The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has accused Governor Siminalayi Fubara of plotting to procure an interim order of Court, which will declare the present Rivers State House of Assembly illegal.
APC caretaker committee chairman in the state, Chief Tony Okocha, who made allegation while speaking with journalists in Port Harcourt on Thursday, said the contemplated court order also intended to render null and void, all the laws which the Rt. Hon. Martins Amaewhule-led House vetoed against the governor.
Okocha stated that Fubara intended to leverage on the interim order to appoint caretaker committees for the 23 local government areas in the state.
He said: “I want to use this opportunity to inform Rivers people and Nigerians of the move by the governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, to procure interim orders from judges that I will not name here, but I will put in my petition to the NJC.
“What is the intention? He wants to procure interim order stopping the implementation of the laws he was vetoed over. He wants to procure an order to announce as illegal, the Rivers State House of Assembly, as constituted and led by Rt. Hon. Martins Chike Amaewhule.
“The governor is in the business as we speak and I speak with all authority because the walls have ears. We live in their kitchen, we live in the parlour, their sitting room. We live in their bedrooms. These are the plans that are on. You may get this plot confirmed before Monday next week.
“He is doing that so that he will now leverage on the interim order to go ahead to appoint caretaker committees for local government councils against the warning of the man he says he respects, the President.”
The APC caretaker chairman said the party, as the leading opposition in the state, will do everything legitimate to ensure that the plot does not come to fruition.
Okocha said: “But, let’s put it clearly here that we will stoutly, vehemently oppose such negative subterranean moves by a man who ought to protect the dignity and integrity of a state called Rivers State.
“I have said that Rivers State cannot be turned to a pariah state because of the actions of one person. Rivers State is a state to be reckoned with in the comity of states, duly respected and regarded.”
But, when contacted, the state’s Commissioner for Information and Communications, Warisenibo Joe Johnson, described the allegation by the APC as baseless.
Johnson said the APC was only panicking due to the show of organic love for the governor by the people of the state.
He said: “Baseless! They are panicked because they know their fall is near. Rivers people spoke yesterday (Wednesday) through the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) and that organic love expressed, threw the camp of the factional acting Party chairman of APC into this feverish situation.”