Don’t Tamper With Structures In Assembly Quarters – Rivers Elders To Fubara
• …as elders visit quarters, frown at alleged plot to destroy another democratic institution
Elders and leaders of Rivers across political party lines have called on the state Governor Siminalayi Fubara, to shelve any plan to tamper with structures at the House of Assembly quarters located along Aba Road in Port Harcourt.
The elders comprising past and present members of the National Assembly, local government chairmen, and opinion leaders spoke on Sunday, May 12, when they paid a surprise visit to the quarters to assess the condition of the buildings.
Their intervention was following the recent visit of the governor to the facility and insinuations of a plan to renovate the estate, which currently houses the hallowed chamber of the Martins Amaewhule-led House of Assembly.
Accompanied by other stakeholders in the state, the leaders were received by Speaker Amaewhule and other lawmakers and were taken around the structures in the complex and the auditorium that currently serves as a chamber for the lawmakers.
Amaewhule told the leaders that there was a grand plot by the governor to bring down the structures the same way he ordered the demolition of the House of Assembly Complex located along Moacow Road to stop them from sitting.
He said the structures were in excellent condition, fully functional, and were currently occupied by the lawmakers and their family members.
He condemned the way and manner the governor stormed the quarters aided by thugs and armed policemen alleging that Fubara broke the gate and allowed others to scale the fence.
Amaewhule said the lawmakers never invited the governor to come to the quarters adding that the estate remained the property of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
Addressing the elders, Amaewhule said: “Your visit is unusual visit. It shows that the good people of the state are concerned about what is happening. This facility is the facility of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
“We have also brought in experts, engineers and there is nothing wrong with these structures. They are fully in use and fully functional. All the experts confirmed to us that this building is one of the best in the entire West Africa.
“This complex was constructed by the former Governor, Nyesom Wike and inaugurated in August 2022 by the current chief of staff to Mr. President, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila. We are happy with the building and everything is working well.
“We didn’t write to the governor and we didn’t invite him. We didn’t ask for his help because we don’t need it. We don’t need his intervention in any way. Any attempt to talk about reconstruction or demolition is clearly an assault on democracy and an assault on members resident in these buildings.
The Rivers State Government is not the office of the governor. It comprises the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary. The governor has no right to claim it as his personal property. It is the property of the Rivers State House of Assembly. So without an invitation to the governor, he has no right to break into our property”.
Amaewhule while showing the leaders the current legislative chamber at the complex insisted that the governor had no right to make any executive order directing lawmakers where to hold their sitting.
Citing the judgement of Omotosho, Amaewhule described governor’s actions as a flagrant violation of orders of the Federal High Court, none of which he said had been vacated.
He said: “All the orders of injunction by that court are still in place. None had been vacated. The law is on the side of members. The orders of the three high courts are still in place. The duty of ascertaining whether there is a problem is the duty of the assembly not the office of the governor.
“This facility belongs to the Rivers State House of Assembly and it remains so. We are not an appendage of the office of the governor. The judgement of Justice Omotosho bars him from interfering with our affairs. The judgement says don’t interfere with anything concerning us. It is in continuous disobedience to the order of the court that the governor broke into this place.
“The judgment also barred the other people from doing what they are currently doing. It is only the Rivers State House of Assembly Service Commission that can recruit, and discipline any staff member of the assembly. Those other people are Nollywood actors. The law is on our side. There is also a subsisting order of another court made by Justice Okoro”.
The Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Kingsley Chinda, while stating the purpose of their visit said they were worried about reports of another impending demolition of a democratic institution and decided to assess the condition of the premises.
Chinda said before their visit, they had already engaged experts to assess the integrity of the structures at the complex and their report showed that they would last for more than 25 years.
He observed that the Assembly built by Wike about two years ago and inaugurated by a former Speaker of the House of Representatives remained the best in Africa and was better than the National legislative quarters.
He said: “Let me salute the speaker and members of the House. The assembly complex that was brought down some leaders of the state went to the USA to get that design. When it was built, it was the best state assembly in this country. That structure is nowhere today.
“However, as members of the National Assembly from Rivers State, we have joined the leaders and elders of the state to discuss the issues happening in our state the latest being the threat to bring down the structures in this premises.
“We have commissioned engineers and experts to study and give us the report of the integrity of these structures. We have received the report. And the report says these structures have a lifespan of nothing less than 25 years.
“We have on our own come out to physically inspect the structures to crosscheck it with the report we received and these structures are still strong and healthy. Our apartments in the National Assembly are not better than what we have seen here.
“We should be proud that our state assembly occupies this quarters. It is easier to destroy than to build. The one we have destroyed have we made any move to rebuild it? Let us know that public officers should be living examples in society both in character and in conduct. Let us also caution that you must govern in line with the rule of law.
“We want to advise the governor to bridle a little bit at the exuberance that we had seen within this period. It doesn’t portend well to our state”.
Chinda said the National Assembly was observing and monitoring the situation in Rivers and would soon decide on the collective interest of the state.
He said: “We members of the National Assembly have not spoken. We have observed. But we cannot continue to fold our hands and watch our state fly. We are coming out and we will take a position without looking at anybody.
“It will be a position that will be in the interests of the state. No one individual is larger than Rivers State. We are members, leaders, and elders of Rivers, and this state we must protect”.