The representative for Bonny Constituency in the Rivers State House of Assembly, Hon. Victor Oko-Jumbo, has declared himself the new Speaker of the House, pledging allegiance to Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
This announcement appears to be a response to the directive from the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) instructing the 27 Assembly members to impeach Governor Fubara.
Oko-Jumbo assumes the position previously held by the former factional Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Eddison Ehie, who resigned from both his role as Speaker and as a member of the House on December 31, 2023.
Ehie, representing Ahoada-East Constituency 2, was subsequently appointed as Chief of Staff to Governor Fubara.
However, details regarding the location and timing of the election that resulted in Oko-Jumbo, a staunch supporter of the state governor, being chosen remain undisclosed.
The emergence of this politician, hailing from Bonny, as the factional Speaker of the State House of Assembly occurred shortly after Fubara declared that the purported majority of 27 House members who had defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) were invalid.
The governor spoke when a delegation of Bayelsa State political and traditional leaders visited him at Government House, Port Harcourt, on Monday.
He had said: “Let me say it here, those group of men who claim that they are Assembly members, they are not existing. I want it to be on record.
“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.
“These are people that I have helped in many ways when I wasn’t even a Governor. Yes, we might have our disagreements, but I believe that one day, we could also come together. That was the reason I did it.
“But I think it has gotten to a time when I need to make a statement on this thing, so that they understand that they are not existing. Their existence and whatever they have been doing is because I allowed them to do so. If I don’t recognise them, they are nowhere, that is the truth.”