The plot to impeach the Speaker of the Bayelsa Assembly, Tonye Emmanuel Isenah, has thickened following his refusal to step down against the directive of Governor Seriake Dickson and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders.
It was gathered that lawmakers loyal to the governor and the PDP had been mobilised to carry out an impeachment proceeding against Isenah, who had insisted that his resignation would not add any value to the PDP’s quest to win the November 16th gubernatorial election.
It was learnt that external forces powered by the opposition were planning to provide protection to Isenah to enable him retain his office.
Some of the lawmakers were also said to be against the move to remove the speaker, whom they described as a good jolly fellow and had vowed to stand against any motion in the House to actualise the plot.
Isenah was said to have tried to convene a sitting of the House on Monday with a plan to discuss some issues and adjourn the House for a recess till further notice.
But PDP leaders, who got wind of the development, reportedly prevailed on their loyal lawmakers not to attend the sitting, which failed to hold for lack of capacity to form a quorum.
Isenah came under intense pressure to relinquish his office in the House of Assembly to enable his party balance political equations ahead of the November 16 governorship election.
The Speaker was said to have reached an agreement with Dickson and other PDP leaders to vacate his office in the event that Senator Douye Diri, who hails from his Kolokuma-Opokuma Local Government Area, emerged the candidate of the PDP for the election.
Following the emergence of Diri, PDP leaders were said to have asked Isenah to surrender his position to another lawmaker from Southern Ijaw to enable the party garner votes from the council.
But Isenah was said to have insisted that he would not let go of his position before the governorship poll.
The speaker in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media, Aotendeike Boloigha, said he had served the PDP faithfully and had yet to see how his resignation would help the party in the forthcoming poll.
But PDP leaders against Isenah were reportedly determined to force him out of the office to make way for a lawmaker from Southern Ijaw to brighten brighten the Patsy’s chances at the poll.
But a source, who spoke in confidence, said Isenah’s travails were based on his refusal to initiate an impeachment proceeding against the Deputy Governor, Rear Admiral John Jonah (retd).
“It is not just about an agreement to step down. It is about the deputy governor. The powers that be accused the deputy governor of planning to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC) as an incumbent deputy governor. They don’t want that to happen.
“There are insinuations that Jonah wants to join the APC and contest the Bayelsa East senatorial election, which will be vacant if the APC wins the governorship election because the incumbent senator is the running mate to the APC candidate, David Lyon. So, the party leaders want Jonah out of the way but Isenah is refusing to be used to carry out the process”, he said.
Isenah’s Senior Special Assistant on New Media, Mr. Dickson Didi Opuene, hinted that the speaker was undergoing the travails for refusing PDP leaders’ request to impeach the deputy governor.
Opuene in the post that went viral wrote: ““First they asked him to impeach the deputy governor for no just reason and he refused, now they want him to resign just to perfect their aim and plan. No way, he will not resign, they should come and impeach him and lets see.
“Rt. Hon. Tonye Emmanuel Isenah remains the Speaker of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly and he has not resigned or will ever contemplate of doing so, please disregard any rumour of his resignation”.
However, the speaker in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media, Aotendeike Boloigha, denied the insinuations that Dickson was after him because he failed to carry out the governor’s request to initiate an impeachment proceeding against his Deputy, Rear Admiral John Jonah (retd).
Isenah described the posts as generated and authored by over ambitious politicians taking advantage of the present situation in the assembly saying the claims were not only untrue but misleading and aimed at heating up the system.
He said at no time had the governor imagined anything relating to impeachment of his deputy, whom he constantly described as a dependable ally adding that Dickson had never given such directive to the assembly.
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