Rivers Assembly draws first bl0od against Gov. Fubara

Rivers Assembly draws first blood against Gov. Fubara

A new but clear battleground has been drawn by the Rivers State House of Assembly against Governor Siminalayi Fubara. This latest opening of the scabbard by the lawmakers is coming about three months after the restoration of the democratic structure in the state.

The latest signs of a renewed battle between the Executive and the Legislature stem from the contents of a press briefing yesterday, Thursday, by the Speaker of the Assembly, Hon. Martin Amaewhule. At the press briefing, Amaewhule accused Governor Fubara of “lying” over recent public comments made by the state chief executive.

In a statement made public by Martins Wachukwu, Special Assistant On Media To The Speaker, Hon. Amaewhule “debunked the false narrative being bandied about that the Governor has not met with the members of the House since the lifting of the emergency rule because the political leader of the State, who is the FCT Minister, Chief Nyesom Wike has not called for a meeting between the Governor and the House Members.”

In the statement, the Speaker referenced the speech of the Governor where he alluded that his inability to meet with the Members of the House was predicated on the refusal of the FCT Minister to call for such a meeting.

According to Amaewhule, shortly after the termination of the emergency rule in the state, “there was a meeting between some principal officers and the Governor including some stakeholders.” He added that about three of such meetings were facilitated by Minister Wike but alleged that Gov. Fubara “refused to implement any of the resolutions reached in all the meetings” though he did not disclose what they “resolutions” were.

The statement said, “The Speaker wondered how many meetings would be enough for the Governor to act responsibly; adding that the Governor’s outburst during a project commissioning on Wednesday was condemnable and urged the governor to grow up as a leader.

“Rt. Hon Amaewhule advised the Governor to be more mature in dealing with the resources of the State, stressing that his tantrums against Minister Wike will not help him in any way.

“The Speaker reiterated the commitment of the House irrespective of party affiliation to the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Governor Fubara made the comments for which the Speaker and the State lawmakers drew their swords during a commissioning of some roads his Administration constructed.

Hon. Amaewhule and his colleagues had earlier planned to overthrow the administration of Fubara through an impeachment. However, President Bola Tinubu struck with a state of emergency which created a hiccup in the impeachment plans. Mr. Nyesom Wike had reportedly engineered the plot.

Few days back both Gov. Fubara and the lawmakers left their old party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the All Progressives Congress, APC.

In an exclusive report, this medium disclosed that as part of the negotiations leading to the Governor’s cross-carpeting, the national leadership of the APC had granted Fubara the right of first refusal for the 2027 gubernatorial election. What that means is that Gov. Fubara shall fly the governorship ticket of the party.