27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly have switched from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), setting off a very intriguing development in the state’s political drama.
Enemi George, an Assembly member, told Channels Television that Martin Amaewhule was in charge of the 27 legislators.
He claimed that Monday morning at their session, a decision was made.
27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly have switched from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), setting off a very intriguing development in the state’s political drama.#CTVTweets #ChannelsTV pic.twitter.com/4Ghx32wPjP
Amaewhule and another member, Edison Ehie, have been locked in a Speakership power struggle for weeks. While Ehie is known to be in Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s camp, Amaewhule is thought to be faithful to former governor Nyesom Wike.
In October, the Assembly led by Amaewhule ousted Ehie from his position as House leader and presented the governor with an impeachment notice. But other Assembly members who supported Fubara promptly impeached Amaewhule and installed Ehie as Speaker.
A rift between Fubara and his predecessor, Wike, who is currently the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), was the catalyst for the crisis in the 32-member Assembly.
Even though both politicians had been to the same public events in recent weeks, and everything appeared to be resolved, there may be more drama in the state’s political scene now that 27 PDP lawmakers have defected to the APC on Monday.
SDP and APC Members Join PDP Led by Fubara
Over the weekend, a few politicians from other parties declared their allegiance to the PDP.
Patricia Ogbonnaya, the SDP’s deputy governorship candidate in the 2023 election, and Karibo Wilson, the former chairman of Ahoada-West, led the group of SDP and APC defectors.
Alongside other party executives and supporters, they tented out.
The lawmakers left their previous parties to set up camp with the Fubara-supporting PDP party.
Some of the lawmakers led by Ehie were also present, including Oko Jumbo from the Bonny Constituency and Goodboy Sokari, who represented the governor and Ahoada West, respectively.
