As the political crisis rocking the oil rich South – South state of Rivers continues deepening, the member representing Bonny Constituency in the Rivers State House of Assembly, Hon. Victor Oko-Jumbo, has emerged as the new Speaker of the House, loyal to Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
The announcement which came via a Facebook posting on Wednesday could be a direct response to the opposition All Progressives Congress’ (APC) directive to the 27 Assembly members to impeach Governor Fubara.
The unexpected turn of events has taken the State back to the era of the former factional Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Eddison Ehie, who resigned as both Speaker and member of the House to serve as Chief of staff to the Governor.
The emergence of the Bonny-born politician as the factional Speaker of the State House of Assembly came barely 48 hours after Fubara declared that the majority 27 members of the House, who defected from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), as non-existent.
The governor spoke when a delegation of Bayelsa State political and traditional leaders visited him at Government House, Port Harcourt, on Monday had remarked, “I accepted that peace accord to give them a floating (soft-landing). That’s the truth. There is nothing in that peace accord that is a constitutional issue. It is a political solution to a problem. I accepted it because these are people that were visiting me and we were together in my house”.
