Fubara appoints ex-speaker Edison Ehie as chief of staff

Siminalayi Fubara, governor of Rivers, has appointed Edison Ehie as his chief of staff.

 

Joseph Johnson, commissioner for information and communications, confirmed Edison’s appointment  on Monday.

Johnson said Ehie and five other special advisers would be sworn in by Fubara on Monday morning (today).

 

Ehie, an ally of Fubara, was elected speaker of the Rivers assembly in October by a faction of the house — after he was removed as the house leader.

 

He subsequently resigned as a member of the Rivers house of assembly, representing Ahoada east constituency II, in December.

 

BACKGROUND

 

Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT) and immediate past governor of Rivers, and Fubara, his successor, have been embroiled in a struggle for control of the state’s political structure.

 

The feud between both men sparked a political crisis in the state — one that led to the demolition of the state house of assembly complex.

 

In the wake of the crisis, Wike’s associates in the Rivers house of assembly commenced impeachment proceedings against the governor.

 

Fubara’s allies kicked against the impeachment moves.

 

Thereafter, 27 lawmakers in the state house of assembly defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

 

At the time, Ehie declared the seats of the lawmakers who defected vacant.

 

The political crisis also resulted in the resignation of some of Fubara’s cabinet members.

 

On December 18, the governor and Wike agreed to end the political feud between them after President Bola Tinubu intervened.

 

Some of the resolutions reached at the meeting were that: All matters instituted in courts by the different factions should be “immediately” withdrawn, the 27 lawmakers who defected to the APC should be taken back as members of the assembly, and the impeachment proceedings against Fubara should be withdrawn.

 

The 27 lawmakers who signed the impeachment proceedings rescinded the notice against the governor.

 

The governor has also sworn in the commissioners who resigned from his government.

 

Last week, a federal high court in Abuja remanded five men for allegedly burning the Rivers state house of assembly complex in October.

 

Fire had gutted a section of the assembly complex and the main chamber on October 29, while lawmakers were planning to initiate impeachment proceedings against Fubara.