokari, representing Ahoada West Constituency.

The decision was reversed on Monday during the 68th Legislative Sitting of the Fourth Session of the Tenth Assembly.

Speaker Martin Chike Amaewhule announced the development after reading separate letters of appeal submitted by the three lawmakers, who sought the Assembly’s reconsideration of its earlier decision.

In their appeals, the lawmakers apologised to the House, explaining that they did not resume legislative duties after their suspension was lifted in December 2023 because, according to them, they were not formally notified that the suspension had been revoked.

The lawmakers said they were unaware that the House had lifted their suspension on December 20, 2023, following the presidential intervention in the political crisis that engulfed Rivers.

Their appeals triggered a debate among lawmakers, who later supported the plea and urged the Assembly to reverse its earlier decision that their seats were vacant.

Commenting on the development, Amaewhule said investigations suggested that the lawmakers might not have received the correspondence informing them that their suspension had been lifted.

The Speaker stressed that the decision should be guided by justice and the law rather than emotions.

“The law does not feast on emotion, neither does the law see the rotund face of the rich nor the angular face of the poor, but sees only justice,” he said.

After deliberations, Amaewhule put the question on whether the House should rescind its earlier resolution or maintain it.

The lawmakers voted in favour of the motion, agreeing to reverse the declaration of the three seats as vacant.

The Speaker said the decision would enable the lawmakers to rejoin their colleagues and represent the interests of their respective constituencies in the Assembly.

The controversy dated back to October 30, 2023, when four members of the Assembly were suspended amid the political crisis in Rivers State.

Following a presidential intervention on December 18, 2023, the Assembly lifted the suspension on December 20, 2023, at its 89th Legislative Sitting of the First Session of the Tenth Assembly.

But the three lawmakers continued to stay away from legislative sittings and other Assembly activities.

On October 15, 2024, the House, at its 56th Legislative Sitting of the Second Session, resolved to declare their seats vacant, citing Section 109(1)(e) and (f), and Section 109(2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The Assembly subsequently notified the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct elections to fill the seats.

But yesterday’s resolution reversed that decision following the lawmakers’ appeals and the intervention of their colleagues, who supported their return to the legislature.

The Nation gathered that the decision was part of the resolutions reached between the camps of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyesom Wike and Governor Siminalayi Fubara during their reconciliation meeting on Sunday.

The meeting, which was held under the Rainbow Coalition, was the second time the minister had led his loyalists to Fubara’s residence in the ongoing efforts to permanently end the political crisis in the state and forge a common front for the 2027 general elections.

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