Rivers Assembly To Re-Screen, Reinstate Nine Ex-Commissioners

Nine former Commissioners who withdrew from the state executive council on Wednesday are scheduled to be rescreened and confirmed by the Rivers State House of Assembly.

This was said in a statement made on Monday in Port Harcourt and signed by Emeka Amadi, the Clerk of the House.

The clerk said the commissioners include Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof. Zacchaeus Adangor (SAN), Commissioner for Works, Dr Des George-Kelly, Commissioner for Special Duties, Emeka Woke, Commissioner for Social Welfare and Rehabilitation, Mrs Inime Aguma, Commissioner for Finance, Isaac Kamalu.

A few others include the resignations of Commissioners for Education (Prof. Chinedu Mmom), Housing (Dr. Gift Worlu), Transport (Dr. Jacobson Nbina), and Environment (Austin Ben-Chioma).He said they are expected to produce 40 sets of their Curriculum Vitae, photocopies as well as original copies of their credentials to the State House of Assembly, Legislative Quarters (venue for the screening).

A wave of resignations rocked the State’s Executive Council on December 16, 2023, as a result of the political impasse between State Governor Fubara and his predecessor, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Nyesom Wike.

One of the conditions of President Tinubu’s peace accord with Governor Fubara was the reinstatement of the previous commissioners who had quit their positions.

The state governor dispatched bulldozers to destroy the state Assembly structure during the height of the dispute, and the four lawmakers who supported Fubara declared the seats of the 27 lawmakers who supported Wike empty due to their defection to the All Progressives Congress.

Fubara gave the Ehie group the state budget for 2024.

He promised to fully implement the N800 billion budget when he signed it into law.

The resignations of Wike-supporting commissioners came next.

But following a meeting with President Bola Tinubu and the parties involved in the political crisis in Rivers State, a peace resolution paper was made public.

President Tinubu and other key players mediated an eight-point peace agreement during the critical meeting in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.NAN