The Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, has explained the abrupt departure of Edison Ehie from his role as president of the State Assembly faction. Ehie, who served as the speaker of the four-member assembly supported by Fubara, submitted a letter on December 29, 2023, announcing his resignation as speaker and his membership in the assembly.
At a New Year’s banquet held at Government House in Port Harcourt, Fubara said Ehie’s resignation was a sacrifice for the restoration of peace in the crisis-turned-state, according to the Punch newspaper. reported.
The governor, however, stressed that all the actions his government has taken are not out of fear but in the interest of peace in the state.
Mr Ehie’s resignation is one of the steps towards the implementation of a peace agreement, in part because President Bola Tinubu ended the power struggle between Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, who is now FCT minister.
Ehie, a lawyer and former state assembly leader, was removed for refusing to support the impeachment plot against the governor by some lawmakers loyal to Wike.
Following the crisis that split the assembly into two factions, Ehie secured a court order that paved the way for him and three other lawmakers to assume control of the assembly. He then proceeded to declare vacant the seats of 26 pro-Wike legislators who defected from the PDP to the APC.
President Tinubu, to end the Rivers crisis, mediated a meeting last month where the two main players, Messrs Fubara and Wike, signed a peace agreement.
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Part of the widely criticized deal is for Wike-backed lawmakers whose seats were declared vacant to return to the assembly with full restoration of their rights and privileges.
Lawmakers backed by Wike had fulfilled the terms of the agreement by withdrawing their notice of impeachment against Fubara.
In his Christmas Day broadcast to the people of the state, Fubara promised to implement the peace agreement, saying it was not a “death sentence.”