LAWMAKERS loyal to the former governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, have given the incumbent Governor Siminalayi Fubara a seven-day ultimatum to re-present the 2024 budget.
According to a report by Channels TV, the decision was reached at the first sitting of the pro-Wike lawmakers, led by Martin Amaehwule, months after they were sacked by a court.
They gave the directive while a parallel sitting was taking place by the other faction of the House of Assembly led by Victor Oko-Jumbo.
The Oko-Jumbo-led faction presided over a sitting where a commissioner-nominee, Emeka Frank-Fubara, would be screened before being confirmed as a member of the State Executive Council.
While the Amaehwule-led team held their session at the House of Assembly Quarters, the pro-Fubara lawmakers sat in an improvised Hallowed Chamber within the Government House.
Fubara earlier presented the budget to five lawmakers loyal to him in December 2023, after 27 of the 32-member Assembly defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He subsequently signed the budget into law, but the action was nullified by the Federal High Court in January 2024.
In a judgment on Monday, January 22, delivered by James Omotoso, the court mandated Fubara to represent the budget to the lawfully constituted House of Assembly under Amaewhule, describing the actions of the pro-Fubara lawmakers as null and void.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja, had, on Thursday, July 4, also nullified the expulsion of Amaewhule and 24 others from the Rivers State House of Assembly by the Rivers State High Court.
A three-member panel of the appellate court held that the lower court did not have the jurisdiction to grant the exparte order.
Fubara, however, assured his supporters that there was no cause for alarm.
“I want to assure every one of you and the good people of Rivers State that we are not deterred. We have made our promises, we will continue to give you good governance, no matter how difficult it is.
“But, like I said before, the worst is over. We are moving on to ensure that we continue to provide what is needed for the development of our state,” Fubara said.
The ICIR reports that Wike and Fubara have been at loggerheads over who controls the PDP structure and other issues in the state.
Though a PDP member, Wike currently serves in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) government.
The feud had degenerated into nearly a physical combat between their loyalists and possible chaos was palpable in the state that President Tinubu had to intervene twice before tempers were calmed.
However, camps of both leaders have continued to threaten a showdown with each other less than a year that the leaders were gambolling in the same political space.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via [email protected] or @ije_le on Twitter.