Politics
Rivers Crisis: Resignation of Wike’s loyalist leads to vacancy in Fubara’s Chief of Staff position
Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s chief of staff, Chidi Amadi, has resigned.
The Commissioner of Information and Communications, Joseph Johnson, verified Amadi’s resignation to our publication on Wednesday.
Johnson claimed that when the time was right, Fubara would present Amadi’s replacement—an ex-lover of the governor—to the public.
“Hon. Chidi Amadi, the previous chief of staff, has resigned. At the proper moment, the governor will name a new chief of staff.
“The governor has the right to appoint whenever he pleases. He’ll let us know, and we’ll make the announcement and send you the release accordingly,” he said.
Amadi did not answer multiple calls sent to his mobile phone by our correspondent, nor did he respond to messages given to him on WhatsApp or text messaged on Wednesday night, despite our best efforts to get in touch with him.
Amadi is a relative of Wike who lives in Rivers State’s Obio/Akpor Local Government Area. With his departure, the number of Wike supporters who have departed Fubara’s cabinet since the start of the political impasse between Fubara and his elusive political godfather, Wike, now stands at ten. Amadi’s resignation follows demands that Fubara name Edison Ehie, a former factional Speaker of the state House of Assembly, as Chief of Staff.
On January 3, the Ijaw Youth Council, Worldwide, demanded that Fubara name Ehie as Chief of Staff as payment for Ehie’s support of the administration during the height of a plan to remove Fubara from office by 27 lawmakers who were loyal to former governor Nyesom Wike.
According to Platinumpost, the Rivers State House of Assembly became polarised as a result of the conspiracy to remove Fubara, with Ehie leading four members and Martin Amaewhule leading 26 lawmakers who supported the move.
Fubara avoided the 27 parliamentarians who supported Wike in December and gave the 2024 budget to the five members of the Ehie faction, which approved the budget on December 13.
But as part of an eight-point agreement negotiated at Aso Rock in Abuja, President Bola Tinubu intervened, asking Fubara to acknowledge the 27 lawmakers who supported Wike and return the budget to them for approval.
Ehie resigned from the House of Assembly a few weeks after the Abuja conference, notifying the Independent National Electoral Commission that he was no longer an Edo lawmaker.
Although Ehie did not provide a detailed explanation for his resignation, Fubara stated, days later, that Ehie’s departure was a part of deliberate steps to restore calm and end the state’s political crisis.
During its plenary session on Tuesday at the Assembly quarters along Aba Road, Port Harcourt, the Amaewhue-led Assembly demanded of Fubara that he present the 2024 budget for new passage, claiming the state was operating without one.
However, Fubara remained silent on the lawmakers’ proposal as of Wednesday, and no state government representative has responded to the remark, which could herald a new round of unrest in the state.
