Rivers Assembly Speaker, Edison, stops salaries of 25 defected lawmakers, demands INEC to conduct bye-elections to fill vacant seats

The Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Edison Ehie, has ordered the stoppage of the salaries of the salaries of the 25 lawmakers in the state legislature who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The Speaker, accordingly, ordered the Accountant General of Rivers State to stop payment of salaries and allowances to the 25 lawmakers who defected to the APC.

Rt. Hon, Ehie also demanded the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct bye-elections to fill the vacant seats vacated by the 25 defected members of the State House of Assembly.

The Speaker had led the lawmakers in alliance with Governor Sim Fubara, last Wednesday, to pass a resolution, declaring the seats of the defected lawmakers vacant.

Rt. Hon. Ehie, thereafter, in a letter to the INEC, dated December 14, 2023, titled: “Notice of Vacancies in the Rivers State House of Assembly and Request for Conduct of Fresh Elections in the 25 State Constituencies in the Rivers State House of Assembly”, listed the names of the 25 lawmakers and their constituencies, whose seats were vacated after the defection to APC.

Meanwhile, the court has restrained the INEC from conducting bye-elections in Rivers State to fill the vacated 25 seats.