As the Supreme Court ruling on the Rivers State political crisis appears to take the wind out of his sails restoring legitimacy to the Martins Amaewhule-led members of the House of Assembly, Governor Siminalayi Fubara will today meet with the pro-Nyesom Wike lawmakers for an amicable settlement of disputes.
   
The Supreme Court had declared that Amaewhule and 26 other lawmakers, alleged to have defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), remain legitimate members of the state Assembly. This ruling implies that Amaewhule remains the legitimate Speaker of the House.
 
The judgment also means all actions carried out by the lawmakers loyal to the governor are null and void, including the screening of commissioner nominees.
   
The invitation to the meeting was contained in a letter issued in Port Harcourt on Sunday by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr Tammy Danagogo, and sent to newsmen. The letter, addressed to the Speaker of the House of Assembly, Amaewhule became necessary following the governor’s receipt of the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the Supreme Court judgment.
   
Danagogo disclosed that the agenda at the meeting includes the provision of a befitting space for the Assembly’s sittings, payment of all outstanding remuneration or allowances of the members, presentation of the budget and sundry matters and any other matters necessary to chart the way forward in the best interest of the state.  
   
Recall that after the Supreme Court judgment that recognised Amaewhule and 26 other lawmakers loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Wike, as authentic members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, they resumed sitting a day after and issued 48 hours ultimatum to Fubara to re-present the 2025 budget to the Assembly.  
   
However, on March 5, 2025, the state government stated that it was yet to receive the Supreme Court judgment, assuring that it would comply with the directives immediately after it received the judgment. 
   
Despite efforts to arrive at a middle ground, the legal battle surrounding the Rivers State Government appears to be far from over, as two commissioners whose appointments were approved by the four lawmakers loyal to the governor have filed a lawsuit against the Rivers Assembly.
   
The commissioners are seeking an interlocutory injunction to prevent Speaker Amaewhule and 26 lawmakers from enforcing resolutions passed on March 5, 2025, which declared their appointments null and void.

They are asking the court to restrain the Assembly from nullifying their appointments and to issue an order barring the legislature from interfering in their duties as members of the State Executive Council.
   
This is as the chairman of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), retired Justice Adolphus Enebeli, and his commissioners have also challenged the Assembly’s authority to summon them for questioning. The Assembly had initially issued a 48-hour ultimatum for Enebeli to appear and explain the circumstances surrounding the nullified October 5, 2024, Local Government Elections.
   
When he failed, the deadline was extended by 72 hours. In their suit, Enebeli and his team asked the court to restrain the Assembly from compelling their appearance, arguing that such a move would be unlawful.
   
Justice Frank Onyiri, presiding over the case, granted leave for the claimants to serve the Assembly through substituted means and adjourned the hearing to April 17, 2025.
   
Amid the political uncertainty in the state, two RSIEC commissioners have reportedly resigned from their positions. The affected officials are Prof. Simeon Emenike Weli, Commissioner in charge of Political Parties/Monitoring, and Dr. Lazbery Nyebuchi Nnah, Commissioner in charge of Budget/Research and Statistics.
   
They announced their resignation in separate letters addressed to the RSIEC chairman, Enebeli and Secretary to the State Government, Danagogo. In their letters, the commissioners cited the current situation within RSIEC and the recent Supreme Court judgment, which nullified the October 5, 2024, Local Government Elections conducted by the commission, as reasons for their resignation.
   
Recall that last week Wednesday, RSIEC announced August 9, 2025, as the new date for the state local government elections, following the annulment of the October 5 election by the Supreme Court.

MEANWHILE, former executive chairmen of Ijaw-dominated local government areas in Rivers have condemned what they refer to as empty threats by non-state actors to unleash violence in Rivers if there is any attempt to impeach the governor.
   
The former campaign coordinators for Fubara in their various local government areas called on the police, the Department of State Security (DSS) and other security agencies to enforce the judgment of the Supreme Court.
   
The former members of the Association of Local Government Nigeria (ALGON) said Fubara failed to take the opportunity offered him by the presidential intervention to end the crisis.
   
The Ijaw leaders, who said they remained the substantive chairmen of their local government areas following their aborted tenure extension, said they heaved a sigh of relief that the Supreme Court had ended the crisis.
   
Those who endorsed the move are Daniel O. Daniel, Abua/Odual; Dr Rowland C.  Sekibo,  Akuku Toru; Dr Erastus C. Awortu, Andoni; Onengiye George,  Asari Toru; Michael John Williams,  Degema; Chief Vincent Nemioboka, Ogu Bolo; Akuro Tobin, Okrika; Tamunotonye Douglas, Vice-Chairman Port Harcourt City and Ubile Jack, Vice-Chairman Ahoada West.
   
They said: “We stringently condemn those empty threats and urge the Federal Government and Nigerians to disregard such comments which project the Ijaws in a bad light. More so, it is a fact that these threats attack the sensitivity of people from other ethnic groups in Rivers who also voted for Fubara.  
   
“We have also seen videos and press statements of supposed stakeholders including Prof. Benjamin Okaba, and Alhaji Mujaheed Asari Dokubo threaten the energy security of the Nigerian state if attempts at implementation of the judgment leads to impeachment of the governor.”
 
Why flaying the threats and outbursts, the Ijaw leaders queried: “Did the judgment call for impeachment of the governor? The simple answer is no. Where were these persons who claimed to be fighting the so-called Ijaw fight when the governor truncated the tenure and seized the allocation of the LGAs, including those of us who are fellow Ijaws?              
   
“Where were they when he stopped the salaries of the Assembly members and even made conscious attempts to use the courts to impeach them including 10 Ijaw sons? They were all unconcerned because they were benefitting from the crisis and are not ready to stop benefitting from it.”