Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State has declared that lawmakers in the House of Assembly don’t exist legally and constitutionally.
Addressing a delegation of political and traditional leaders from Bayelsa State, who visited him at the Government House in Port Harcourt, the state capital on Monday, Fubara, who has become a sworn enemy of his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, said he has decided to derecognise the lawmakers because they are ‘ingrates’.
He said: “Those group of men who claim that are Assembly members are not Assembly members, they are not existing. I want it to be on record. I accepted that Peace Accord to give them a floating.
“That is the truth. There was nothing in that Peace Accord that’s a constitutional issue. It is a political solution to a problem.
“And I accepted it because these were people that were eating in my house, these were people I have helped pay their children’s school fees when I wasn’t even a governor. So, what is the thing there?
“We might have our division but I believe that one day, we could also come together but it has gotten to a time when I have to make a statement that they are not existing.
“Their existence is me allowing them to exist. If I de-recognise them, they are nowhere. I want you to see the sacrifice I have made in allowing peace to reign in our state”.
The delegation sought to address the ongoing political crisis in Rivers State and foster an improved relationship between the two states.
Wike, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, controls majority of the lawmakers.