Politics
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has asked the 27 members of the House of Assembly loyal to Nyesom Wike, Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), to commence impeachment procerding against Governor Similanayi Fubara.
Caretaker Committee Chairman of APC in the state, Chief Tony Okocha, made the call at a press conference in Port Harcourt, on Tuesday.
He said the governor has committed so many impeachable offences, hence the need to commence his impeachment process.
Okocha faulted the governor’s remark when he received a delegation of Ijaw leaders from Bayelsa state, on Monday.
Fubara had said the state House of Assembly was non existent.
Okocha said the Nigeria constitution recognized the three arms of government such as the Executive, Judiciary and Legislative, saying the governor has no constitutional power to declare duly elected members of the state Assembly non-existent.
He said, “We have directed members of the Rivers State House of Assembly to commence the impeachment process of a comatose government. The Governor’s head has become bigger than his pillow. He does not respect the law. He does anything he cares to do. We will not sit here as Rivers people to see Rivers State become a laughing stock in the comity of states, when we have a Governor who does not know his left from his right.
“A state as crucial and all important as Rivers State churned out a dunderhead. We cannot accept that. Our charge to the Assembly is to immediately commence an impeachment. And if they don’t do that there is what they call party discipline. We shall invoke the relevant section of the constitution.
“You know the history of politics. You know the constitution of Nigeria. The Governor said the Assembly members do not exist, that whatever thing they are doing is because he allowed them. In other words he has re-written the books. Elementary politics taught us the three organs of government and their roles. And goes further to talk about the separation of powers and checks and balances. Now what the Governor was implying clearly is that he is ruling Rivers State without laws.
“That Rivers State runs on executive arm and judiciary. So what that implies is simply absurdity. You can now see the tendencies of a dictator. As an opposition party in Rivers State, we will not keep quiet, we will shout. It is regrettable that the Governor has taken up to this point and we will not take it. The Governor was clear whether unambiguous in his deliberate attempt to denigrate the person of Mr President.
“All these while he has been sponsoring people to challenge the power of the President in the proclamation made by the President. The Governor said that the President’s intervention in Rivers State which he signed was not constitutional but a political solution. But he assented to it, not under duress. The agreement was signed in a friendly environment and the Governor assented to the proclamation and had the opportunity to speak where he thanked Mr President. So nobody forced him to sign the proclamation, he did it willingly. So at what point did the governor realize that the resolution was a political matter?
“The issue again to ask is each of those items for us to drive this home. Nine Commissioners resigned and they were brought back. Then you now began to talk about constitutional issues when the President advised you not to interfere in the funding of the State Assembly. Another area of the Constitution which the President delved into was the conduct of local government elections and the representation of the budget. Among these issues raised, which of these is the Governor talking about that is not constitutional?.
“What section of the constitution empowers the Governor to declare the Assembly non-existent? The role of the Governor is proclamation of the Assembly which is done once in four years. The constitution doesn’t allow him for quarterly proclamation of the Assembly. He dissolved the House and proclaimed the Assembly at the end of the tenure of the Assembly. Mind you the Assembly we are talking about is a representative of the people, they were duly elected. They are not his appointees. So where did the Governor derive his powers to say that the Assembly is non-existent.
“Meanwhile records are there about the correspondences between the Governor and the Assembly wherein he addressed Martin Amaewhule as the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly. We want this to be on record as the Chairman of the APC in Rivers State, as the representative of Mr President, we won’t sit here to see the Governor declare on his own as if he is in court.
“He has become Daniel, who is sitting in judgement to declare the Assembly members’ seat vacant. To that extent in consultation with my party, we have directed and we are directing the Assembly members and as APC members who are in the Assembly to immediately commence the impeachment of Governor Sim Fubara.”
Reacting, Rivers Commissioner for Information, Mr Joseph Johnson, said Okocha is not the Chairman of APC in Rivers State.
“In our jurisprudence the 27 lawmakers have lost their seat on the day they defected to another party that’s what the law says. The Constitution of federal Republic of Nigeria section 109 clearly stated that and it’s incontrovertible. The law says you cannot put something on nothing.
“There is nothing at all to even put on something. The Rivers State House of Assembly does not exist, they are none existent. The governor said yesterday that they does not exist but out of his magnanimity has allowed them he even gone further to draw them closer but it does not appear that they don’t understand.”
Former lawmaker, Dino Melaye Esq, has raised concerns over the Senate’s reported rejection of the electronic transmission of election results.
The move, according to Melaye, is a clear endorsement of election rigging and an indication of a sinister plan to rig the 2027 elections.
In a statement on Friday, the former lawmaker criticized the Senate’s decision, stating that it undermines the credibility of the electoral process.
The African Democratic Congress, ADC chieftain, also stated that the move opens the door for electoral manipulation and fraud.
He further warned that the rejection of electronic transmission of results is a step backwards for democracy in Nigeria.
Melaye called on lawmakers and citizens to stand up against “this blatant attempt to undermine the will of the people and ensure that future elections are free, fair, and transparent”.
Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, has said Nigerians have every reason to be mad at the Senate over the ongoing debate on e-transmission of election results.
Ezekwesili made this known on Friday when she featured in an interview on Arise Television’s ‘Morning Show’ monitored by DAILY POST.
DAILY POST reports that the Senate on Wednesday turned down a proposed change to Clause 60, Subsection 3, of the Electoral Amendment Bill that aimed to compel the electronic transmission of election results.
Reacting to the matter, Ezekwesili said, “The fundamental issue with the review of the Electoral Act is that the Senate retained the INEC 2022 Act, Section 60 Sub 5.
“This section became infamous for the loophole it provided INEC, causing Nigerians to lose trust. Since the law established that it wasn’t mandatory for INEC to transmit electoral results in real-time, there wasn’t much anyone could say.
“Citizens embraced the opportunity to reform the INEC Act, aiming to address ambiguity and discretionary opportunities for INEC. Yet, the Senate handled it with a “let sleeping dogs lie” approach. The citizens have every reason to be as outraged as they currently are.”
Politics
Electoral act: Senate’s action confirms Nigeria ‘fantastically corrupt’, ‘disgraced’ – Peter Obi
Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has condemned the Senate’s refusal to make electronic transmission of election results mandatory, saying the move further exposes Nigeria as a fantastically corrupt and disgraced country.
Obi expressed his views in a statement shared on X on Friday, where he accused lawmakers of deliberately weakening Nigeria’s democratic process ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He explained that his reaction came after a brief pause to mourn victims of a deadly tragedy in Kwara State, where over 150 people reportedly lost their lives.
“Let us first pray for the souls of the innocent Nigerians lost in Kwara. That painful incident is why I delayed responding to the shameful development surrounding our electoral system,” he wrote.
Describing the Senate’s decision as intentional and dangerous, Obi said rejecting mandatory electronic transmission was not a simple oversight but a calculated attempt to block transparency.
“The Senate’s open rejection of electronic transmission of results is an unforgivable act of electoral manipulation ahead of 2027,” he said.
According to him, the action strikes at the heart of democracy and raises serious questions about the true purpose of governance in Nigeria.
“This failure to pass a clear safeguard is a direct attack on our democracy. By refusing these transparency measures, the foundation of credible elections is being destroyed. One must ask whether government exists to ensure justice and order or to deliberately create chaos for the benefit of a few.”
The former Anambra State governor linked the post-election controversies of the 2023 general elections to the failure to fully deploy electronic transmission of results, insisting that Nigerians were misled with claims of technical failures.
“
The confusion, disputes and manipulation that followed the 2023 elections were largely due to the refusal to fully implement electronic transmission,” he said.
He added that the so-called system glitch never truly existed.
Obi compared Nigeria’s electoral process with those of other African countries that have embraced technology to improve credibility, lamenting that Nigeria continues to fall behind.
“Many African nations now use electronic transmission to strengthen their democracy. Yet Nigeria, which calls itself the giant of Africa, is moving backwards and dragging the continent along.”
He criticised Nigeria’s leadership class, saying the country’s problems persist not because of a lack of ideas but because of deliberate resistance to meaningful reform.
“We keep organising conferences and writing policy papers about Nigeria’s challenges. But the truth is that the leaders and elite are the real problem. Our refusal to change is pushing the nation backwards into a primitive system of governance.”
Warning of the dangers ahead, Obi said rejecting electronic transmission creates room for confusion and disorder that only serves the interests of a small group.
He also recalled past remarks by foreign leaders who described Nigeria as corrupt, arguing that actions like this continue to justify those statements.
“When a former UK Prime Minister described Nigeria as ‘fantastically corrupt,’ we were offended. When former US President Donald Trump called us a ‘disgraced nation,’ we were angry. But our continued resistance to transparency keeps proving them right.”
Obi warned that Nigerians should not accept a repeat of the electoral irregularities witnessed in 2023.
“Let there be no mistake. The criminality seen in 2023 must not be tolerated in 2027.”
He urged citizens to be ready to defend democracy through lawful and decisive means, while also calling on the international community to closely monitor developments in Nigeria’s electoral process.
“The international community must pay attention to the groundwork being laid for future electoral manipulation, which threatens our democracy and development,” Obi stated.
He concluded by expressing hope that change is still possible if Nigerians take collective responsibility.
“A new Nigeria is possible but only if we all rise and fight for it.”
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