Premised on a recent comment by Former Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike that there is nothing wrong if Siminalayi Fubara is impeached, Rivers-based activist Jake Epelle on Thursday said any impeachment move by
former governor Nyesom Wike and his loyalists in the state’s House of Assembly against his estranged successor
Siminalayi Fubara won’t succeed.
Epelle said Wike cannot advocate peace and yet spur his loyalists in the Martins Amaewhule-led legislative body to
impeach the sitting governor of the oil-rich state.
“Let them go and try impeachment; they will not succeed,” Epelle asserted while appearing on a media program.
He boasted that nobody will impeach Fubara because he hasn’t committed any impeachable offence and that the
people are solidly behind him.
“Will anything happen if he is impeached? No; the Rivers people are not troublesome the way we are painted, but we
will stand behind him (Fubara) and stand behind democracy.
“If we don’t stem the tide of this chaos, it can happen to any other person. This threat of impeachment going round should stop.”
The long-running dispute between Fubara and the Wike-backed House of Assembly appears to have no end in sight,
as the governor was refused entry to the Assembly building on Wednesday when he appeared to re-present the state’s
2025 budget, as required by the House following the February 28, 2025, Supreme Court ruling.
Although the Assembly claimed not to have received any correspondence to that effect, the governor claimed to have
communicated his visit to Amaewhule.
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At a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, as the drama played out in the South-South state, Federal Capital
Territory (FCT) Minister Wike stated that there would be no issue if lawmakers chose to impeach Fubara for alleged
impeachable offences, such as depriving them of their salaries for months.
Epelle, an activist, criticized the Assembly for not committing to the path of peace and for embarrassing the governor.
Additionally, he accused Wike of inflaming the situation by threatening to remove Fubara from office.
“Wike does not have the constitutional authority to remove a governor,” Epelle stated. Although he is not a member of
the State Assembly, he has the authority to demand impeachment.
“He has the right, in his personal opinion, to call for his (Fubara’s) impeachment, but the people that will execute the impeachment are members of the State Assembly.
“Is there anybody beating the drum for the masquerade that is dancing? Of course, there is.
“I was told that at the point that the governor was coming to the gate, they (assembly members) received a call from Abuja (whoever made that call, I don’t know), that they shouldn’t see the governor.
“So, it’s a case of somebody beating the drum somewhere, and the state assembly people are dancing to the beatings
of the drum or acting the script that they were given. That’s very unfair.”
