The Martin Amaewhule-led Rivers State house of assembly on Wednesday rejected the 19 commissioners and political appointees serving in the state and demanded the governor, Mr Siminalayi Fubara to submit a new list of nominees within 48 hours.
In a letter dated March 5 and signed by Amaewhule, the lawmakers alleged that the governor violated the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and other relevant laws by making appointments without legislative screening and confirmation.
Among the alleged infractions, the legislators frowned upon the appointment and swearing-in of Mr Dagogo Iboroma as attorney-general and commissioner for Justice without prior legislative confirmation.
They stated that such appointment contravenes section 192 (2) and (5) as well as section 195 (1) of the 1999 constitution.
The letter read: “That another infraction of the law is the swearing in of Lawrence Oko-Jaja as Chairman; Earnest Ibekwe Ekwe; Mina Ogbanga; Iseleye Amachree and Adokiye Oyagiri as members of the Rivers State Bureau on Public Procurement on Friday 30th of August 2024 without screening and confirmation by the Rivers State House of Assembly as stipulated in Section 4(a) of the Rivers State Public Procurement Law No. 4 of 2008. Others are Gift Alex-Hart; Grace Osaronu and Selinah Amonieah as members.
“That the swearing-in of Goodlife Ben as chairman; Emmanuel Jaja, Betty Warmate; Jerome Chimenem; Prince Ohochukwu; Philip Okparaji and Christian Amadi as members of the Rivers State Local Government Service Commission without screening and confirmation contrary to Section 44(3) of the Rivers State Local Government Law No. 5 of 2018 is another infraction.
“That these appointments by you that are highlighted and other appointments made but not mentioned here for want of space that are not in consonance with extant laws are not only infractions but are seriously threatening our nascent democracy so, should and shall be remedied.
“That the House requests you to submit a list of nominees for appointment as commissioners into the Rivers State Executive Council as well as list of nominees for appointment to fill vacancies in all the offices mentioned above or those not listed but require screening and confirmation by the Rivers State House of Assembly within 48 hours.”
Meanwhile, the commissioner for environment, Mr Sydney Tambari said the 27 lawmakers who are loyal to the FCT minister, Mr Nyesom Wike, acted on their imagination, adding that they were over stepping their bounds and heating up the polity even more.
Vanguard quoted Tambari as saying that all the Commissioners were screened by then speaker of the house of assembly, Mr Edison Ehie, now chief of staff, government house, who was recognised by a competent court as the authentic speaker of the house.
“I was screened by Edison Ehie who was duly recognized by the Court as the speaker of the state House of Assembly. Before then, this group of people had defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
After Edison Ehie’s resignation, “Rt. Hon Victor Oko-Jumbo took over as speaker of the House and he screened and confirmed some of the commissioners and appointees.
“Their demand for the sacking of the commissioners has been overtaken by event because all the commissioners and political appointees were duly screened. The governor has no reason to send a list of nominees to them,” he said.
Tambari further said Amaewhule and his ilk took were acting outside the decision of the Supreme Court which talked about the 2024 budget and not the sack of commissioners and political appointees in the state.
“The presentation of the budget is at the discretion of the Governor which has since been overtaken by events,” he added.
Recall that the Supreme Court had last Friday ordered the Amaewhule-led assembly faction and other elected lawmakers to resume sitting.
The court also upheld a Federal High Court ruling barring the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Accountant-General of the Federation from releasing statutory allocations to Rivers State.
In addition, the court nullified the local government election conducted in Rivers State on October 5, 2024.
