The Rivers State House of Assembly has dropped four of the nine commissioner-nominees, including a professor, submitted to it by Governor Siminalayi Fubara for screening and confirmation.
The House, however, cleared five of the nominees as commissioners-designate after a rigorous screening process that lasted for over two hours.
Speaker of the House, Martin Amaewhule, who presided over plenary on Monday, disclosed this in his summation after listening to motions moved and seconded from his colleagues who either opposed or supported the nominations before the House.
Those confirmed include Mr. Tonye Bellgam, Professor Temple Nwofor, Dr. Peters Nwagor, Mr. Lekue Kenneth, and Sir Amairigha Edward Hart.
Those rejected are Professor Datonye Alasia, Mrs. Charity Deemua, Tamuno Williams, and Otonye TKD Amachree.
Amaewhule said the nominees rejected were based on their poor performance during their screening and issues including petitions surrounding their nominations.
The Assembly said Prof. Alasia was rejected as a commissioner nominee due to “poor performance”.
Alasia is the immediate past Chief Medical Advisory Committee of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital.
For Amachree, the Assembly alleged that more than 11 petitions were written against him by members of his community over his involvement in community matters.
Deemua was also not confirmed because she failed to present tax clearance documents, according to the lawmakers.
Williams was stepped down for allegedly “misleading the public about the activities of the Assembly”.
He stated, “Distinguished colleagues, we have nine nominees forwarded to this Assembly by the governor. At the end of the screening exercise the House has confirmed five of them.
“And four of them the House has chosen to take a deep breath given their poor performance and controversies surrounding either their documents and they have not been able to show this august assembly that they are indeed prepared to serve Rivers State or that they are able.
“And we feel that they are not square pegs in square holes for the offices that they intend to occupy in the Rivers State Executive Council.
“On that note, distinguished colleagues, I thank you for your contributions. With your leave and in line with our rules, I will forward the resolution of this august assembly to the governor so that he can take necessary steps for the interest of Rivers State.”
After putting the question to the House to write a letter to the governor, the Speaker added, “On that note, I’m going to forward a letter to the governor and ask him to swear in five of the nominees as soon as possible.”
Those whose nominations were rejected include Prof. Datonye Alasia, Barr. Tamuno Williams, Otonye Amachree and Charity Deemua, while the commissioner-nominees given a clean bill of health by the lawmakers are Tonye Belgam, Prof. Temple Nwafor, Dr Peters Nwagor, Lekue Kenneth and Amarigha Edward-Hart.
The House then adjourned plenary to Tuesday, March 17, 2026.
