Ann-Kio Briggs: Defected Rivers State Lawmakers Not Recognized By Law, Only By Tinubu’s Impositions
A frontline Niger Delta activist, Ann-Kio Briggs, has thrown her weight behind the Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, on his refusal to further recognise the leadership of the House of Assembly led by Rt. Hon. Martins Amaewhule.
Recall that Fubara had while addressing a delegation of political and traditional leaders from Bayelsa State at Government House, Port Harcourt, recently, described that the 25 members of the Assembly, who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), as non-existent.
Barely 48 hours after the governor’s declaration had the member representing Bonny Constituency in the state Assembly and Fubara’s loyalist, Hon. Victor Oko-Jumbo, emerged as a factional Speaker of the House.
Briggs, in a statement issued in Port Harcourt, stated that the 25 lawmakers were not recognised by law but by the ‘unconstitutional and risky solutions’ President Bola Tinubu imposed on the people and government of the state as solutions to the political oppression of a few people on the majority of the people.
The statement reads in part: “Governor Fubara is 100% right when he says the former lawmakers are not recognised by law, but by the unconstitutional and risky solutions President Bola Tinubu imposed on the people and government of Rivers State as solutions to the political oppression of a few people on the majority of the people.
“All indigenes of Rivers State and non- indigenes, who live and work in Rivers State should not be silent at this time in Rivers State as the fallout from the oppressive ambition will affect Rivers State, Niger Delta and Nigeria’s economy,” Briggs said.
She took a swipe at the leadership of the APC in the state for calling on the House of Assembly to commence impeachment proceedings on the governor, insisting that no particular ethnic group in the state is more Rivers than the other.
Briggs said: “In our Rivers State, the political and judiciary irresponsibility and rascality is dangerous. No one in Rivers State, indigene or not, can pretend not to understand how volatile Rivers State is.
“The politics of Rivers State is politics of upland and riverine, this is one of the sentiments behind the choice of the former Governor of Rivers State, now the Minister of FCT in choosing Governor Fubara to take over from him.
“Rivers state is about “The People” of Rivers State and not any individual or groups of individuals.
“Rivers State is a state of Ethnic Nationalities that will and should continue to live together in peace and equality to bring development, equity and security. No ethnic nationality is more Rivers state than the other, this is why the support for Gov Sim Fubara is across Ethnic Nationalities of Rivers state. l am proud of all peoples of Rivers State for choosing to support and empower political rights of our beloved state.
“APC of Rivers State is a political party fractionalised, APC have 2 Rivers State chairmen. The matter of APC chairmanship is in court. APC is not in a position to call on a group of Rivers State sons and daughters whose claim as representing the people of Rivers State as lawmakers is awaiting judgement in Rivers State Court of appeal,” Briggs noted.
