Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara muted Monday that members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, under speaker Martin Amaewhule, is an illegal Assembly, saying that “they exist because I allow them to.”
According to him, the lawmakers are existing based on his recognition predicated on the Peace Accord initiated by President Bola Tinubu, which he said has nothing constitutional in it, but merely a political solution.
Governor Fubara stated this while addressing a delegation of political and traditional leaders from Bayelsa State who visited him at the Government House in Port Harcourt, the state capital, to seek and end to the political crisis in Rivers State and an improved relationship between both states.
Others on the delegation included the first Military Governor of old Rivers State, Alfred Diete-Spiff, who is the Traditional Ruler of Twon Brass in Bayelsa State, other Traditional Rulers, former Commissioners, former State and National Assembly members and PDP executives.
Governor Fubara told the delegation, which was led by the former Governor of Bayelsa State and Senator representing Bayelsa West, Henry Siriake Dickson, that he has been the one showing restraint since the crisis escalated in the state.
He said despite wielding state powers which he can deploy to achieve his aim, he has continued to act as the big brother in the face of intimidation and unwarranted attacks.
The governor said, “Those group of men who claim that are Assembly members are not Assembly members, they are not existing. I want it to be on record. I accepted that Peace Accord to give them a floating. That is the truth. There was nothing in that Peace Accord that’s a constitutional issue; it’s a political solution to a problem. And I accepted it because these were people that were eating in my house, these were people I have helped paid their children’s school fees when I wasn’t even a governor. So, what is the thing there?
“We might have our division but I believe that one day, we could also come together but it has gotten to a time when I have to make a statement that they are not existing. Their existence is me allowing them to exist. If I de-recognise them, they are nowhere. I want you to see the sacrifice I have made in allowing peace to reign in our state.”
Governor Fubara, while acknowledging the role played by some political leaders, especially his predecessor and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, in his emergence as governor but said that it won’t make him to worship a man.
He attributed his emergence as divine, saying God can use anyone, including one’s enemy to accomplish His purpose in a man’s life.
Meanwhile, speaker Amaewhule and his colleagues, loyal to Mr Wike, on Monday vetoed Governor Fubara on the state public procurement amendment bill.
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