Pro-Wike Lawmakers Block Fubara from Spending State Revenue

The Rivers State House of Assembly, led by Martin Amaewhule, on Monday, asked Governor Siminalayi Fubara to stop spending funds from the state Consolidated Revenue Fund.

The move followed the expiration of the seven-day ultimatum given to the governor by the lawmakers loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, for him to submit the 2024 budget afresh.

The fresh presentation of the budget was among the conditions for peace signed during a parley held at the instance of President Bola Tinubu to reconcile the factions of Wike and Fubara, in Abuja.

Fubara, in 2023, presented an Appropriation Bill of over N800bn for the 2024 fiscal year to the lawmakers loyal to him, then led by Edison Ehie, for approval.

Barely 24 hours after the budget presentation, the four-member Assembly passed it and presented it to Fubara for assent.

Ehie, then factional Speaker of the House, later resigned and was subsequently appointed Chief of Staff, Government House, Port Harcourt, by Fubara.

After the peace agreement, the Amaewhule-led Assembly waited for the governor to re-submit the budget.

The crisis, however, got worse, leading to the pro-Fubara lawmakers electing Victor Oko-Jumbo as factional Speaker.

The governor declared that the pro-Wike lawmakers were no longer known to the law, as the court had restrained them as lawmakers in the state following their defection to the All Progressives Congress.

At their Monday, May 9 proceedings, they gave Fubara a one-week ultimatum to present the budget.

The Assembly, at its fourth Legislative Sitting, held at the Assembly Quarters on Aba Road, on Monday, said Fubara violated the Constitution by spending from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the state without an appropriation law.

In a statement by the media aide to the Speaker, Martin Wachukwu, the lawmakers said the decision to bar Fubara from further spending followed a remark by the House Leader, Major Jack.

Jack drew the attention of the Assembly to the fact that “given the combined provisions of Sections 121 and 122 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as altered, Governor Siminialayi Fubara has flagrantly continued to violate the Constitution by spending from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the state without an Appropriation Law.

“Debating on the statement by the House Leader, members condemned in strong terms Governor Fubara’s wanton disregard for the Constitution, despite repeated reminders of the consequences of his actions and thereby express their support for the shutdown of expenditure from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the state forthwith.”

Amaewhule said, “It is unfortunate that Governor Fubara now sees a violation of the provisions of the Constitution and judgments of courts as a way of governance. As representatives of the people, the House would not look the other way while the governor consistently tramples on the Constitution he swore to uphold.”

The House, therefore, resolved to write to Fubara, intimating him of the shutdown of all expenditures from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the state.

Efforts to reach the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Joseph Johnson, were unsuccessful, as he failed to take his calls.