We challenge the governor and his aides to produce an acknowledgement copy of such a letter or any evidence that such a letter was sent or received by the House of Assembly.
Regarding the presentation of the 2025 Appropriation Bill before the House of Assembly, the Rivers State House of Assembly has stated that it has not received any letter from Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
On Thursday, March 13, 2025, Fubara had sent a letter to the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Martins Amaewhule, expressing his desire to deliver the budget on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, or any other day during the month of March. The letter was addressed to the Speaker of the House.
Despite this, the parliamentarians, who are devoted to Chief Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), decided to adjourn their sitting indefinitely during the plenary session that took place the next day, on Friday.
However, while speaking to journalists on Sunday in Port Harcourt, the chairman of the House Committee on Information, Hon. Enemi Alabo George, accused Governor Fubara of obstructing the implementation of the Supreme Court’s judgment on the political crisis in the state.
Specifically, they accused him of obstructing the directive that mandated him to re-present the 2025 Appropriation Bill to the majority of lawmakers.
Instead of attempting to win public sympathy by portraying lawmakers as the hurdles, George asked the people to exert pressure on the governor to present the 2025 Appropriation Bill in accordance with the proper procedures.
He dared Fubara to prove his letter by presenting an acknowledged copy to the House.
Hon. George stated, “Last week, we were told that on his way to Ogoni for a programme, the governor made a stopover at the gate of the House of Assembly Quarters to grant an interview to the press.
“In that interview, he claimed that he had sent a letter to the House of Assembly indicating his intention to visit and present the Appropriation Bill, a claim we found rather astonishing as no such letter was received by the House of Assembly.
“His aides later alleged that they forwarded a letter through Whatsapp to some members of the House, which was also awkward, unprofessional and embarrassing.
“As I speak, the social media space is awash with stories about a purported letter from the governor to the House of Assembly expressing his intention to visit the House to present the Appropriation Bill for the year 2025.
“Nothing can be farther from the truth. We want to state categorically that there is no such letter before the House of Assembly nor any of its staff.
“We challenge the governor and his aides to produce an acknowledgement copy of such a letter or any evidence that such a letter was sent or received by the House of Assembly.
“It is absolutely untrue and unfortunate. The general public must, as a matter of importance, ignore such claim.
“It is now very obvious that if at all there was such a letter, the intended recipient was not the legislature, but the public, and the clear intention was to play to the gallery, whip up public sentiment, demonize the House of Assembly and set the public against us. This is demeaning, denigrating and perilously unfortunate.
“Recall after the recent Supreme court judgment on the budget of our state, it became absolutely necessary for the Governor of Rivers State, His Excellency, Sir Siminalayi Joseph Fubara, to present the appropriation bill to the legislature for consideration and passage.
“Also recall that immediately after the judgment, this house wrote to the governor, calling on him to immediately present the budget for speedy consideration.
“It was our hope that by the 15th of March, 2025, we would have concluded the process of passing the appropriation bill into law, so as to give us enough time to approach the Federal Government to release funds meant for our state which have been seized by the judgement of the Supreme Court.
“This we did in the interest of our dear state and in pursuit of peace, recognizing that no government can function optimally without a harmonious co-existence between the executive and the legislature.”