Fubara will face impeachment if he fails to resign — Rivers APC Chair

In spite of what played out at the Rivers State House of Assembly quarters on Wednesday, where State Governor Siminalayi Fubara was not allowed entry into the complex to present the 2025 budget in compliance with the Supreme Court judgment, the Tony Okocha-led All Progressives Congress (APC) has maintained that the governor will still be impeached if he fails to resign.

While the lawmakers maintained silence, Okocha, a strong ally of the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, declared that the governor had already flouted the laws that warrant impeachment.

Okocha, in an interview, said the offences are clear, with sufficient evidence provided by the Supreme Court.

Okocha said, “One of the aberrations is for the governor to ignore the judgment of Justice James Omotosho, which nullified the 2024 budget passed by the Edison Ehie-led Assembly and earlier directed the governor to recognise Martins Amaewhule as the legitimate speaker of the House and present the budget to his-led House of Assembly. But the governor snubbed the judgment.”

Citing what he described as other impeachable offences against the governor, Okocha said the Supreme Court has outlined that it is illegal to run a government with 12.5 percent of members of the State Assembly, adding that the issues of budget presentation and the conduct of local government elections were among the offences.

Okocha said, “We warned the governor earlier, but he ignored us, declaring that he would face the music he played.”

Also, reacting to the Assembly quarters blockade, the Ijaw National Congress (INC) has again threatened that if Governor Siminalayi Fubara (an Ijaw son) is impeached for any reason, the consequences would be too heavy for the Nigerian state to bear economically.

The President of INC, Professor Benjamin Okaba, alleged that the lawmakers are behaving the way they do because “it was Wike who bought the forms that took them to the Assembly. They were handpicked by him. Wike said so publicly. That is why I am not surprised by the way they act.”

Professor Okaba said that the decision of Fubara to comply with the Supreme Court judgment should not be taken as a weakness but should be seen as the decision of a man who wants true peace in Rivers state.

He said, “Some people said Sim is very weak. He promised Mr. President that he would implement the judgment, so why then should the lawmakers block him from entering the Assembly complex?

“These same lawmakers gave the governor 48 hours, then 72 hours ultimatums to present the budget. They issued another ultimatum for the governor to sack the 19 commissioners. If he sacks the commissioners, including the Commissioner for Finance, who then prepares the budget?

“By their actions, they have shown the world how wicked they are. If they go ahead and impeach Sim Fubara maliciously, forcefully, or recklessly, we will resist it, and the consequences of such action will be too heavy for the whole country to bear. This is no threat.”

INC also warned that Wike will not push the Ikwerre and Ijaw ethnic nationalities into a senseless tribal war with his provocative utterances and actions.

Recall that Wike ranted in Abuja on Wednesday, describing Fubara’s letter to the lawmakers as “useless.” He argued that the governor should have directly contacted the speaker, Martins Amaewhule, instead of sending a formal request.

The President of INC said if the current political crisis in the state consumes the governor, “they will know that we are not as weak and powerless as they think we are.”

He declared that despite the attacks by the FCT Minister, “Ikwerre and the Ijaw nations can never go into ethnic war. Wike cannot provoke us into ethnic war. The Ikwerre people had apologized to the Ijaw people over the attitude of Wike against Sim.”

“If it was the President of Ogbakor Ikwerre, who is my contemporary, that said the things Wike said, I would have accepted it. But coming from this individual, I will not condescend so low to dignify him with my response. Ikwerre is not at war with Ijaw; it is Wike that is at war with himself.”