Go to court, PDP tells APC on Rivers minority leader saga

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmakers in the Rivers State House of Assembly have insisted that electing Benibo Anabraba as minority leader was in line with the house rule, urging the All Progressives Congress (APC) to seek redress in court if not satisfied.

A member representing Omuma constituency,Kelechi Wogu, argued that Order 10 Rule 1, was not specific on who nominates the minority leader, but only states that minority and deputy minority leaders must come from the opposition party.

However, the APC said it was on top of the matter and that the issue was being handled in line with the party’s in-house guidelines.Speaking with The Guardian, the Publicity Secretary of APC in the state, Chris Finebone, said he does not think that the matter should be escalated at this time. He however, assured that the party would laugh at the end.

According to Finebone, “the matter is being handled with our in-house guidelines and we are on top of it.”Meanwhile, a lawyer and political analyst, Idayi Opi, has expressed worry that the situation was capable of returning turbulence to the state, adding that, if not quickly addressed, it would create serious problems worse than the state had experienced.

“The best thing the PDP lawmakers would have done was to allow the APC lawmakers have their way and PDP have their say, this is a well known practice all over the world.’’
Another political analyst, Omenazu Jackson, said the picture created yesterday has clearly shown that the majority PDP lawmakers have hijacked the minority APC, which entails that the house is still a one-way traffic business.He however, called on the APC to re-strategise and put its house in order.