Rivers assembly hit back at Fubara after governor declared it non-existent

thecornetadmin May 7, 2024

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Rivers state house of assembly has overridden Governor Siminalaye Fubara by passing the Rivers State Public Procurement (Amendment)Bill 2024. Governor Fubara had withdrawn his assent to the bill. The veto followed the governor’s declaration before some guests who had visited him that the assembly was illegal and non-existent.

The Speaker, Rt. Hon. Martin Chike Amaewhule, said that the bill would ensure taxpayers’ money is judiciously spent.

Prior, Governor Fubara had said that he had stopped recognising the lawmakers. He told a delegation from Bayelsa state, led by Senator Seriake Dickson.

“Let me say it here, this group of men who claim that they are assembly members, they are not existing. I want it to be on record,” Governor Fubara said.

“I accepted that peace accord to give them a floating (soft-landing). That’s the truth. There is nothing in that peace accord that is a constitutional issue,” he said, referring to the peace accord President Bola Tinubu had brokered between the lawmakers and the governor.

“These are people that I have helped… in many ways when I wasn’t even a Governor. Yes, we might have our disagreements, but I believe that one day, we could also come together. That was the reason I did it.

“But I think it has gotten to a time when I need to make a statement on this thing, so that they understand that they are not existing.

“Their existence and whatever they have been doing is because I allowed them to do so. If I don’t recognize them, they are nowhere, that is the truth.”