Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere, a member of the House of Representatives, has received a warning from the All Progressives Congress, APC, Rivers State chapter, to stay out of state politics.
Following the committee meeting on Wednesday, the party’s caretaker committee, chaired by Chief Tony Okocha, issued the warning in a statement made accessible the media.
Warisenibo Dan Jumbo (Welfare), Hon. Darling Amadi (Women Leader), Hon. Ikenga Chibuike (Publicity Secretary), and Chief Eric Nwibani (Secretary) were present at the meeting.
Okocha, who spoke on behalf of the caretaker committee, said, “We have been paying keen attention to the constant rants by one Ugochinyere Ikenga, where he discussed issues not within his jurisdiction.
“As a non-Rivers man, he lacks the locus standi to discuss Rivers matters.
“Ugochinyere doesn’t represent any of the 13 federal House of Representatives seats from Rivers State.
“He rather represents the Ideato Federal constituency in Imo State. When and how is he qualified to speak about Rivers?”
He further stated that when Imo State had insecurity issues, “Ikenga said and did nothing. It was so bad the police were instructed not to follow VIPs to Imo except on express approval from the IG, but he saw nothing and did nothing.
“As a member of the PDP in Imo State, how has he helped Imo State? His interest is only to fill his pockets by the government of Rivers who are obviously clueless themselves.”
Okocha declared that, “We will no longer tolerate his excesses at this point. In his lies, he alleged that the House of Assembly vetoed the governor’s rights and didn’t send him notice of the bills.
“I make bold to say all the laws vetoed are bills sent to the governor, and he refused to sign. The constitution provides for the Assembly to override the governor after 30 days of notice.
“He also claimed the Assembly sits in their homes, and that’s an insult and a terrible lie. We all know their sittings are always on both social and traditional media. As for the issue of the Assembly being right or wrong, it is a matter to be decided by the courts.”
Regarding the issue of the seats of the Assembly members who defected to APC being vacant, Okocha said, “Section 40 of the constitution gives the right to freedom; section 68 (G) states that everyone has the right to belong to a political party; section 109, sub-section G, was express as to why, how, and when a political party can be formed.
“For Ikenga to become a judge for a matter already in court is worrisome.
“Who hired him as a lawyer or Amigus (friend) of the state? If he is, he will churn out opinions to help the state. It’s quite obvious he is the hireling of the governor.
“He (Ugochinyere) didn’t see the recklessness of the state government where hundreds of millions are spent for jamboree thanksgiving, unlike other governors who think out of the box.
“Ikenga didn’t see when elderly women were made to dress half-naked; he didn’t see anything wrong with the fact that the government had refused to hold local government elections, but he saw everything wrong with the Assembly trying to maintain law and order in the state.”
He accused the governor of being visionless and clueless, advising Governor Fubara to ask his colleagues in Borno, Lagos, and Akwa Ibom how they were making their people happy.
“Someone should point to one thing the governor has done so far; they always mention paying salaries, and in all sincerity, paying salaries is not an achievement as you have to pay people working for you,” he further stated.
He gave Ugochinyere 48 hours to apologise to Rivers people for allegedly doing hatchet work for a governor and government in coma.
Ugochinyere had described the amendment of Sections of the Law No. 5 of 2018, extending the tenure of elected Local Government chairmen in Rivers State by the Martin Amaehwule-led House of Assembly as a recipe for anarchy.
He alleged that the law was never sent to the Governor for his assent in the first place.
