Rivers Assembly Crisis: Structural defect adduced as reason for demolishing Assembly Complex; 25 Pro-Wike lawmakers says what has happened is a rape on history, history has just been murdered

The Rivers state government Wednesday morning begun the demolition of the State House of Assembly building on Moscow Road, Port Harcourt City local government area, amid the ongoing political turmoil in the state.

The demolition according to our Reporter who was warned along with newsmen from other media houses by armed wielding policemen to distance from the Assembly building on Moscow Road, Port Harcourt started at about 7 a.m., with 11 bulldozers and other heavy-duty equipment sighted from  a building opposite the Assembly complex.

Meanwhile, the Rivers State government has taken responsibility for the Wednesday morning demolition of the House of Assembly.

Mr. Joseph Johnson, the Commissioner for Information and Communications, said the demolition was necessitated by the structural defects from the 29 October explosion and fire incident that “rendered the main building unfit for human use.”

In a statement he released as the complex was being pulled down, Johnson said experts advised the government to discontinue the use of the building.

“After the assessment of the integrity of the complex, the experts warned the government that continuing to use the building in its present state would be disastrous,” he disclosed.

The commissioner said the Assembly complex would be rebuilt but gave no timeline. In the meantime, the Rivers State government has provided an alternative venue for lawmakers to sit.

This development follows Mondays defection of 25 out of the 32 members of the State House of Assembly from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) as well as the arson incidence on October 29 after unknown persons burnt a section of the Assembly complex.

The 25 Rivers State House of Assembly members who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress have reacted to the Wednesday demolition of the Assembly Complex by the State Government.

The group led by Martin Amaewhule condemned the demolition of the assembly complex by the state government.

Speaking on the matter in a chat with Channels Television, the spokesperson for the group, George Alabo, expressed shock over the demolition and described the exercise as a rape of the history of the state’s legislative arm.

He said all the documents and archives of the Assembly since inception were destroyed in the demolition, “erasing” the history of the state’s legislature, adding that the lawmakers would not be disturbed by the antics of Governor Siminalayi Fubara

“We woke up this morning and we were told that the Rivers State House of Assembly Complex which has housed the activities of the House of Assembly for many years is being brought down alongside all our documents, alongside all our archives, alongside all our belongings, alongside the entire records of the Rivers State House of Assembly to date, everything is being brought down.

“No notice, no warning, people on ground were kicked away, there was no opportunity to rescue anything. The history of the house of assembly from inception has just been brought down, that is what we are talking about now.

“Our archives, our legislative department, our legal department, our library, all our records, the entire history of the house of assembly has just been brought down in one fell swoop, that is the sorry state we have found ourselves.

“It is sad but we are not worried, we are unbothered but what has happened is a rape on history, history has just been murdered but it is fine, we will not be deterred.”

The Melo drama playing out in the Rivers State House of Assembly seemingly heightened when some members of the Assembly believed to be loyal of the immediate past governor and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Nyesom Wike initiated impeachment against the governor on Monday, October 30, a day after the inferno.

In the attempted impeachment of Governor Fubara, the Majority Leader Ehie Edison, known to be his ally, was removed but was subsequently elected Speaker in October by a faction of the House after the attempt to impeach Fubara failed.

And on Tuesday, December 12, the state high court in Port Harcourt granted expatriate order empowering Edison Ehie  to become the authentic speaker of the state’s House of Assembly.

The presiding judge, M.W Danagogo, ordered Martin Amaewhule and Dumle Maol, who claim to be the House leaders, to refrain from parading themselves or meddling with Ehie’s duties as speaker of the state House of Assembly.