The governor of the state, Siminalayi Fubara, has come under fire from the Rivers State House of Assembly for allegedly impeding the implementation of the ruling of the Supreme Court.
The ruling of a federal high court that prohibited the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the federation’s accountant general from disbursing statutory monthly allocations to Rivers State was upheld by the Supreme Court on February 28.
The Rivers State House of Assembly’s Martins Amaewhule-led group and other elected members were also ordered to return to their seats by the highest court.
The Rivers assembly’s Amaewhule-led group supports Nyesom Wike, the federal capital territory’s (FCT) minister.
When Fubara arrived at the Rivers House of Assembly quarters in Port Harcourt on March 12 to deliver the 2025 budget, he was reportedly stopped by shut gates.
The parliament then postponed its plenary session indefinitely.
Only twenty-four hours had passed since Fubara wrote to the assembly asking for a fresh date to deliver the 2025 appropriations measure.
Fubara has been playing to the gallery with his recent activities, according to Enemi George, the assembly’s spokesperson and chairman of the house committee on information, who spoke on Sunday in Port Harcourt.
George denied that a letter from the governor informing the assembly of the revised date for the 2025 budget presentation had been issued to the house.
“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,” he said.
“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.
“His aides later alleged that they forwarded a letter through WhatsApp to some members of the house, which was also awkward, unprofessional and embarrassing.
“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 the year 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.
“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.”
George said the “obvious intent of the governor was to grandstand, stir public emotions and turn the public against the assembly”.
“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,” he added.
“Recall after the recent supreme court judgment on the budget of our state, it became necessary for the governor of Rivers state, His Excellency, Sir Siminalayi Joseph Fubara, to present the appropriation bill to the legislature for consideration and passage.
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“Also recall that immediately after the judgment, this house wrote to the governor, calling on him to immediately present the budget for speedy consideration.
“It was our hope 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 judgment of the supreme court.”
The lawmaker said the assembly’s letter requesting the governor to submit the list of commissioners for prompt screening was rejected.
“Recall again that the judgment of the supreme court invalidated the appointment of most of the commissioners of the state,” he said.
“To bridge this gap and avoid a vacuum, this house immediately wrote to the governor to submit the list of commissioners for immediate screening.
“Our letter was again rejected at the government house and we once again resorted to deliver the mail through a courier service. Rather than heed our call, the governor instructed them to go to court against us, which they have now done.”
