At the end of the bye-elections in the two constituencies of Ahoada East and Khana in Rivers State for the two vacant House of Assembly seats taking place Saturday, the All Progressives Congress (APC) will most certainly add to their superior numerical strength in the 32-member state assembly.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had announced that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), African Democratic Congress (ADC), and Labour Party (LP) were barred from fielding candidates for not meeting the criteria set for qualification to present candidates for the election.
This leaves the field open for the APC which will easily run over the other six political parties cleared by the electoral umpire .
In the heat of the political crisis in the state, 17 members of the state House of Assembly including the speaker, Martins Amaewhule had announced their defection from the PDP to the APC, giving the broom party a clear majority in the House.
The FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, who though is a card carrying member of the PDP, but is aligned to the APC particularly in bolstering support for Tinubu’s re-election in 2027, had instructed his loyalists both in the PDP and APC to support candidates fielded by the APC for the two bye-election positions.
Meanwhile, there are strong indications that the executive and legislative arms of government in the state could close ranks and work together for the peace and development of the state.
This followed the withdrawal of the impeachment process initiated against Governor Fubara by the Amaewhule led legislature.
This is coming on the heals of the recent peace brokered by president Bola Tinubu between the warring factions in the Rivers conflict.
Rivers State has remained literally at a standstill since October 2023 when disagreement broke out between Wike and Governor Siminalayi Fubara whom the minister facilitated his ascent to the position of governor.
The minister had instigated the House of Assembly majorly made up of his loyalists to impeach the governor, a situation that grounded meaningful development in the state.
With the withdrawal of the impeachment process, it is hoped that normal governance activities will return and Rivers people will begin to feel the impact of executive -legislstive synergy.
