Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has warned the State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara against running the State without a duly approved budget by the state House of Assembly.
The Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the party Sir Tony Okocha made the call in Port Harcourt on Tuesday during a visit of his Committee to the Speaker, of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
Martin Amaewhule and some of the principal officers of the assembly reminded the governor that it would amount to gross financial misconduct for him to continue on what he described as dangerous voyage.
He demanded the immediate representation of the 2024 budget to the house of assembly by the governor urging the executive arm to shelve their unnecessary delay in presenting the 2024 Budget Estimate to the Assembly, to enable the budget pass through the crucibles and be approved.
Representing the Rivers 2024 budget to the Rivers State House of Assembly under Speaker Martin Amaewhule was one of the 8-point Presidential Peace Proclamation signed by parties to the political conflict that has engulfed the state since October 2023.
Okocha said; “We frown at the governor’s impunity in running Rivers State without a Budget. However, we remind him that it will amount to gross financial misconduct for him to continue in this dangerous voyage”.
He took a swipe against the Governor for mismanaging over N144-billion federal allocation to the state from June – November 2023 saying there was no evidence of any evidence of deployment of the funds into meaningful developments in the State.
“This might sound unpalatable and annoying. As a party in opposition in the state, we have applied and and received data on the sum received by the Rivers state government from Federal Allocation.
“From June 22, 2023 to November 2023. It is our finding that a whooping sum of N144,291,667,791.01 has been received from Federal Allocation under FAAC.
“This amount is beside internally generated Revenue of the state which is put on conservatively N10-billion every month. We regret that this humongous amount has not transmitted to action in any way in terms of development in the state.”
He charged the legislators to be alive to their oversight function of the executive saying “as the legislative arm you are to oversight the executives and if you do nothing you are equally complicit”.
He however commended the Speaker and his 26 other members for their performance so far, especially their recent overriding the governor to pass of some bills into law in the state.
He also commended them for their decision to defect from their former part, the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, to the All Progressives Congress APC and enjoined then to continue to support President Bola Tinubu and his Renewed Hope Agenda.
In his response, the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Amaewhule thanked the chairman and team for the visit.
He explained that some of the recent actions of the assembly were in line with their constitutional rights as a state assembly.
Amaewhule explained that the lawmakers decided to override the executive over non-consent to some bills in order to strengthen democratic process in Rivers State.
He insisted; “There is nothing the 10th assembly has done under my watch that is outside of the law.
“There is nothing we have done, either in plenary or committee or during oversight that is outside the provisions of the law.
“We are guided by the law and I’m happy that Rivers people are seeing our determination to do the work for which we were elected.
He stated that it was time for people to begin to imbibe the principles of separation of power saying; “People must know where their powers begin and where their powers stop. Where your right stops is where your neighbours’ rights begin”.