Close to four (4) months, the Degema constituency seat in the Rivers State House of Assembly is vacant. following the death of Rt. Hon. Tonye E. Harry.
Hon. Harry had been on that seat since 1999 until his sudden demise on 4th October, 2013. He was deputy-speaker for 8 years and later become a speaker.
January 4, 2014 marked the exact ninety (90) days, the Degema constituency seat became vacant in the RSHA. And constitutionally bye-election supposed to be held to fill the vacant seat, but because of the non-preparation of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) nothing was done to replace the deceased frontline parliamentarian, Rt. Hon. Harry.
A reliable information reaching our political desk at the weekend had it that, the people of the Degema constituency have written a letter and sent to the INEC notifying them of the vacant seat. They further demanded for the conduct of a bye-election, so that they could be represented in the RSHA.
Our independent investigation revealed that if all things being equal, INEC might fix the bye-election before the end of April 2014. The Newswriter authoritatively gathered that, the All Progressives Congress (APC) is fronting Dr. Ipalibo Harry, the Commissioner for Employment Generation and Empowerment for the vacant seat.
However, as at the time of filing in this report, this weekly does not know whom the ruling PDP will float for the bye-election. But one Frank Jacob is scheming to buy the hearts of the political class in PDP to accept him to challenge whoever APC will feature during the bye-election. ###
