A former Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Ikuinyi-Owaji Ibani, has faulted Governor Siminalayi Fubara for not notifying the House of his budget presentation visit, a claim the governor had denied.
The former Speaker was a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily breakfast programme on Thursday.
Ibani, who referenced his eight-year tenure as Speaker, said then-governor Nyesom Wike informed him behind the scenes of his planned visits to the Assembly before he showed up.
The pro-Wike ex-lawmaker said, “I operated as Speaker from 2015 to 2023. When Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was governor, I informed him to look at the state of the Assembly Quarters.
“He had to write to me; he had to call me that he would be visiting the Quarters of Rivers State House of Assembly.
“I then put the members on notice that the governor of Rivers State was coming. He couldn’t have driven down there to inspect knowing that it is a different institution headed by a different official of government. ”
There seems to be no end in sight in the protracted feud between the Wike-backed House of Assembly and Fubara as the governor was denied access to the Assembly Quarters on Wednesday when he showed up to re-present the 2025 Budget of the state, as mandated by the House after the Supreme Court verdict of February 28, 2025.
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The governor said he communicated his visit to Speaker Martins Amaewhule but the Assembly said it received no correspondence to the effect.
Ibani said what transpired on Wednesday between the Amaewhule-led Assembly was not unconnected to the frosty relationship between Fubara and Wike since 2023.
Ibani said, “What happened yesterday (Wednesday), nobody should treat it in isolation; it should be taken holistically. It didn’t just happen because it was to happen yesterday, it started from somewhere.
“When you are elected into a position of trust and authority, your personal interest should take the background while the interest of the people should take the foreground.
“You don’t know the legislative calendar of the legislature. A governor or a president cannot just walk to the assembly to present a budget.
Source: Channels TV
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