What Tinubu told us: Rivers factional Assembly Speaker reveals why pro-Wike lawmakers joined APC

Martins Chike Amaewhule, the factional speaker of the Rivers state House of Assembly, has insisted that the 27 lawmakers defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) due to an internal crisis.

Amaewhule said this during a dedication service and stakeholders meeting of the APC in Port Harcourt, Rivers state capital, on Sunday, December 17.

The lawmaker said he and his colleagues have evidence to prove a crisis in the PDP which necessitated their defection, Vanguard reported.

“We defected in line to the provision of the 1999constitution, section 109. We didn’t do anything contrary to the constitution. We have evidence that there is a crisis in the PDP. We have every right under the constitution to defect," he said.

Apart from the reported PDP crisis, Amaewhule said they left their former party because President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is doing very well, especially with the appointments of Rivers indigenes into various key positions in his government.

He narrated what the president told them: “We begged Mr President, the former president could not attend to the problems of the state, so we begged Mr President (Bola Ahmed Tinubu) that we have a problem. Look at the east-west road, the road leading to Ogoni...

"The president gave us his words and said go back home irrespective of your party, I am a detribalized Nigerian, that’s what the president told us."

Apart from giving key appointments to Rivers state's indigenes, Amaewhule said President Tinubu's government is also committed to providing key infrastructures, including the east-west road, Port Harcourt refinery, etc.

“All the people he appointed are not APC members. The president shows that he is detribalized," he said.

The factional speaker urged Rivers people to support President Tinubu so that he will continue to do good things for the state.

Four lawmakers cannot form a quorum - Amaewhule

Amaewhule also stated that the four-man faction led by Edison Ehie cannot form a quorum, and whatever they are doing in the name of the assembly is null and void.

“We hear that some four persons gathered and are meeting somewhere we don’t know," he said.

"Anything they told you they have done, ignore them. It’s null and void. The law is clear anything you are doing, you must do it in line with the dictates of the constitution and the standing orders of the Rivers House of Assembly. We are 27 in all. They are just four."

Legit.ng notes that the 27 lawmakers are loyal to Nyesom Wike, the FCT minister, who is fighting his successor, Siminalayi Fubara, allegedly over the control of Rivers state's political structure.