THE Rivers State House of Assembly has given Governor Siminalayi Fubara 48 hours to present the 2025 budget to the lawmakers.
They made this known during plenary in Port Harcourt on Monday with the motion moved by the deputy speaker Dumle Maol.
“That pursuant to the order of the Supreme Court in Suit no.: SC/CV/1174/2024 for the stoppage of Statutory Federal allocations to the Rivers State Government and halting of spending from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of Rivers State pending the passage of an Appropriation Bill, you are requested to present the 2025 Appropriation Bill to the House in line with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution as amended,” the lawmakers said in a resolution signed by the Speaker Martin Amaewhule. “That the House expects you to present the 2025 Appropriation Bill within 48 hours”.
In his remarks, Amaewhule condemned Fubara’s directive to the heads of Local Government Administration to take charge of the councils, saying it is illegal and against the Supreme Court’s decision.
The lawmakers drew the governor’s attention to “the provisions of the 1999 Constitution as amended; the Rivers State Local Government (Amendment) Law, 2023 as well as the Judgement of the Supreme Court in Suit No.: SC/CV/343/2024 that prohibits the administration of Local Governments by HLGAs or any other persons other than democratically elected officials”.
The House resolved to go on recess by Friday because they have been working for the past two years nonstop.
Interestingly, there was no mention of the 2024 budget during plenary.
Governor Fubara had on January 2nd, signed a ₦1.1 trillion 2025 Budget into law after presenting it to the Victor Oko-Jumbo-led lawmakers.
But months after, specifically last week, the Supreme Court ordered Martin Amaewhule and the group of lawmakers he is leading to resume sitting as legitimate members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
That move ended months of tussle over the leadership of the Rivers State House of Assembly with two sets of lawmakers laying claim to the legislative body.
However, in their first sitting after the historic judgement, the Rivers State Assembly asked Fubara to present the bill he had christened “Budget of Inclusive Growth and Development,” adding a fresh layer of twist to the political events in the oil-rich state.
Apart from ordering Amaewhule and other lawmakers to begin sitting, the Supreme Court had also mandated the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to withhold allocations for Rivers until it purges itself of what the court described as flagrant disobedience to court orders.
It equally nullified the local government elections in Rivers State which were conducted last year.
Following the verdict, Fubara called for fresh council polls in the state, promising to obey the judgement of the apex court.
“Furthermore, given the outlawing of caretaker arrangements in the local government system, I hereby direct the Heads of Local Government Administration to immediately take over the administration of the 23 local government councils pending the conduct of fresh elections by the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission,” the governor said in a state broadcast on Sunday.
He asked the “outgoing local government chairmen to formally hand over the levers of power to the Heads of Local Government Administration by Monday, 3rd March 2025”.