Peeved by Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s continuous disregard and disdain for the rule of law and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the faction of the Rivers State House of Assembly loyal to the FCT Minister, Chief Nyesom Wike has condemned the governor’s contemptuous display of impunity.
A press statement by media aide to Speaker Martins Amaewhule circulated in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital, said that the House, which expressed its displeasure during its 122nd Legislative Sitting of the Second Session last Wednesday also directed Clerk of the House to publish a disclaimer to the illegal appointments by the governor without approval of the House.
The House took the decision when Majority Leader, Hon. Major Jack called attention of the House to the purported appointment and swearing-in of some individuals as Chairmen and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly Service Commission and the Rivers State Local Government Service Commission, describing them as impostors.
Honourable members of the Assembly, in their contributions on floor of the House pointed out that the governor, in the exercise of his powers has dragged decency to the mud because the House never received any form of communication from the governor nor screen and confirm any individuals for such positions, in line with the extant laws guiding such appointments.
The factional Speaker, Rt. Hon. Martins Chike Amaewhule maintained that the action of the governor in appointing some individuals in defiance of extant laws of the State and the judgement of the Court of Appeal is contemptuous.
He stressed the fact that with the dismissal of Governor Fubara’s appeal at the Supreme Court, the judgement of the Court of Appeal remains the position of the law, which according to him affirmed him as the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
Rt. Hon. Amaewhule wondered why Governor Fubara would continue to swim in recklessness and malfeasance, knowing that such acts constitute misconduct and would not go unrecorded.
When the question was put to determine the need for a disclaimer, the House voted in the affirmative and directed the Clerk of the Assembly to publish a disclaimer to the actions of the governor which the House considered illegal and questionable.
