The Rivers State House of Assembly on Monday rescinded its earlier decision to declare vacant the seats of three lawmakers loyal to Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
The move follows recent peace and reconciliation efforts aimed at resolving the political crisis in the state.
The affected lawmakers are Victor Oko-Jumbo (Bonny), Adolphus Timothy Oruibienimigha (Opobo/Nkoro) and Sokari Goodboy Sokari (Ahoada West).
At plenary, the House read a letter from the three lawmakers in which they said they never received the correspondence asking them to resume legislative sittings after the President’s intervention in the crisis.
The lawmakers tendered apology to the House, which was accepted.
The House, thereafter, directed them to resume their legislative duties.
This comes after the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, led stakeholders of the Rainbow Coalition, again, to pay a visit to Governor Fubara on Sunday at his private residence in Port Harcourt.
The lawmakers were suspended on October 30, 2023, the day the Assembly made its first attempt to impeach Governor Fubara.
They have been absent from sittings for almost three years.
Their return to the House comes as stakeholders question the nature of the recent peace process led by Wike.
Some have described it as one-sided, noting that it did not provide for the lawmakers’ return to the House.
However, the three lawmakers will not return to the Assembly after this tenure as they were all screened out of the All Progressives Congress, APC, primary election process.
