The Rivers state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has signed the 2024 Appropriation Bill of N800bn into law.
Fubara, who presented the bill on Wednesday, December 13, to a four-member House of Assembly led by Speaker Edison Ehie, was said to have signed the budget on Thursday at the Government House, Port Harcourt.
Details shortly…
The All Progressives Congress (APC), has faulted Gov. Siminalayi Fubara’s 2024 budget presentation to four out of the 31 members of the state House of Assembly.
Fubara had on Wednesday presented the N800 billion 2024 budget to the four lawmakers believed to be loyal to him at the Government House in Port Harcourt, few minutes after the demolition of the House of Assembly Complex.
But, Mr Tony Okocha, the state APC Caretaker Committee Chairman, said in a statement in Port Harcourt that the action was unconstitutional.
Okocha said that Section 120(2) of the Constitution clearly stated that no money shall be spent except it was appropriated by the state House of Assembly.
‘’The presentation of a bill to 4 suspended members of the House of Assembly does not fulfill the requirements of the constitution for all the reasons stated,’’ he said.
Okocha cautioned that expenditure made by the state government on the outcome of such presentation was clearly an infringement on the constitution and as such sufficient grounds to commence impeachment.
He also said that Section 92(2)C prescribed that a Speaker can be removed by two third majority of the House of Assembly.
Okocha alleged that there was no evidence to show that Mr Martins Amaewhule, the Speaker of the House had been removed from office.
‘’Amaewhule remains the speaker of the House of Assembly, the lawmakers passed a vote of confidence on him,’’ he said.
Okocha also said that Section 96(1) of the constitution clearly stated that the quorum of the House of Assembly shall be one-third of all members.
“One-third of 31 minus the deceased member is clearly 11 as such four members can never form a quorum.
“Section 99 states that any member who sits or votes in a House of Assembly of a state, knowing or having reasonable grounds for knowing that he is not entitled to do so, commits an offense and is liable on conviction to such punishment as shall be prescribed in a law of the House of Assembly.
“Section 101 gives the House of Assembly the power to regulate its procedures, including summoning and recess of the House.
“Section 105(3) also defines the role of the governor of the state.
“The governor shall have power to issue a proclamation for the holding of the first session of the Assembly,’’ he said.
Okocha added: “This function the governor has performed. As such the Assembly takes over to regulate its procedures, including summoning and recess of the House.”
(NAN)
Rivers State continues to dig deeper and deeper into crisis. The House of Assembly was demolished yesterday, weeks after part of it was torched to, rightly or wrongly, stop the impeachment of Governor Siminilayi Fubara. The governor’s political fate hangs in the balance, with 27 members of the assembly opposing him. They are for his godfather and predecessor, Nyesom Wike, now Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister.
On Fubara’s side are four legislators led by Edison Ehie, who got an interim injunction on Tuesday recognising him as ‘authentic speaker’ of the House. Since the injunction was obtained exparte (without the other side present), the task before the 27 other members led by Martin Amaewhule is to get the order vacated. The injunction is obviously to counter the next move by the Amaewhule group which on Monday dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In this fight between godfather and godson, anything can happen and two queer things – the court injunction and demolition of the assembly complex – happened consecutively on Tuesday and yesterday. Fubara has been accused of biting the fingers that fed him and warned against tampering with the political structure that brought him to office. Though, the governor made light of the rift when he described it as “one between a father and the son”, he is not taking things lying low.
To stop the 27 lawmakers from moving against him, the assembly complex has been demolished and may not be rebuilt any time soon. Can that checkmate the lawmakers or will they get another venue for their sitting? The portents are not good.
Exparte orders are not granted as a matter of course. There must be a special interest to be protected. What is that special interest in this instant case? Can four members hold a 32-man house to ransom? Do they have the power to sit and elect one of them, Ehie, as speaker as they did? To prevent the hijacking of the legislature, the Constitution stipulates in Section 96 (1) that: The quorum of a House of Assembly shall be one third of all members of the House.
So, do four men constitute ‘one third of all members of the House’? Well, the court has ruled, giving Fubara and the four lawmakers something to hold on to, for now. For how long will that be and how will it all end? Impeachment of the godson or fall of the godfather? Time will tell.
Enemi Alabo George, one of the members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), has expressed concern that the demolition of the House of Assembly complex by the state government has resulted in the loss of important historical information, records, and archives.
Alabo-George, the Chairman of the House Committee on Informational, described Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s government’s action as the height of irresponsibility and stated that there was no need to destroy the entire complex when the explosion that rocked the complex only affected the hallowed chamber.
He bemoaned the fact that staff and legislators were not permitted to remove their personal belongings and documentation before the destruction started.
In an interview on Channels TV on Wednesday afternoon, he said: “I came to Abuja for a meeting yesterday (Tuesday) and I was supposed to go back to Port Harcourt this morning when I heard the news. It’s a sad, unfortunate, and interesting day to be alive; that we would wake up to see many years of hard work, history and works of our forebears and predecessors brought down in one fell swoop.
“Our documents, files, archives, and the entire signature of the Rivers State House of Assembly, built from the fourth Assembly till date, were brought down for nothing. But I think history will judge everyone. I’m not talking about personal items and stuff we had in our offices.
“When I came here (to the Assembly), I learnt the job through documents, files, and archives I saw in the library and other things. Everything that represents the history and image of the House of Assembly from the first Assembly to date has just been brought down, and it’s something very difficult to explain. I’m as shocked as people are.”
When asked why he didn’t buy the state government’s explanation that the building’s structural integrity was compromised following the explosion that shook the area a few weeks prior, Alabo-George responded, “The Rivers State House of Assembly building, before it was brought down today, was the best House of Assembly building in Nigeria. It was the finest and the best planned.
“The fire happened in the hallowed chamber of the House of Assembly, and that was why we moved to another auditorium. The complex is massive, but everyone knows what the issues are.
“If you want to demolish the official building that houses the House of Assembly, you would give notices, allow us to move out our stuff, and documents, and the House has to approve it. The executive cannot move in one day to demolish the House of Assembly without the approval of the House and let us plan where to move to.
“You don’t wake up one day and lead bulldozers into the complex and bring it down with everything inside. It is difficult to explain; because of one man’s ego. This is the height of recklessness and lawlessness.”
He said Martin Amaewhule remained the Speaker of the Assembly, backed by a subsisting court order, and that nothing had changed. “He remains the speaker and whatever that (ex parte order) was is void. The court allows the Assembly to carry out our functions unfettered and unhindered. So, all that has been done is void.”
He explained further that it was laughable that their seats were declared vacant by the Speaker, Edison Ehie, who is recognized by Tuesday’s court order.
He stated: “It’s funny. We have the constitution and everything we have done was in accordance with the dictates of the constitution. Section 109 (1)(g) is clear, that if there is a division in my party, I can move to another party, and that is what we have done. Whatever those four people, the Speaker inclusive, do does not have the legal power. So, it’s not an issue and we are not bothered.”
He said even though Wike remained their mentor and leader, he had no hand in their defection to the APC.
He promised that the Assembly would not submit to the executive branch’s suppression.
Siminalayi Fubara, the governor of Rivers State has congratulated his predecessor, Nyesom Wikeon his 56th birthday.
The sent his birthday message to Wike, who is the minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Wednesday, December 13, amid the crisis rocking the Rivers State House of Assembly.
The governor wrote in a birthday post on his verified X page: “Your Excellency, my dear wife and I, and the good people of Rivers State, join your family and friends to facilitate you on this day.”
About two months after a fire destroyed the Rivers State House of Assembly Complex, the state government dismantled it on Wednesday under heavy security.
Governor Siminalayi Fubara led a convoy of around ten bulldozers transported on heavy-duty flatbed lorries onto the Assembly grounds at roughly 6:45 a.m. to begin the demolition exercise.
At the same time as the demolition was happening, the governor subsequently gave the Edison Ehie-led committee the N800 billion 2024 budget projections in Government House.
The court acknowledged Ehie as the Speaker of the House and prohibited Martins Amaewhule from posing as the speaker.
Present at the budget presentation were members of the House loyal to Ehie. None of the members who recently moved from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) was in attendance.
The crisis in the 32-member Assembly had begun as a result of a rift between Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, who is now the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja
Fubara presents 2024 N800bn budget estimate to Ehie-led lawmakers
The All Progressive Congress (APC) in Rivers has charged Gov. Siminalayi Fubara to refrain from acts capable of escalating the political crisis rocking the state.
The state Caretaker Committee Chairman of the party, Tony Okocha, gave the charge at a news briefing in Port Harcourt.
Okocha was reacting to the exparte order granted to the factional Speaker of the House of Assembly, Mr Ediso Ehie, restraining two PDP lawmakers, Martin Amaewhule and Dumle Maol, from disobeying the order relocating the conduct of the assembly’s “activities and meetings” to a more secure place.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Amaewhule and Maol still lay claim to the Speakership and Deputy Speakership of the house.
The exparte order was granted by a Port Harcourt High Court, presided over by Justice M.W. Danagogo.
The order also restrained Amaewhule from “disrupting and interferring” with Ehie’s activities, pending the determination of the motion on notice.
The court also warned against the use of thugs and Police by Amaewhule to forcefully gain access into the premises of the state House of Assembly Complex.
The court ordered the relocation of the house “to a secure and more conducive environment to ensure that the activities and meetings of the house are not disrupted during the period of the renovation of the burnt building, pending the determination of the hearing of the motion already filed”.
Ehie had been conducting the activities of the house outside the assembly complex, after it was torched on the night of October 29.
But the APC chairman decried Danagogo’s order recognising Ehie as the speaker, when judgment was reserved for January 2024 on a suit Ehie filed seeking to be recognised as speaker.
He said that granting an experte order on the same case that judgment had been reserved was an abuse of court processes.
Okocha said that APC would not sit and watch the experte order executed, alleging that the order was made in clear violation of known principles of law and disobedience of the National Judicial Council (NJC) law.
According to him, the fear of the massive defection of 27 of the 31 PDP lawmakers to APC led to the procurement of an experte order to enable the governor to present his 2024 budget estimates to the assembly.
He wondered how three remaining members of the house, plus Ehie, would legitimately receive the 2024 Appropriation Bill.
Okocha said that the party would be left with no option than to petition the NJC, if the judge did not reverse himself, immediately.
He said that the state APC would not tolerate any intimidation and harassment of its new members in any form.
He justified the December 11 defection of the PDP members to APC on “irreconcilable crisis in the PDP”, saying that the action was supported by a section of the country’s Constitution.
(NAN)
The Rivers state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has presented the 2024 state’s Appropriation Bill of N800bn to the House of Assembly currently sitting in Government House.
It was gathered that the bill was presented to the group of four lawmakers led by their speaker, Edison Ehie, amidst the ongoing demolition of the Assembly complex.
Ehie and his group had sat at the complex before the demolition and announced the governor’s desire to relocate the sitting to a convenient place.
The governor reportedly allocated a space in Government House for their sitting pending the renovation of the House.
Details shortly….
A High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has confirmed Edison Ehie as the authentic speaker of the Rivers state House of Assembly.
Edison Ehie is one of the four lawmakers in the camp of Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
Ehie was suspended and removed as leader of the House by his colleagues in the wake of the crisis at the House of Assembly.
The court has also restrained Martin Amaewhule and Dumle Maol from parading themselves or interfering with the activities of Rt. Hon. Edison Ogerenye Ehie as speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
The court also warned against the use of thugs and police officers to forcefully gain access to the Assembly Complex.
Rivers State Executive Council has deliberated and approved an estimated N800billion budget christened: ‘Renewed Hope, Consolidation and Continuity for the 2024 fiscal year’.
The meeting presided over by Governor Siminalayi Fubara yesterday, was held at the Executive Chamber of Government House in Port Harcourt.
Information and Communications Commissioner Warisenibo Johnson said N412billion was allocated to capital expenditure, while recurrent expenditure had N361billion.
Johnson said: “We had the 5th council meeting of Rivers State. We deliberated on the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, which is usually a precursor to discussing the budget.
“An 83-page document was also presented, which has the budget estimate. The budget estimate for 2024 is N800 billion and it is tagged: ‘Budget of Renewed Hope, Consolidation and Continuity’.
”Essentially, the budget is focused on some key areas, with infrastructure taking the lead with N128bilion of the budget, followed by education, health and security.”
The Secretary to the Rivers State Government (SSG), Dr. Tammy Danagogo, said the budget estimate was aimed at giving Rivers people a renewed hope that will guarantee projects and human capital development.
He said: “We approved an estimated budget of N800,392,485,433.33kobo, which we believe, by the time it gets to the House of Assembly, the public will be made to see and understand all the projections and fundamentals.
“Basically, the essence of the budget is to give the people and residents of Rivers State Renewed Hope and to ensure that there is a consolidation and continuity in what has been happening in terms of the harvest of projects we have been having in the state and of course other areas, particularly in human capital development, security, investment drive and ease of doing business.”