The Rivers House of Assembly has launched a fresh attack against Hon. Edison Ehie, a loyalist of Governor Siminalayi Fubara and former factional speaker of the state House of Assembly, asserting that the ex-lawmaker was never officially recognized as a speaker.

Ehie, who was the majority leader of the Assembly before announcing himself as the factional speaker on December 29, 2023, resigned from his position as both the speaker and member representing Ahaoda East Constituency 11 in the Assembly on December 29, 2023.

A Rivers State high court had also held that Ehie should be recognised as a speaker pending the determination of a substantive suit before it.

In a statement released in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, January 3, the Clerk of the Assembly, Emeka Amadi, asserted that Ehie was never elected speaker of the Assembly and that he shouldn’t have claimed to have resigned from that position.

He said: “The attention of the Rivers State House of Assembly has been drawn to a letter dated 29 December 2023, addressed to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and circulating in the media. It was purportedly written and signed by Rt. Hon. Edison Ehie DSSRS – member representing Ahoada East Constituency II in the Rivers State of Assembly wherein he claimed to have resigned from the position of the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, an office he never occupied.

“I am therefore directed to call on the good people of Rivers State to disregard the false claim in this letter that is intended to mislead the unsuspecting public. Rt. Hon. Edison Ehie DSSRS was never at any time in the life of the Rivers State House of Assembly elected a Speaker. The Office of the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly is a creation of the 1999 Constitution (As altered) and should not be ridiculed by any member who swore to preserve it and abide by the Constitution.

“As a matter of fact, on Monday, the 5th day of June 2023, after the proclamation of the 10 Rivers State House of Assembly by the Governor, and in line with Section 92 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (As altered), I, as the then Acting Clerk of the House, conducted the election that produced Rt. Hon. Martin Chike Amaewhule, DSSRS, as the Speaker of the 10 Rivers State House of Assembly by the unanimous votes of all other thirty-one (31) members sitting and present. It is also imperative to state that, from the 5th day of June 2023, when he was elected till today, Rt. Hon. Martin Chike Amaewhule DSSRS, has been performing his duties as the Speaker.”