The gates of the Rivers State House of Assembly Complex were today Wednesday barricades against the siren-blaring convoy of Governor Siminalayi Fubara who arrived purportedly to present the 2025 budget.
The Supreme Court has lately ruled that the Central Bank of Nigeria and relevant institutions should withhold further allocations from the Federation Account to Rivers State, pending when the Governor makes a proper presentation of the 2025 appropriation Bill to the House.
However, sources said that the lawmakers alleged a breach of protocol as Fubara did not send an official memo ahead to the Assembly to seek an audience with them.
Security personnel at the House gate left the gate closed, leaving the Governor’s team horning and howling with engines roaring outside the complex.
However, Fubara’s aides said he had notified Speaker Martins Amaewhule of his visit via a letter and had attempted to reach him by phone since Tuesday.
The Governor, who arrived at the assembly premises with members of his cabinet, was left stranded outside as security operatives manned the entrance, enforcing the lawmakers’ decision to deny him access.
This House is dominated by 27 majority members loyal to Fubara’s erstwhile godfather and predecessor, Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Barely a week after the Assembly issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the Governor, demanding that he present the 2025 budget in line with constitutional provisions and the ruling of the Supreme Court.
Siding with the lawmakers, the Supreme Court had earlier faulted Fubara’s initial budget presentation, which he made before a four-member minority faction of the assembly loyal to him, led by Speaker Victor Oko-Jumbo, and loyal to himself.
The Supreme Court ruled that Federal allocations to the state should be suspended pending his compliance with the demand of the proper presentation of the 2025 budget to, and its approval by, the properly constituted majority House.
“We are shocked by this blatant obstruction,” an official from the Governor’s office told reporters. “The budget presentation is a constitutional process, and the refusal to grant the governor access is an affront to democracy.”
