Saturday, January 4, 2025 - Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has justified his decision to present the 2025 budget to only three lawmakers, asserting that the 27 State House of Assembly members who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) have permanently lost their seats.
Fubara, engaged in a political standoff with his predecessor and
Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, declared there is no
legal remedy for the defected lawmakers to reclaim their positions.
The governor, speaking after signing the N1.1 trillion 2025 budget at
the Rivers State House in Port Harcourt on Thursday, stated that he had endured
significant insults from Wike's camp and would no longer tolerate further
disrespect.
He dismissed claims of a factional Assembly, affirming that the
three-member legislative body led by Speaker Victor Oko-Jumbo remains the only
legitimate Assembly in the state.
Clarifying his stance, Fubara said, “I want to say this, maybe for some
persons somewhere who are still mixing up issues. We have only one Assembly,
and that Assembly is headed by Rt. Hon. Victor Oko-Jumbo.”
The governor compared the defected lawmakers' actions to a failed
expedition, saying, “A group of friends about nine months ago embarked on what
is called a sea-bared journey; halfway through the vessel, while they were
coasting, they realized that they were entering the den of devils and sharks,
and they now want to retreat. It is too late, and the truth is that we are not
going back.”
Fubara reiterated his commitment to defending the state's integrity, adding, “We have given them enough room for peace. There is no governor in Nigeria who can take the kind of insult I took from those set of people. As it stands now, our major target is the interest of Rivers State, and we will continue to defend the integrity of governance. As far as I am concerned, we have moved on.”
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