Rivers Assembly fails to sit amid rumors of plot to remove speaker Amaewhule

The Rivers State House of Assembly didn’t meet on Thursday, a week after adjourning its last sitting, as speculation swirls about internal moves to remove Speaker Martin Amaewhule.

The House had adjourned last Thursday after starting impeachment proceedings against Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Prof. Ngozi Odu, over allegations of gross misconduct.

At that sitting, lawmakers accused the governor of demolishing the Assembly complex and spending money without legislative approval. They directed the Clerk to serve an impeachment notice on the governor, giving him seven days to respond, then adjourned until Thursday, January 15, 2026.

But when the Assembly was supposed to reconvene on Thursday, there was no plenary session and no official explanation.

The Amaewhule-led House currently meets at the conference hall of its legislative quarters along Aba Road in Port Harcourt. As of press time, the complex was inactive with no sign of when lawmakers would meet again.

Efforts to reach Enemi George, chairman of the House committee on information, petitions and complaints, were unsuccessful. Calls and text messages went unanswered.

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The failure to sit comes as internal divisions grow within the Assembly. Between Monday and Wednesday, four lawmakers publicly pulled out of the impeachment process, calling for a political solution to the crisis.

Earlier in the week, Minority Leader Sylvanus Nwankwo (Omuma constituency) and Peter Abbey (Degema constituency) withdrew from the impeachment move, citing the need for peace and stability in the state.

On Wednesday, two female lawmakers — Barile Nwakoh (Khana I) and Emilia Amadi (Obio/Akpor II) — also asked their colleagues to suspend the impeachment and embrace dialogue.

While the lawmakers maintained the crisis stemmed from alleged constitutional breaches by Governor Fubara and his deputy, they called for a political solution if assurances were given that existing agreements would be respected.

According to The Punch, a senior government official, speaking anonymously, said that the Assembly’s failure to reconvene was linked to rumours of a planned attempt to impeach Speaker Amaewhule.

According to the official, the Speaker may have chosen not to convene the House after learning of the alleged plan.

Separately, former federal lawmaker and ex-Rivers State Commissioner for Information, Ogbonna Nwuke, said the withdrawal of some lawmakers’ suggested opinions within the House was shifting.

Nwuke said the state needed cooperation between the executive and legislature to prevent further instability.

“I think what Rivers people want at this point is clarity — that there will be no impeachment and that the executive and legislature can work together in the interest of the state,” he said.

The Rivers political crisis has drawn interventions from several groups, including the Pan Niger Delta Forum and the Rivers State Elders and Leaders Forum, which have set up committees to resolve the rift between former governor Nyesom Wike and his successor, Governor Fubara.

Oluwatosin Ogunjuyigbe is a writer and journalist who covers business, finance, technology, and the changing forces shaping Nigeria’s economy. He focuses on turning complex ideas into clear, compelling stories.

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