Elder statesman and Niger Delta chief, Chief Edwin Clark, has known as on the chairman of the Impartial Nationwide Electoral Fee (INEC), Prof Mahmood Yakubu, to urgently conduct by-elections to fill the 27 ‘vacant ‘seats within the Rivers State Home of Meeting.
Clark, in an open letter to the INEC chairman dated January 21, 2025, who recounted the circumstances that led to the disaster within the State Meeting, insisted that the 27 lawmakers led by Martin Amaehule, defected from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that sponsored them, to a different political occasion, All Progressives Congress (APC) when there was no disaster in PDP which, in response to him, contravenes Part 109 1(g) of the 1999 Structure as Amended.
The state Governor Siminalayi Fubara has since recognised and has been working with Speaker Rt. Hon. Edison Ehie-led Home of Meeting.
The previous federal commissioner of data in Nigeria mentioned the seats of the 27 former members have been vacant for a couple of yr, depriving the individuals of the affected constituencies of illustration.
He mentioned INEC, beneath Yakubu’s watch, has but to hold out its statutory operate of conducting by-election to fill the seats.
Clark, who linked the political tussle to the battle between Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister, Nyesom Wike, and his successor and incumbent Rivers governor, Fubara, mentioned “I’ve trigger to, as soon as once more, handle this Open letter to you (Yakubu).”
He added, “This time, on the necessity to enchantment to you to urgently conduct by-elections to replenish the 27 seats that are vacant on the Rivers State Home of Meeting (RSHA) because of the defection from the political occasion that sponsored them to a different political occasion when there was no disaster of their earlier political occasion thus contravening Part 109 1(g) of the 1999 Structure as Amended.”
Clark mentioned the disaster which has enveloped the complete Rivers State and even a part of the Niger Delta, mentioned
“The essence of this Open Letter, due to this fact, is to, as soon as once more, my pricey chairman, implore you to write down your identify within the golden annals of the historical past of this nation. You understand how a lot regards I’ve for you, significantly as a superb and erudite scholar.”
Noting that the nation’s Structure is the Grund norm, Clark mentioned 27 lawmakers brazenly, on the ground of the Home, introduced their defection from PDP to APC, when there was no disaster of their former political occasion.
Clark mentioned in compliance with constitutional provisions, the brand new Speaker of the Home of Meeting, Rt. Hon. Edison Ehie, had written to INEC, informing it of the vacant seats.
He mentioned a sequence of occasions had been held to commemorate the defection, together with the lawmakers’ reception by the Tony Okocha-led APC within the state.
Clark lamented that Amawhule and his colleagues are nonetheless parading themselves as members of RSHA, “making an attempt to show the problem on its head, that they didn’t defect.”
He accused them of purchasing from one court docket to the opposite, for court docket judgments and rulings.
Clark additional expressed concern that the presidency, legislature and judiciary are committing a breach of the 1999 Structure which has empowered them to occupy the workplaces they’re in the present day.
He mentioned “Nigerians are asking what is going on, significantly the defiance with the primary regulation of the nation, the Structure, which binds the nation collectively.
“That is not politics; it has nothing to do with politics. That is an apparent case of people that suppose that they’re above the regulation, people who find themselves entrusted with our patrimony, our pure belongings, utilizing these identical assets to avoid the legal guidelines of the land, dominate and oppress others.
“The President of Nigeria, his Ministers, members of the Nationwide Meeting, and so forth., who got here into energy by the provisions of the Structure, appear not to be ready to defend the Structure.
“There can’t be a authorities in any nation if the structure that binds everybody collectively is being bastardised. Nigeria is little question heading to a failed state. God forbid. This won’t occur as a result of the Nigerian individuals will defend it. The supreme legal guidelines of the nation have to be obeyed if there have to be a rustic known as Nigeria,” he mentioned.
