Rivers State Assembly Speaker Resigns, Former Speaker Emerges Again

The Rivers State House of Assembly has been engulfed in a political turmoil that has seen the Speaker vacating office.

Adams Dabotorudima

 

For the second time in one year, the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly has resigned from office according to the Punch.

 

The erstwhile incumbent, Adams Dabotorudima, resigned today (Friday, December 30, 2016).

 

It may be recalled that Dabotorudima’s predecessor in office, Mr. Ikuinyi-Owaji Ibani, resigned on Friday, December 18, 2015, shortly after Governor Nyesom Wike presented the N307bn Appropriation Bill for 2016 before the House.

 

Ibani was succeeded by Dabotorudima, who represented the Okrika constituency, the same Rivers East Senatorial District as Wike.

 

And now, Dabotorudima has toed the path of his predecessor in office. Meanwhile, In a dramatic twist to the dance of the bizarre that politics has become in Rivers State, the former Speaker of the Rivers State of House Assembly, Mr. Ibani Ikuinyi-Owaji, who resigned from office a year ago on December 18, 2015 under controversial circumstances, have reemerged as the Speaker of the volatile Assembly.

 

Ikuinyi-Owaji’s predecessor who had succeeded him following his (Ikuinyi-Owaji) resignation in 2015, Adams Dabotorudima, announced his own resignation during a sitting of the House on Friday (today) after the swearing-in of  the 12 lawmakers who won the December 10 legislative rerun in the state.

 

The new Speaker, Ibani Ikuinyi-Owaji, was immediately elected in an exercise that was conducted by the Deputy Speaker of the House, Mr. Marshal Uwom.

 

It may be recalled that Ikuinyi-Owaji resigned as Speaker on December 18, 2015 after Governor Nyesom Wike had presented the 2016 budget before the House.