Rivers Crisis: PDP Issues Fresh Warning to 27 Pro-Wike Lawmakers, Details Emerge

• The Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has reiterated that the seats of the pro-Wike lawmakers who defected remain vacant
• This is contrary to claims by the lawmakers that whatever the remaining five lawmakers were doing in their absence remains null and void
• PDP also dismissed claims that all 27 lawmakers who defected decided on the premise that the party was having an internal crisis

Legit.ng journalist Segun Adeyemi has over 9 years of experience covering political events, civil societies, courts, and metro

Port Harcourt, Rivers - The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Rivers State has asserted that the positions of the 27 lawmakers who departed from the party are officially unoccupied, a declaration made by the House's new speaker, Edison Ehie.

Read also

Fubara vs Wike: Truth behind master, protégé fallout revealed

The Public Relations Officer of the PDP in Rivers State, Sidney Tambari Gbara, emphasised that these legislators needed to comply with legal requirements, underscoring that their seats are currently vacant.

As reported by Vanguard, Gbara said:

“We are all aware of what is going on in the state, and those who are alleging that there is a crisis in PDP that led to their defection should prove it.

“I don’t know where the problem is. They are in a better position to explain if there is problem in the party or not.

“On the issue of the decamped lawmakers talking about quorum and no quorum, those who defected, their seats have been declared vacant. The truth is that the state must move forward.”

Read also

APC gives update on location 27 Rivers lawmakers hold plenary after assembly demolition

Similarly, Joseph Johnson, the Commissioner for Information and Communications in the state, remarked that the legislators were entangled with the legal requirements they neglected to follow.

He said:

“The law you fail to obey cannot protect you. The 27 lawmakers, elected by their constituents, decided to walk out of their constitutional responsibility. They went out of their assignment on their volution; they said they had finished. They took the flag of APC. They bid PDP bye. What are they doing in court?"

PDP united under Damagum

Similarly, the national leadership of the PDP has rejected the assertions made by 27 dissident members of the Rivers State Assembly, who alleged factionalisation within the party.

Ibrahim Abdullahi, the Deputy National Public Secretary of the party, conveyed this message in a phone interview with the newspaper in Abuja.

In response to the G-27 lawmakers' claims that they left the PDP to join the APC due to factionalisation within the PDP, Abdullahi clarified that the Nigerian public is aware that these estranged lawmakers are acting on behalf of a "former governor of the state."

Read also

"Why we sacked governor, 16 PDP lawmakers in Plateau," Court of Appeal judge speaks

He pointed out that the conduct of this former governor contradicts his claim of being a PDP member.

Rivers crisis: Pro-Wike lawmakers in alleged plot to sabotage by-elections

Meanwhile, there are emerging concerns that the defected lawmakers might sabotage the upcoming by-election in Rivers State.

Legit.ng reports that there is an alleged plot by some of these lawmakers to use the court to halt the election.

This advisory alert was made known by the Centre for Africa Liberation and Socioeconomic Rights (CALSER).

Source: Legit.ng