•Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere
The spokesperson of opposition lawmakers in the House of Representatives, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, today, Friday, March 22, accused members of three Rivers State House of Assembly of trying to plunge the state into a major crisis by their actions.
Ugochinyere said the attempt by the Rivers lawmakers to override the supposed veto of the state governor on a law that was never sent to him was unconstitutional and against the interest of the people of the state.
The lawmaker said in a statement in Abuja that the purported amendment of sections of the local government laws of 2018 extending the tenure of elected local government chairmen in Rivers state by the House of Assembly was dead on arrival and cannot be implemented.
He described the purported override of the governor’s veto by the House of Assembly just a few days after purportedly amending the same law was a recipe for chaos and breakdown of law and order in the state and stands condemned, alleging that the law was never sent to the Governor for his assent.
He further said: “Assuming without conceding that the Rivers House of Assembly sent the law to the Governor, the Governor has 30 days within which to assent to the law or withhold his assent and it can only be at the expiration of the 30 days that the House of Assembly can adjudge that the Governor has withheld assent and not earlier.”
While describing the move as legislative rascality and a coup against democracy that is dead on arrival, saying “Illegally extending the tenure of Local Government Chairmen just a few weeks to the expiration of their tenure is an abuse of legislative process that cannot be enforced. It is the height of legislative rascality and a coup against democracy that is dead on arrival”.
He said the plot was a deliberate invitation to anarchy and an inglorious attempt by the Rivers lawmakers to sabotage the Presidential Peace Accord.
He said: “These Rivers Assemblymen are truly acting like people who do not hold the sacred mandate of the people. Otherwise, they should have known that this plot was a deliberate invitation to anarchy and an inglorious attempt to sabotage the Presidential Peace Accord. We hereby call on the President to call them to order to avert the total breakdown of law and order in the State.
“About two months ago, the same group of members with questionable mandates purported to have amended the same Local Government Law. Less than two months later, they are purporting to amend it again. They are now clearly playing Ping-Pong with Rivers State laws.
“How could the agenda of people who call themselves lawmakers in a state be to strip the Executive Governor of their state of all executive powers and they are comfortable with it? If they attach any value to the lives of the people of Rivers State, they would support the Governor of Rivers State to succeed, for the benefit of the people rather than support anything that will undermine him and set him up for failure including instigating anarchy.
“Every reasonable and right-thinking citizen of Rivers state should rally around the Governor to ensure he succeeds and brings the dividends of democracy to the people.
“The rate the Martin Amaehwule-led House of Assembly are moving and trying to ignite violence in Rivers State should tell the Police that these most likely the persons who set the House of Assembly Complex ablaze and because they got out of it, are now willing to set the entire state on fire”.
