March 17, (THEWILL) – The ongoing political crisis in Rivers State over the re-presentation of the 2025 Appropriation Bill to the Martins Amaewhule-led Rivers State House of Assembly by Governor Siminalayi Fubara took another turn on Sunday with the lawmakers accusing the governor of frustrating the process as directed by a recent Supreme Court ruling.
Chairman, House Committee on Information, Dr Enemi George, in Port Harcourt, the state capital, on Sunday, said the governor rather than the lawmakers was the one at fault and urged the public not to be swayed by sentiments being championed by supporters of the executive.
George refuted reports that the Assembly shut its gate against the governor last Wednesday, challenging the executive to present an acknowledged copy of the said letter notifying the Speaker of his coming for budget presentation.
He said, “As I speak, the social media space is awash with stories about a purported letter from the governor to the House of Assembly expressing his intention to visit the house to present the appropriation bill for 2025. Nothing can be farther from the truth. We want to state categorically that there is no such letter before the House of Assembly nor any of its staff.
THEWILL recalls that in compliance with separate Supreme Court judgements, first on the illegality of the Local Government Election conducted on November 5, 2024, Governor Fubara sacked the Chairman and Councillors, while on the second ruling, which faulted the 2025 budget presentation to a 5-man Assembly led by Hon Victor Oko- Jombo, the governor reportedly wrote to the Speaker, notifying him of the date to represent the budget.
Explaining what, according to him, truly transpired on the day of the said budget presentation, Dr George stated that,, “Last week, we were told that on his way to Ogoni for a programme, the governor made a stopover at the gate of the House of Assembly Quarters to grant an interview to the press”, adding, “In that interview, he claimed that he had sent a letter to the House of Assembly indicating his intention to visit and present the appropriation bill, a claim we found rather astonishing as no such letter was received by the House of Assembly.
Continuing, George said, “The governor’s aides later alleged that they forwarded a letter through Whatsapp to some members of the House, which was also awkward, unprofessional and embarrassing.
“We challenge the governor and his aides to produce an acknowledgement copy of such a letter or any evidence that such a letter was sent or received by the House of Assembly. It is absolutely untrue and unfortunate. The general public must as a matter of importance ignore such claims,” he said.
According to him, it is now very obvious that if at all there was such a letter, the intended recipient was not the legislature, but the public, and the clear intention was to play to the gallery, whip up public sentiment, demonise the House of Assembly and set the public against us. This is demeaning, denigrating and perilously unfortunate.”
Moreso, George said, immediately after the apex court judgement, the Assembly wrote to the governor, calling on him to immediately present the budget for speedy consideration.
He said that the lawmakers had hoped that by the 15th of March, 2025, “we would have concluded the process of passing the appropriation bill into law, so as to give us enough time to approach the Federal Government to release funds meant for our state which have been seized by the judgement of the Supreme Court.”
Claiming that the staff of the Assembly who were sent to deliver the invitation letter to Government House were attacked, he added that even the use of courier service yielded no result.
He listed other obstacles created by the governor to frustrate peaceful resolution of the ongoing crisis to include his refusal to submit the list of Commissioners for screening because the Supreme Court ruling also invalidated their appointments; his instructions to all ministries, departments and agencies not to receive any correspondents from the House of Assembly; his non-payment of lawmakers’ allowances for a year and six months; the destruction of the Assembly complex and attack on the residence of the Speaker, Amaewhule, among others.
“We are an independent arm of government in line with the principles of horizontal separation of powers as expressed in Section 4, Section 5, and Section 6 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended. It is in responding to the attitude that the supreme court said in its judgement,” George said.
Meanwhile, the Assembly adjourned its sitting indefinitely on Friday, further escalating the prolonged political crisis in the state and the Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, has, at the weekend, urged President Bola Tinubu to call the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, to order and refrain him from making inflammatory statements capable of jeopardizing their peace -making efforts.
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