Bayelsa State House of Assembly’s former speaker, Toney Isenah, made a U-turn on Monday and tendered his resignation letter as the assembly’s ‘ speaker ‘ seven days after being controversially removed by the legislature.
A lawmaker representing Southern Ijaw Constituency 2, Monday Bubou-Obolo, succeeded Mr Isenah on September 30.
But he rejected his ‘ impeachment ‘ as unconstitutional and said he remained the assembly’s speaker
During the plenary on Monday, Mr Isenah’s letter of resignation, backdated to September 30, was read.
My resignation was for the state of Bayelsa’s stability and “great good,” the former speaker told the House
The plenary was chaired by Mr Bubou-Obolo.
Aotendeike Boloigha, the media aide to the former speaker, confirmed the development on Wednesday night.
Mr Isenah, from the same local government area of Kolokuma-Opokuma as Douye Diri, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for governorship, was under pressure to resign.
But he had continuously resisted such pressure.
“I have not committed any crime. If I am supposed to resign, I know that, maybe, based on federal character principle, if my local government area produces the governor and when he is sworn in, ordinarily I was to leave,” Mr Isenah said in an interview he granted Channels television, a few hours after his reported impeachment.
“It’s not as if there is any law that the two can’t come from the same place. We should be talking about good governance. I am the speaker of the state and not the speaker of any group.”
Mr Isenah told Channels that he did not enter into any agreement to resign if Mr Diri wins the PDP governorship primary.
The former speaker said Mr Diri can still win the general election, even with himself remaining in office as the speaker.
“Why is it that I am now the sacrificial lamb? Why are they making it look like I am against Kolokuma-Opokuma producing the next governor? That is not right,” he said.