The Rivers State House of Assembly has confirmed five out of the nine commissioner nominees of the State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara.
The Assembly during the plenary that lasted for over two hours screened and rejected four nominees over what the lawmakers described as poor performance and controversies surrounding them.
Speaker of the House, Martin Amaewhule who presided over the plenary , after listening to motions moved and seconded from his colleagues said issues including performance and petitions hallted the four nominations.
After putting the question to the House to write a letter to the governor, the House decided that a letter would be forwarded to the Governor to swear in five of the nominees that have been cleared.
Those whose nominations were rejected include Professor Datonye Alasia, Mr. Tamuno Williams, Otonye Amachree and Mrs Charity Deemua.
Five other nominees – Mr. Tonye Bellgam, Prof. Temple Nwofor, Dr. Peters Nwagor, Mr. Lekue Kenneth and Sir Amairigha Edward Hart – were confirmed.
One of the rejected nominees, Tamuno Williams, a lawyer, who was said to have served many years ago as the Chairman of Okirika Local Government Area was rejected because of the legal position he took and publicised against the House of Assembly during the crisis.
Tamuno was a known vocal supporter of Fubara and was accused of making comments in the media against the House of Assembly.
During the grilling, a brief drama ensued between Tamuno and Speaker Amaewhule, who challenged the nominee on many publications he made on the position of law, which he said did not see the light of the day following the judgment of the court.
Another incident occurred during the drilling of TKD Amachree, a lawyer from the Kalabari region, as Dr. Enemi George, Chairman of the House Committee on Information and Public Petition, informed the lawmakers that around 11 petitions had been submitted against Amachree regarding his role in community disputes.
At the confirmation stage, George informed the House that new petitions had been signed and submitted to the assembly, raising the total to over 15, which led the lawmakers to unanimously withdraw his nomination.
The rejection of Prof. Alasia, a Medicine professor, former Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association, and Deputy Chief Medical Director of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, however, shocked many observers.
Alasia, a medical researcher and Infectious Disease Representative for the World Health Organization, as well as Editor-in-Chief of the Nigeria Medical Journal, faced allegations of inadequate performance during the lawmakers’ scrutiny.
Specifically, they brought up the matter of purported alterations to the date on his birth certificate and the differences or irregularities in his names across the various certificates he provided
The House adjourned plenary to Tuesday, 17 March, 2026.
