The Rivers State House of Assembly has given Governor Siminalayi Fubara a 48-hour deadline to formally present the 2025 budget, following a directive from the Supreme Court.
During Monday’s plenary session, lawmakers, under the leadership of Speaker Martin Amaewhule, made the demand amid heightened security at the Rivers State Assembly Quarters. This marks their first sitting since the apex court’s ruling on the state’s legislative crisis.
Governor Fubara had previously signed the ₦1.1 trillion 2025 budget into law on January 2, 2025, after presenting it to lawmakers loyal to Victor Oko-Jumbo. However, the Supreme Court on Friday ordered him to submit the 2024 budget to a properly constituted Assembly.
The dispute stems from an earlier budget presentation in which Fubara submitted the 2024 fiscal plan to a faction of four lawmakers led by Edison Ehie, the governor’s Chief of Staff. This move came after 27 lawmakers, led by Amaewhule, were declared to have lost their seats following their defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC)—a claim they now deny.
The Supreme Court ruled that Amaewhule and his colleagues remain lawmakers until a final judicial determination. The court further mandated that the Assembly resume sittings with all elected members and ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to withhold Rivers State’s federal allocations until compliance with the ruling.
In their first session after the verdict, the lawmakers insisted that Governor Fubara present the budget, titled the Budget of Inclusive Growth and Development, to the properly constituted Assembly.
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