The Rivers State House of Assembly, under the leadership of Victor Oko-Jumbo, strongly criticized the decision made by the Martin Amaewhule-led House to prevent Governor Siminalayi Fubara from utilizing public funds.
During the plenary session on Tuesday, July 16, the speaker expressed that the actions taken by Amaewhule and the other 24 individuals, whom he referred to as former members of the House, lacked substance and were unfounded.
Oko-Jumbo emphasized that this group had no legal authority or ethical justification to restrict the governor’s access to public funds. Oko-Jumbo reiterated that both Martin Amaewhule and the other 24 individuals ceased to be members of the Assembly after they defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in December 2023.
He pointed out that this fact was reinforced by the declaration of the 25 seats as vacant by Edison Ehie, who had been legally recognized as the Speaker before assuming the position.
The speaker emphasized that the Assembly under his leadership is the legally recognized faction responsible for overseeing the statutory allocation of the house.
Oko-Jumbo stated that Governor Fubara had presented and passed the appropriation bill during Edison Ehie’s tenure as speaker.
The house is now awaiting the medium-term expenditure framework for the 2025 fiscal year. Oko-Jumbo urged the public to disregard Amaewhule’s statement and called on INEC to promptly conduct a bye-election to fill the 25 vacant seats in the house.
This came after the Martin Amaewhule-led House of Assembly suspended all expenditures of the Rivers State governor. The suspension was a result of the governor’s failure to present the 2024 budget within the seven-day ultimatum given by the lawmakers.
The motion to suspend the expenditures was raised by Major Jack, the Leader of the House.
