Deborah Ogbonda
The Rivers state government and the state house of assembly were embroiled in a verbal dispute yesterday as regards the implementation of the Supreme Court judgment, as it concerns the 2025 budget presentation.
Meanwhile, the state governor Siminalayi Fubara was accused of impeding all aspects of the execution of the judgment, the state government dared the lawmakers to reassemble, so that the budget could be presented before them.
The Chairman of, the House Committee on Information and spokesperson to the House, Dr. Enemi Alabo George, speaking in Port Harcourt yesterday, dared the governor to provide the acknowledged copy of the letter sent to the House.
George stated “Last week, we were told on his way to Ogoni for a Program, the governor made a stopover at the gate of the House of Assembly quarters to grant an interview to the press.”
“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 astonishing as no such letter was received by the House of Assembly.”
“His aides later claimed that they forwarded a letter through WhatsApp to some members of the House, which was awkward, unprofessional and embarrassing.”
“The social media space is flooded with stories about a supposed letter from the governor to the House of Assembly expressing his intention to visit the House for the presentation of the appropriation bill for the year 2025.
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“Nothing can be farther from the truth. We want to state that there is no such letter before the House of Assembly or any of its staff. We dare the governor and his aides to produce an acknowledgment copy of such a letter or any proof 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 a claim.
“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 crowd, whip up public sentiment, demonize the House of Assembly, and set the public against us. This is demeaning, denigrating, and perilously unfortunate.”
He states that the River State governor thwarted all the efforts of the House to work with him to settle the lingering crisis immediately after the Supreme Court judgment, especially as regards budget presentation.
“Recall after the recent Supreme Court judgment on the budget of our state, it became absolutely necessary for the governor to present the appropriation bill to the legislature for consideration and passage.
“Also recall that immediately scoter 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 March 15, 2025, we would have concluded the process of passing the appropriation bill into law, so as to give us enough government to release funds meant for our state which has been seized by the judgment of the Supreme Court.
“This we did in the interest of our dear state and in pursuit of peace, recognizing that no government can function optimally without a harmonious co-existence between the executive and the legislature.
“This letter was rejected and the staff of the House of Assembly who attempted to deliver the mails were brutalized at the gate of Government House and sent back. Undeterred by this, the House resorted to using a courier service to deliver the mail. The governor did not heed our call, nor did he demonstrate any intention to.”
Mr Joseph Johnson, the Commissioner for Information and Communications in replying to the Assembly last night, said: “Far from it. On March 7 when we got the CTC, we wrote the Assembly. The Assembly feigned ignorance of the letter we wrote, that they never saw it.
“We wrote another one and mentioned that we were coming on the 12th, which was on a Wednesday, they hurriedly ended their sitting, locked us out, and ran away.
“We wrote again and that was on March 13, only to hear that as soon as they received the letter, they were going to adjourn sine dine.
“We are hoping now that in a normal situation and when things are like this, what you discover is that, when a House whether National or state adjourns and there is an emergency, the House reassembles.
“We would expect that our assembly members who are truly representatives of their constituencies should reassemble and address this issues.
“This is because, if they don’t sit and address the budget the Supreme Court directed we present to them, it will be that we are against the decision of the Supreme Court which is like a constitutional stalemate and that will not be in the interest of anybody”
