Abe, Others Condemn PDP Action Against Assembly Members

Politicians in Rivers State have condemned the action of the new executive of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to suspend the House of Assembly members for suspending the Obio/Akpor Local Government chairman, vice and 17 councillors for reckless spending of public funds.

The new executive of the PDP of Rivers State led by Felix Obuah on Monday suspended 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly from the party.

The Obuah led executive had last week requested that the lawmakers should lift the suspension placed on the Obio/Akpor council leadership within 48 hours.

Re acting on the issue yesterday, Senator Magnus Ngei Abe frowned at the action of the PDP executive, and noted that their action had shown that they were out to destroy the party in the state.

Abe, who represents Rivers South East in the National Assembly, condemned the party executive’s attempt to intimidate the legislature in the execution of their constitutional duties in the state.

According to him, “what this amounts to is a clear effort by somebody to undermine the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It has never happened anywhere.”

“Even in the House of Representatives when the party came to prevail on the PDP members in the National Assembly to elect somebody as speaker, and they elected somebody else, nobody suspended all the PDP members of the House of Representatives because everybody understands that a lawmaker is supposed to vote his conscience at critical times.

“That’s the foundation of our presidential system of government. So, we are not in a parliamentary democracy where the party can order you to vote one way or the other”, he said.

He, however, said it was a ridiculous action as he urged Rivers people and members of the State House of Assembly to ignore the PDP action and continue with their constitutional responsibilities.

He charged Rivers people to remain calm and not allow themselves to be provoked, adding that some people were working and planning to cause crisis in the state by all means.

“We know where it is coming from and we know what it is targeted at. This state has witnessed unprecedented peace and development over the last few years. And, we should be careful that we are not in any way deceived to throw all that overboard,” he said.

The Leader of the Rivers House of Assembly, Chidi Lloyd while reacting to the suspension order, said that the party executive acted against a subsisting court order which last Monday, restrained them from suspending or tampering with the membership of the House.

Lloyd disclosed that the House members had initiated a contempt case against the Obuah-led executives yesterday.

“They are only acting against the order of a court which has restrained them from taking this line of action. We got wind of the action and tried to counter it at 3 pm. This amounts to contempt of court and we are going to the court to get them charged for it”, he revealed.

Meanwhile, the media aide to the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Otelemaba Amachree, Mr, Jim Udede-Okpiki has said the state PDP exco does not have the constitutional powers to suspend members of the House of Assembly.