•Govt justifies Assembly demolition, says complex not suitable for legislative business
•PDP directs legal adviser to sue defectors, Gov Fubara afraid of his shadow, says APC
The crisis in Rivers State assumed another dimension early on Wednesday when the state government demolished the state legislative chamber.
The Assembly complex comprising about six buildings, including the main chamber, was built during the administration of Dr Peter Odili.
Justifying the demolition, the state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Joseph Johnson, in a statement on Wednesday, said the place was unsafe for human habitation because of the recent explosion and fire incident there.
The demolition of the chamber came as the four lawmakers loyal to the state Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, led by factional Speaker, Edison Ehie, held a plenary at the Government House, Port Harcourt, while the demolition was ongoing.
On Monday, 27 members of the House elected on the Peoples Democratic Party platform defected to the All Progressives Congress and threatened to reject any request by the governor for approval.
The lawmakers in their individual letters written to the factional Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, and read on the floor of the House on Monday, stated that they defected because of the division in the party over the tussle for the position of the National Secretary.
The crisis took another turn on Wednesday, as the state Assembly complex was demolished, amid tight security before the governor proceeded to present the state’s 2024 budget to the Ehie-led legislators.
During the demolition which started at 7am and ended at 5pm, human and vehicular movements, were restricted from both ends of Moscow Road leading into the Assembly, as heavily armed policemen and other personnel mounted were seen at different locations.
The governor was said to be at the assembly in the morning when the demolition started before going back to the Government House, where the budget presentation to the Ehie-led faction started at 9am.
Fubara, while reading the budget estimate of N800bn, said the bill was christened, ‘Budget of Renewed Hope, Consolidation and Continuity.’
A breakdown of the budget showed that N410bn was allocated to capital expenditure, representing 51 per cent while over N361bn was allocated to recurrent expenditure, representing 49 per cent of the budget.
Fubara said the 2024 budget proposal was anchored on the assumptions of the crude oil price benchmark being $70/barrel at 1.5 million barrels per day production, with an exchange rate of N750 to the dollar.
According to him, the budget will be funded from internally generated revenue, Federation Account Allocation Committee receipts, 13 per cent oil derivation fund, Value Added Tax, Excess Crude, and grants from development agencies.
Projected revenuet
The governor said, “Our total projected revenue for the year 2024 is N800,392,485,433.1 as proposed 2024 budget estimate. This includes recurrent expenditure, N361,998,242,570.85; capital expenditure is N410,266,485,90.64.”
Fubara explained that great care would be taken to promote economic development through inclusive growth, provision of critical infrastructure that would support economic activities, businesses, and social activities, enabling environment for private sector-led industrialisation, job creation, and poverty alleviation.
In a voice note received by one of our correspondents, Ehie thanked the governor for what he termed a ‘very elaborate budget speech’.
Ehie said, “In line with the provisions of the constitution, you have presented today to the House, the appropriation Bill 2024. Your Excellency, you are aware that the primary responsibility of government is the welfare and security of the people.
“We therefore appreciate you wholeheartedly for keying into the requirements of the constitution by aligning yourself with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Federal Government anchored by our President, Bola Tinubu, and on consolidation and continuity with regards to achievements of successive administrations.”
It was gathered that Ehie, during the session said the complex was due for repairs following the explosion that rocked the building on October 30, 2023, adding that the governor would provide an alternative place for the lawmakers to sit in the meantime.
In an unsigned statement, the Ehie-led lawmakers said the 10th Rivers State House of Assembly had relocated to the state Government House, Port Harcourt, as an alternative sitting place following the ongoing renovation of the Assembly complex.
It stated that at the resumed sitting, the House of Assembly led by Ehie elected Adolphus Timothy Orubienimigha, a member, representing Opobo/Nkoro State Constituency, as the leader.
The speaker also declared the seats of 25 out of the 27 PDP lawmakers who recently defected to the APC vacant in line with Section 109 (1) (g) and 2 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended.
In a video seen by one of our correspondents, Ehie, while responding to the motion to declare the seats of their colleagues who cross carpeted said “This House received correspondents in notices, communications, including letters from 25 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly of their formal defection from the PDP to the APC.
“We have also confirmed this through videos that were posted via media houses and social media. We are aware that it is the right of members and every Nigerian with regard to association.
“While we respect that constitutional right, we are also mindful as a legislative assembly of our allegiance to the Constitution of Nigeria 1999 as amended, and our oath of office to defend the Constitution which is the ground norm of the country and the authority which every other law derives its power.
“Therefore, as a legislative assembly with leadership, I’m aware that the actions of these honourable members’ colleagues of the house who have been on suspension are a gross violation of the constitution, which provides that a member of this State House of Assembly shall only defect to another party other than the party under which they were elected to the house where there is a division or crisis in the parent party.
“We are aware that there is no division or crisis in our great party, the PDP, and therefore the provision of section 109 sub-1 paragraph G of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended attracts a vacation of the seats of these honourable members of the House.”
He added, “Consequently, distinguished colleagues, the House having deliberated formally on the motion before it in line with our standing order and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, I hereby declare the seats of the affected members of the Rivers State House of Assembly vacant.
, “Distinguished colleagues, the House will duly inform the Independent National Electoral Commission of the vacancies in the Rivers State House of Assembly and the need to conduct fresh election to fill the above vacant seats within the time frame provided by the law.
“The House as it stands now is only left with six legitimate and constitutionally recognized members. And in line with the 1999 constitutionally precisely session 102, the House will effectively continue to discharge its responsibility of legislation, representation and oversight notwithstanding vacancies in the membership of the Assembly.”
On Monday, 27 PDP members defected to the APC, but on Wednesday, the factional Speaker was silent on the fate of the remaining two.
Meanwhile, the Rivers State Government justified Wednesday’s demolition of a section of the State House of Assembly complex.
The state Commissioner for Information and Communications, Johnson, in a statement said the facility was unsafe for the business of legislation following the fire incident which razed the chamber in October and destroyed property worth millions of naira.
He further said the state government had already provided an alternative place for the lawmakers to carry on their affairs pending the rebuilding of the complex.
The statement read in part, “The Rivers State Government says the decision to demolish and rebuild the Rivers State House of Assembly complex was due to the structural defects which arose mainly as a result of the recent explosion and fire incident which rendered the main building unfit for human use.
“After the visit of the governor to inspect the level of damage done to the building on the day of the fire incident, it became necessary to invite professionals to advise the government on the integrity of the building.
“Recall that on the night of the attack on the complex, explosive dynamites were used to attack the complex which shook it to its foundation. There were visible cracks on the walls afterward, and the entire structure looked frail and unsafe for legislative business
“After the assessment of the integrity of the complex, the experts warned the government that continuing to use the building in its present state would be disastrous.”
APC kicks
Reacting to the demolition, the state APC Caretaker Committee Chairman, Chief Tony Okocha, condemned the exercise, saying government and governance in the state under Fubara had been reduced to ‘nothingness’.
Okocha wondered why the governor had yet to set up a panel of inquiry to investigate what led to the bombing of the assembly, alleging that it was because he orchestrated the incident.
He said, “Every morning you wake up to one inanities or the other. Government and governance have been reduced to nothingness. Otherwise, why would a governor relish in inanities?
“What is the business of the governor destroying the Assembly today? What happened, of course, is that there was this palpable fear that something was going to happen. Why is he afraid?
“The guilty are always afraid. That is what we are told, otherwise, it is unnecessary. There is a section of the Assembly that got burnt and that he orchestrated.
“Otherwise why has he not set up a panel of inquiry as the chief security officer of the state to find out how that incident occurred in the House of Assembly, the hallowed chamber for that matter?”
“The state is being run aground. That is not what we want. There is a standard already set in Rivers State. What we are seeing now is an aberration. The governor had told us he was going to consolidate and continue with that standard.
“But what have we been seeing, a reverse of it and an aberration of what used to be. As a party, we condemned what has happened in all ramifications.”
Lawmaker faults assembly
One of the lawmakers who recently defected to the APC, Enemi George, said the executive could not demolish the Assembly complex without the approval of the lawmakers.
George who represents the Asari-Toru State Constituency 2 in the state legislature, stated this while reacting to the demolition on Channels Television on Wednesday monitored by one of our correspondents.
George said, “The Rivers State House of Assembly building before it was brought down today is the best House of Assembly building in Nigeria. The finest and the best planned.
“The fire happened in the chambers of the House of Assembly that is why we moved to another auditorium. So if you want to demolish the official building that houses the Assembly you will give notices, and the House has to approve.
“The executive cannot move in one day and demolish the House of Assembly without the approval of the House of Assembly, without letting us (lawmakers) plan. Where do we move to? We have our halls we sit, we have our offices, we have our staff.”
He also faulted the statement by the Edison Ehie-led House that the seats of the 27 lawmakers who defected from the PDP to the APC were now vacant.
According to George, “Section 109, sub-section 1G of the Constitution is clear that if there is a division in my party, I can move to another party.
“It is just a short-term drama that is playing out there. And in standard now, our House of Assembly is constitutionally constituted.”
On its part, the National Working Committee of the PDP, on Wednesday, directed its Legal Adviser, Kamaldeen Ajibade, to commence appropriate legal action against the defectors.
The PDP in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, on Wednesday, stated that the NWC’s 580th meeting thoroughly reviewed the state of the party in Rivers State.
Ologunagba disclosed that the party communicated to INEC by formally informing the commission of the vacancies in the House of Assembly as a result of the defection.
He insisted that by virtue of Section 109 (1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, the lawmakers had vacated their seats.
Section 109(1)(g) states “A member of a House of Assembly shall vacate his seat in the House if: being a person whose election to the House of Assembly was sponsored by a political party, he becomes a member of another political party before the expiration of the period for which that House was elected;
“Provided that his membership of the latter political party is not as a result of a division in the political party of which he was previously a member or of a merger of two or more political parties or factions by one of which he was previously sponsored; or
“(h) the Speaker of the House of Assembly receives a certificate under the hand of the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission stating that the provisions of section 110 of this Constitution have been complied with in respect of the recall of the member.”
On his part, the National Publicity Director of APC, Bala Ibrahim, told one of our correspondents in a telephone interview that the party was studying the development and had instructed its legal department to follow up.
He said, “The illegality of what was done in Rivers today will be looked into by our legal department. I don’t know whether the executive has the power or right to present the budget before an inconsequential number of members of the Assembly as they did today. We also need to know whether the speaker is empowered or has enough authority or the power to declare the 25 seats vacant.’’
