Oko-Jumbo Assembly urges Gov. Fubara to go ahead with spending, slams Amaewhule

The Rivers State House of Assembly, under the leadership of Victor Oko-Jumbo, has strongly criticized the decision made by the Martin Amaewhule-led House to prevent Governor Siminalayi Fubara from utilizing public funds.

Speaker Victor Oko-Jumbo made this declaration during Tuesday’s plenary session, expressing clear dissent towards the resolution.

He said what Amaewhule and 24 others whom he described as former members of the House did, was unfounded and without validity.

Oko-Jumbo argued that the group had no legal capacity or moral basis, to bar the governor from spending public funds.

He insisted that Amaewhule and 24 others are not members of the Assembly, following their defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in December, 2023.

Buttressing his argument, he said the section of the constitution which deals with the issue of defection is self-executing.

He added that the section was further made effective following the declaration of the 25 seats vacant by Edison Ehie, who was legally recognised by a court as the Speaker, before his assumption

He stated that the Assembly led by him, is the legally recognised section, which of course manages the statutory allocation of the house.

Oko-Jumbo explained that Governor Fubara had duly presented the said appropriation bill to the house when Edison Ehie was the speaker, and that same was passed and signed into law.

He said that the house is awaiting the presentation of the medium-term expenditure framework ahead of the 2025 fiscal year.

He urged the public to ignore the Amaewhule pronouncement, and called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to without delay conduct the bye-election to fill the 25 vacant seats in the house.

It would be recalled that on Monday, the Martin Amaewhule-led House of Assembly, shut down all expenditures of the Rivers State governor.

This followed a seven-day ultimatum the lawmakers gave the governor to present his budget before the House.

The Leader of the House, Major Jack had raised the motion, after informing the House about the expiration of the seven-day ultimatum given to the governor to present the 2024 budget before the House.

After deliberation, the House voted to shut down the Rivers State Consolidated Revenue Account, thus preventing Governor Fubara’s administration from spending any money on behalf of the state.

Fubara had some months back, presented the budget to a set of lawmakers loyal to him. The House of Assembly members were then led by Edison Ehie who is now the governor’s chief of staff.

Ehie and the lawmakers had then passed the budget estimates which Fubara later signed into law.