Following the expiration of the seven-day ultimatum given to Governor Siminalayi Fubara on July 8 and his failure to re-present the Rivers State’s 2024 budget, the state House of Assembly led by Martin Amaewhule has shut down all his administration’s expenditures.
According to the lawmakers, this would remain shut down until the governor re-presents the budget before them.
Recall that Governor Fubara presented the budget to the faction of the state assembly loyal to him in 2023, which had his current Chief of Staff, Edison Ehie, presiding as Speaker.
Ehie and the pro-Fubara lawmakers had passed the budget estimate, after which the governor signed it into law.
However, part of the demands of President Bola Tinubu’s intervention in the crisis that rocked the state last year was that the governor should re-present the state budget to the Martin Amaewhule-led assembly.
Governor Fubara has, however, failed to abide by this, as he insists that the 26 lawmakers vacated their seats when they defected from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the platform on which they were elected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
News About Nigeria reports that the decision to shut down the governor’s expenditures was reached during plenary on Monday after the leader of the House, Major Jack, raised the motion informing the House about the expiration of the seven-day ultimatum given to the governor to present the 2024 budget before the House.
Subsequently, the House, after deliberation, voted to shut down the Rivers State Consolidated Revenue Account, thus preventing Fubara’s administration from spending any money on behalf of the state.
