Politics

Rivers Crisis: Oko-Jumbo-led Assembly Denounces Amaewhule Faction’s Resolutions

The Victor Oko Jumbo-led Rivers State House of Assembly has strongly denounced the resolutions passed by a rival faction led by Martins Amaewhule.

Victor Oko Jumbo, speaking on the House floor on Tuesday, asserted that Amaewhule and his 24 supporters lack both the legal capacity and moral grounds to enact any resolutions, specifically one that restricts the Governor’s authority to spend state funds.

Oko Jumbo emphasized that Amaewhule and his supporters defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on December 11, 2023. Subsequently, their seats were declared vacant by the Edison Ehie-led Assembly based on constitutional provisions. Consequently, he declared that the only legitimate tenth Assembly is under his leadership.

He called on the public to disregard the actions of Amaewhule’s faction and urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to swiftly conduct by-elections to fill the vacant seats.

Full Statement

“Distinguished Honourable members, ladies and gentlemen, the illegal sitting of the 25 former members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, led by Martin Amaewhule, has dominated media channels since July 15, 2024. These individuals, without any legal standing, passed a resolution attempting to bar the Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, from authorizing withdrawals from the State’s Consolidated Revenue Fund. They even threatened a government shutdown until an Appropriation Bill for 2024 is passed.

The House reiterates the following points:

On December 1, 2023, during the 87th legislative sitting, former Speaker Martin Amaewhule and 24 others defected from the PDP to the APC.

According to Section 109(1)(g) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution, their seats were declared vacant by Rt. Hon. Edison Ogerenye Ehie on December 13, 2023, following a court order.

As a result, the only recognized tenth Assembly is the one led by Rt. Hon. Victor Oko Jumbo, which has been receiving statutory allocations and fulfilling financial obligations.

The defected members’ actions, based on Section 122 of the 1999 Constitution, are null and void since the 2024 Appropriation Bill was already passed and assented to in December 2023.

The Assembly awaits the Governor’s presentation of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework for the next three financial years.

The public is advised to disregard the actions of the former members and INEC is urged to expedite by-election preparations.

Signed,

Rt. Hon. Victor Oko-Jumbo

Speaker, Rivers State House of Assembly

Cc:

Prof. Ngozi Odu – Deputy Governor, Rivers State

Secretary to Rivers State Government

Head of Service, Rivers State

Accountant-General, Rivers State

Auditor-General, Rivers State

Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria