THE Rivers State House of Assembly has served the state governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and his deputy, Ngozi Odu, a notice of gross misconduct.
The House members, who have been at loggerheads with the governor, claimed the accusation was in accordance with the Nigerian Constitution.
Twenty-six members of the Assembly raised the allegation in a notice sent to the Speaker, Martin Amaewhule.
Lawmakers accused Fubara of misusing public funds, obstructing the Assembly, and making unauthorised appointments without proper screening and confirmation.
Other allegations against the government include withholding the lawmakers’ salaries, allowances, and seizure of salaries of the Assembly’s clerk, Emeka Amadi.
They also accused the deputy governor of plotting and supporting the illegal appointment into offices/positions in the Rivers State Government without following due process.
Upon receipt of the notice, Amaewhule forwarded it to Fubara.
Amaewhule urged the governor to respond to the accusations according to Section 188(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended)
The ICIR reported on Friday, March 14, that the Rivers State House of Assembly adjourned sitting indefinitely amid its rift with the state government led by Fubara.
The House’s decision to adjourn legislative duties indefinitely was taken during plenary, presided over by Amaewhule.
The action came hours after Fubara wrote to the Speaker, informing him of his plan to re-present the 2025 appropriation bill for consideration and approval.
Fubara, in the letter, recalled his failed attempt to re-present the budget on March 12.
The governor’s attempt to re-present the budget complied with a recent Supreme Court judgment on the political impasse in the state.
The ICIR reported that drama unfolded on Wednesday, March 12, at the Rivers State House of Assembly Quarters when Fubara arrived to re-present the 2025 budget, only to find the entrance gate locked.
Security personnel had secured the gates as the governor’s convoy arrived, claiming that a lack of official communication between the governor and the Assembly was responsible for their action.
With the action, the Rivers Assembly has ignored Fubara three times since the Supreme Court’s ruling.
On Sunday, March 9, this organisation reported that the governor invited the Assembly members to a meeting at his office to enable him to address several issues, including payment of the lawmakers’ salaries and allowances since he stopped recognising them after their defection from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC). The Assembly ignored the invitation.
They also shunned his planned re-presentation of the 2025 budget on Wednesday, March 12.
Recall that the power struggle between the governor and the Amaewhule-led Assembly reached its peak after the Supreme Court’s judgment, which ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Attorney General of the Federation to suspend Rivers State’s statutory allocation.
The Supreme Court, in a judgment, affirmed the leadership of the Amaewhule-led Assembly, dismissing Fubara’s appeal challenging the leadership. The court also ordered the governor to pay N2 million to the lawmakers.
The judgment invalidated the previous budget presentation by Fubara to a splinter faction of the Assembly.
The court deemed Fubara’s presentation of an appropriation bill before a small faction of the Assembly as absurd.
It also annulled the recent local government election conducted in the state by Fubara.
Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, currently the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have been at loggerheads over who controls the PDP structure in the state.
A reporter with the ICIR
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