Nnamdi Chukwu
THE new Speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Barr. Edison Ogerenye Ehie, insists that the suspension of some erring members of the 10th State Assembly remains sacrosanct.
Responding to questions on the current issues bedevilling the House, the Speaker revealed that efforts are on to nail those distracting issues and that the House, in addition, will set up a Special Standing Committee that will look into the cases of the erring members and report back to the House with recommendations on the way forward.
It was also gathered that the affected members will be given opportunities to defend themselves in line with the House Rules.
It is expected that the House would resume its full legislative business even as the Speaker thanked the governor of the state, Sir Siminalayi Fubara for his determination to provide dividends of democracy for the people of the state and his determination to take the state’s economy to an enviable height.
Eighteen-Eleven Media reports that about 26 out of the 32 members of the state House of Assembly in the wake of the crisis that engulfed the state suspended the then Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Martins Amaehwule, elected and inaugurated the then Leader of the House, Edison Ehie, as its new Speaker.
The suspended lawmakers are those loyal to the former governor of the state who is now a serving minister. They were accused of a plot to remove the governor, Sir Fubara.
The crisis had led to the burning down of the hallowed chambers of the legislative arm of the government on the night of 26 October.
Following the crisis, the state Assembly premises had been cordoned off by fully armed security personnel.
Eighteen-Eleven Media