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The Martins Amaewhule-led Rivers Assembly has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to stop what they described as the anti-democratic actions of Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
The lawmakers, who held their plenary at the auditorium of the House of Assembly quarters along Aba Road on Friday, decried an alleged autocratic posture of Fubara in the governance of the State.
A statement by Amaewhule’s Media Aide, Martin Wachukwu, quoted the Majority Leader, Major Jack, as accusing Fubara of planning to demolish the recently built Assembly Quarters.
Members were said to have listed what they called the tyrannical actions of the Governor beginning with the burning of the Hallowed Chamber of the Assembly, demolition of the Assembly Complex, attack on the official residence of the Speaker, withholding of Local Government Councils Fund and withholding of Assembly Service Commission Fund.
Members described such actions of the governor as despotic and called on all well-meaning people of Rivers State and the President of the country to call the Governor to order.
Amaewhule particularly described the invasion of the Assembly by Governor Fubara as vexatious, claiming that the Governor had conducted himself in a dictatorial manner.
He said people were wondering if the governor appreciated the import of the Independence of the three arms of government as enshrined in the Constitution.
Amaewhule charged members to stand firm and fight for the survival of democracy in the state and to resist ethnic division under any guise.
The House resolved to write to the British High Commission, the American Embassy, the European Union and the United Nations to intimate them of the alleged tyrannical disposition of Fubara towards the Rivers State House of Assembly.
Members of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Rivers State chapter led by the Chairman of Port Harcourt City Council, Allwell Nwunwor, appeared before the House on the invitation of the House Committee on Local Government.
They narrated the plight of the local government chairmen saying their monthly allocations had been withheld by the Governor in breach of Section 162(7) and (8) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,1999 as altered.
The council chairmen said that the unlawful seizure of councils’ fund had resulted in an increase in crime and criminality in the various LGAs because they were bereft of needed funds to tackle serious security matters.
The chairmen prayed the House to come to the aid of the councils lamenting that the administration at the third tier of government had been strangulated on the directives of the governor.
Remarking on the Complaints of the Council Chairmen, Amaewhule stated that by the provisions of Section 7 of the Constitution of Nigeria, and the Rivers State Local Government Law, 2024, the governor had no direct control over the day to day administration of the councils.
He said Fubara’s action were inimical to all known democratic symbols and ethos.
The Speaker added that Fubara had no respect for the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and all that he represented, given his anti- democratic comments and allusions.
The House Resolved to take all necessary steps to ensure that the seized funds were released, including writing to the banks not to have any financial dealings with anybody on behalf of the Local Government Councils without the authorisation of the Council Chairmen.
