Martins Mannah, a former member of the Rivers State House of Assembly has died.
Mannah, who was the member representing Ahaoda East Constituency II, had been out of political circulation for a very long time with sources saying he had been sick.
He later succumbed to the illness and died on Sunday. The cause of his death was not ascertained as at the time of filing this report.
Mannah caused a furore at the assembly in May 29018 when he asked the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Ikunyi Owaji Ibani to resign.
Hon. Mannah accused the Speaker of being governor Wike’s errand runner during a debate on the chaos that occurred at the High Court premises.
The Ahaoda East lawmaker, who was ruled out of order, accused the Speaker of bad leadership and maladministration.
After the day’s sitting, Martins Mannah further held a media briefing where he articulated his grievance against the Speaker.
The Lawmaker who was elected on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party said the Assembly only sits when the Governor permits.
“What are we talking about? We are here condemning the APC while we are yet to resolve our own problems.
“This 8th Assembly is the worst since the existence of Rivers state. This edifice we are in now was built by the former Governor of this State, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi but we can’t even maintain it. See ‘spirogyra’ on the walls.
“Since 2015, we have not attended any seminar despite our resources. Even states that sell ordinary onions have sponsored seminars for their lawmakers’ oversees.
“Those of us who are here don’t know how to move motions and we call ourselves Lawmakers. And see, our time is almost over.
“I want to tell you here that we don’t have any leadership in this House of Assembly. We don’t have a good Speaker.
“There are so many things going wrong and on that, I want to ask that the Speaker tender his resignation if he knows he cannot do the right things,” he said.
Mannah later defected to the All Progressives Congress a month later and remained with the party until his death.
