Rivers State House of Assembly has warned that if staff of Government House, Port Harcourt, continued to exhibit discourteous behaviour towards mails emanating from the lawmakers, it would stop to receive correspondence from Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
Speaker of the House, Martin Amaewhule, stated this at the 92nd legislative sitting yesterday, while commenting on the relationship between the Assembly and Government House.
Amaewhule condemned the recalcitrant and discourteous behaviour of staff of Government House towards receiving mails emanating from the Assembly.
He warned that if such spiteful behaviour continued, the House would cease to receive correspondence from Governor Fubara.
He added that resolutions of the House were religiously transmitted to the office of the governor, but staff of Government House often decline to receive such resolutions.
However, the House has screened and confirmed the nomination of nine commissioner-nominees. The nominees include Professor Zacchaeus Adangor, Jacobson Nbina, Gift Worlu, Mrs. Inimefien Aguma, Chukwuemeka Woke, Prof. Chinedu Mmom, Dakorinama Kelly-George, Isaac Kamalu and Mr. Ben Chioma as commissioners and members of the Rivers State Executive Council.
The screening and confirmation were sequel to a letter read on the floor of the House from Governor Fubara, praying the House to screen and confirm the nominees, pursuant to Section 192 of the 1999 Constitution.
The House accordingly screened and confirmed all the nominees.
The nine commissioner-nominees tendered their resignations at the peak of political crisis between the governor and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
The exercise was part of the agreement by Presidential Peace Proclamation (PPP) to finding lasting peace in Rivers State.
However, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Dr. Kayode Ajulo, has filed a suit seeking to stop Gov. Fubara from re-presenting the 2024 budget to the state House of Assembly.
He asked the court to stop such a move pending the hearing and determination of a suit filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The lawyer in the suit with number No.: FHC/ABJ/CS/1718/2023 also called on the court to restrain the state House if Assembly and the Speaker of the House from screening and confirming the commissioners appointed by Gov. Similaiya Fubara.
Ajulo particularly urged the court to take cognisance of motion on notice attached with the suit and stop the holding of plenary sessions by the 27 members of the State House of Assembly out of the 32 members.
He urged the court to stop the 27 members of the state house of assembly from holding plenary for defecting from the ruling PDP to the APC without any justification or lawful excuse whatsoever.
He said the 27 lawmakers decided to defect from the PDP, the platform under which they were elected as honorable members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, to the APC.
He said the seats of the 27 lawmakers have been declared vacant by the other five lawmakers who refused to join them in the defection, adding that they have no right to return to the House pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.
The SAN urged all parties, including loyalists or their representatives, to maintain status quo ante pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.
The Rivers State House of Assembly, led by Martin Amaewhule, re-invited on January 15 to screen nine commissioners who resigned their positions in 2023.
The commissioners were, however, reconfirmed yesterday by the Rivers State House of Assembly.
The Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) led by Chief Edwin Clark had called for the declaration of the seats of the 27 lawmakers vacant.
The group insisted that the 27 lawmakers who defected to the APC without any known crisis in the PDP have no right to be members of the state house of assembly.
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