The crisis rocking the oil rich state of Rivers, South-South Nigeria, took another dimension on Monday with the factional lawmakers loyal to former governor, Nyesom Wike barring further spendings from government accounts.
They took the action after a 7-day ultimatum they slammed on Governor Siminalayi Fubara to represent the 2024 budget elapsed.
One of the lawmakers, Major Jack, raised the motion informing the House about the expiration of the seven-day ultimatum given to the governor to present the 2024 budget before the House.
The Martin Amaewhule led assembly therefore resolved that Governor Fubara is no longer allowed to approve or authorize expenditure from the consolidated revenue fund of the state neither are Ministries permitted to spend Public funds until the 2024 budget is presented.
NewsNow recalls that in December 2023, the Governor signed the budget of 800 billion naira into law after Presenting it before lawmakers led by the former factional speaker, Mr. Edison Ehie.
The 25 lawmakers loyal to Wike, led by the former Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, had on December 11, 2023, announced their defection from the PDP to the APC, citing internal division in the PDP as their motivating factor.
The belief in some quarters is that their defection was allegedly on the prompting of their godfather, Wike, the immediate past governor of the state, and who incidentally is also the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja.
Analysts predicted then that their defection was in preparation for an epic battle with Governor Fubara, which was believed to be in the form of an impeachment move against the governor.
The lawmakers called a press conference to announce their defection from the PDP to the APC, thereby constitutionally ending their membership of the PDP. Observers saw the move as hasty, ill conceived, and not well thought out. Those who hold this view said if they had thought through the move, they would have known that defecting from their original party to a new party when there was no known division in the party would mean losing their seats as members of the state assembly.
And as predicted, as soon as their defection was made public, Gov Fubara did not fold his arms and wait for their next action; he quickly moved into action to forestall whatever their intention was, and to save his position, which was obviously under threat.
The remaining three lawmakers loyal to the governor immediately elected one of them, Hon Edison Ehie, as the new speaker. The new speaker, without wasting time, declared the seats of the 25 defected lawmakers vacant, citing a section of the constitution and calling on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to conduct bye-elections to fill their seats in the Rivers State House of Assembly.
Thus, with the new development, the stage was set for a long drawn battle between pro-Wike and pro-Fubara lawmakers on one hand, and between Fubara and Wike on the other hand.
The crisis degenerated to the burning down of the state house of assembly complex by unknown assailants.
Worried by the turn of events, which could possibly degenerate to a total anarchy if an urgent step was not taken to arrest the situation, President Bola Tinubu invited the warring parties to a peace talks in the Presidency.
At the end of the peace talks, the Governor agreed to all the conditions, including the fact that he would have to accept some commissioners and other appointees loyal to Wike who had resigned their position at the peak of the crisis.
Many blamed the Governor for accepting such conditions, but he said he knew what he was doing. He insisted that he would do anything to bring peace back to the state.
But, if the governor thought the peace talks would be the end of the crisis, then he underrated who he was dealing with.
Meanwhile, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the state had gone to Rivers State High Court to seek an interpretation on the position of the defected lawmakers. The court ruled that by defecting from the PDP through which they got to the assembly when there was no crisis in the party, they had automatically lost their seats and had ceased to be members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
But in spite of the ruling, the local government chairmen in the state insisted that they would not vacate their offices at the expiration of their tenure because the Amaewhule-led lawmakers had extended their stay in office by six months.
The High Court ruling that the 25 lawmakers had lost their seats in the state assembly and had ceased to be members of the state assembly did not even move them. They relied on the law made by the people who the court had declared non-members of the state assembly to claim that they had the right to remain in office after the expiration of their original three-year-tenure.
But, the governor, as the chief executive and chief security officer of the state was bent on enforcing the law, which stipulates that the tenure of local government executives remains three years, and after that, a fresh election to elect new officers is either conducted immediately, or a caretaker executive would be put in place pending the election of new chairmen.
Thus, the battle line was drawn between the governor and the local government chairmen, a development many condemned, noting that the chairmen were being emboldened by Wike. But, at the end of the day, the Governor, with the support of the people of Rivers State, who sympathised with him, were able to chase out the local government chairmen and install caretaker committee chairmen.
However, the pro-Wike lawmakers did not accept defeat as they filed a counter suit at the Appeal Court challenging the ruling of the High Court.
However, last week, the Court of Appeal overruled the High Court, and reinstated the lawmakers.
But, the pro-Fubara lawmakers, now led by Hon. Victor Oko-Jumbo, would not bulge as they immediately headed for the Supreme Court to give final interpretation of the constitutional implication of the 25 lawmakers’ action.
Oko-Jumbo said they were already at the Supreme Court challenging the judgement of the Appeal Court which held that Justice Charles Wali of the State high lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the matter of the state legislature.
The Speaker said the Court of Appeal erred when it held that the State High Court lacked jurisdiction to hear and determine the suit.
He declared that he remained the authentic speaker because there cannot be two Houses of Assembly in the state, reiterating that the seats of Hon. Amaewhule and 24 other former lawmakers remained vacant as declared by the then speaker, Hon Edison Ehie, on December 13, 2023.
He said following their defection from the PDP to APC, on December 11, 2023, they had ceased to be members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
He said: “There cannot be two Houses of Assembly in Rivers State, or indeed, any State in Nigeria. This House of Assembly, with me as the Speaker, is the only House of Assembly in Rivers State.
“As the whole world knows, on December 11, 2023, Martin Amaewhule and his 24 friends defected from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the All Progressives Congress, APC.
“On December 13, 2023, Rt. Hon. Edison Ehie, as the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, declared the seats of Amaewhule and 24 others in the RSHA vacant. That declaration by Ehie has not been set aside by any court in Nigeria.”
Oko-Jumbo maintained that the legitimate members of the Assembly had secured a restraining order against Amaewhule and the 24 others when they continued to parade as members of the RSHA despite their defection to the APC and their seats having been declared vacant.
He lamented that on July 4, 2024, the Court of Appeal, in its lead judgement, allowed the appeal by Ameawhule and 24 others, on the ground that the Rivers State High Court lacked the jurisdiction to hear and determine the case.
“Accordingly, the Court of Appeal struck out Suit No PHC/1512/CS/2024 and nothing more. The Court of Appeal did not make any declaration that Amaewhule and 24 others did not defect from the PDP to the APC.
“The Court of Appeal also did not make any declaration that Amaewhule and 24 others are still members of the RSHA. We strongly believe that the Court of Appeal was in error when it held that the Rivers State High Court lacked the jurisdiction to hear and determine the suit.
“Accordingly, we have instructed our lawyers and they have filed an appeal to the Supreme Court challenging the judgement of the Court of Appeal delivered on July 4, 2024. Amaewhule and 24 others, in spite of all their pretences, are no longer members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, and they remain so until a court of competent jurisdiction says otherwise.
“Once again, we, the legitimate members of the RSHA hereby call on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to promptly conduct a bye-election to fill the vacant seats in the RSHA.”
However, following the appeal court judgment, the pro-Wike lawmakers led by Amaewhule sat on Monday last week after some months and issued a seven-day ultimatum to Gov Fubara to represent the 2024 budget for legislative consideration and approval.
At the expiration of the ultimatum yesterday, Monday, the factional House of Assembly has now placed embargo on the state’s finances.
It is left to be seen whether their order would have any impact on Governor Fubara’s running of the state.
Reacting to the recent development, Governor Fubara had played down the gravity of the judgment, insisting that there was no cause to worry because God had prepared him a table of blessings in the presence of his enemies.
“I know that a lot of you will be wondering what is going on and all that. Government has its own challenges. If you go to the book of Psalm 23 verse 5, in the Bible, it says that God prepares a table before you; it can be before anybody. But, there is an underlined word that should be noted there and that is ‘in the presence of your enemies.’ So, it means that nothing comes easy.
“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.”
On pro-Wike lawmakers’ seven days ultimatum for the 2024 budget to be represented to the House of Assembly, Gov Fubara urged the ‘25 former lawmakers’ to wake up from their slumber, and realise that the ship of governance in the state was sailing smoothly.
He stated that rather than get disturbed by the ranting of people who are no longer members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, his administration had started the process of preparing the 2025 budget.
Speaking on the development in Rivers State, a legal practitioner, Ikechukwu Onodi was of the opinion that the solution to the problem is as simple as President Bola Tinubu coming clean to do what is right.
“The President should call his appointee, Minister Wike, to order. He should tell him straight away to let Fubara be. For goodness’ sake, he was governor for eight years without any disturbance from any quarters, why would he not allow his successor to govern the state in peace?
“How does he think that he would still be calling the shots and dictating for the Governor?
“If not that the Presidency is supporting him, how can he embolden the local government chairmen to challenge a sitting governor?
“Where has it happened that the local government chairmen have the courage to threaten a sitting governor? I think the President should stop playing the ostrich and be bold to speak the truth for once,” he told NewsNow.
For a former lawmaker in Jigawa State, Adamu Yankwashi, the former Governor Wike is fomenting all the troubles in Rivers State because he has the backing of the President.
“If the president is not supporting him, how can a minister be challenging the governor of his state? When Wike was the governor, he practically ran his predecessor, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, who was then a minister, out of the state.
“Amaechi could not do much because he did not have the federal might to confront him and he allowed him to run Rivers State as he liked. But now, the table has turned round and he has forgotten how he dealt with Amaechi and others.
“I think the President should stop encouraging him in his cantankerous ways and let us see how he will be able to fight his state governor. Somebody needs to remind him that he is no longer a governor; there is a new sheriff in town.
“And as for the 25 defected lawmakers, the constitution is clear that a lawmaker who leaves the party on which he won an election for another party even when there was no conflict or division in his original party, loses his seat in the parliament, be it state or federal parliament.
“So, they should just accept their fate and wait for 2027 to try their luck again. But as far as this battle is concerned, they have lost. Forget the judgment of the appeal court; the Supreme Court will put the record straight.
“Although the appeal court didn’t say they are still members; it only said that the high court that declared their seats vacant lacked jurisdiction to have sat over the case in the first instance.
“I don’t know what that means, but I can assure you that the Supreme Court will not mince words to interpret the law as it is,” he said while speaking with our correspondent.
Meanwhile, the Rivers State Government is yet to respond to the post-no-debit order issued by the factional lawmakers.