{"id":2513,"date":"2025-03-06T09:33:45","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T09:33:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/?p=2513"},"modified":"2025-03-06T09:33:45","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T09:33:45","slug":"rivers-assembly-gives-gov-fubara-fresh-48-hours-to-sack-cabinet-members-submit-names-for-screening-summons-rsiec-chairman-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/2025\/03\/06\/rivers-assembly-gives-gov-fubara-fresh-48-hours-to-sack-cabinet-members-submit-names-for-screening-summons-rsiec-chairman-others\/","title":{"rendered":"Rivers Assembly gives Gov Fubara fresh 48 hours to sack cabinet members, submit names for screening\u00a0 \u2022Summons RSIEC Chairman, others\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
By Our Reporter<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Following Supreme Court judgement in favour of sacked majority members of Rivers State Assembly lawmakers recently,State House of Assembly led by Martin Amaehwule on Wednesday gave Governor Siminalayi Fubara another 48 hours ultimatum to sack all his cabinet members that were not screened by them.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The Parliament also asked\u00a0 also asked the governor to sack other appointees that were not screened by the them within the next two days.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The House further ordered Governor Fubara to submit a new list of nominees for appointment of commissioners and other appointees within 48 hours.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The lawmakers condemned Governor Fubara’s administration for making what they described as “illegal” appointments to various offices without required screening and confirmation.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The Assembly’s resolutions, adopted during plenary on Wednesday, March 5, 2025, at the 131″ Legislative day of the Second Session, highlighted several infractions of the Constitution and extant laws.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Martin Chike Amaewhule, in a letter to Governor Fubara, accused him of disregarding the nation’s constitution, adding that his actions are a threat to the state’s democracy.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“We have observed that the Governor has consistently disregarded the provisions of the 1999 Constitution as amended and other extant laws in making appointments to various offices,” Amaewhule said.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The Assembly specifically criticized the Governor’s failure to forward the name of a nominee for Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, instead parading Mr. Dagogo Iboroma as a member of the State Executive Council in that position, saying the action contravenes Section 192(2) & (6) and Section 195(1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
They further condemned the Governor for swearing in 19 persons as Commissioners without screening and confirmation, contrary to Section 192(2) & (6) of the 1999 Constitution.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Other infractions highlighted by the Assembly include the swearing-in of members of the Rivers State Bureau on Public Procurement and the Rivers State Local Government Service Commission without required screening and confirmation.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The Assembly urged the Governor to act quickly and comply with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution and other extant laws.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
They requested that the Governor submit a list of nominees for appointment of Commissioners and other offices requiring screening and confirmation in two days.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“We call on the Governor to respect the Constitution and extant laws to avoid threatening our democracy. We will continue to perform our oversight functions to ensure that the Governor’s actions are in line with the law.”<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The letter reads: “the House amongst other matters once again deliberated on your numerous appointments of persons into positions that require screening and confirmation by the Rivers State House Assembly and resolved that your attention should once again be drawn to your illegal appointments of persons to serve in various offices without first forwarding their names for screening and confirmation as required by the 1999 Constitution as amended and other extant laws.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“That we should remind you of another infraction of the Constitution in which you illegally swore-in several other persons who are parading themselves as Commissioners into the Rivers State Executive Council on Tuesday 21” May, 2024 namely- Prince Charles O. Beke; Collins Onunwo; Solomon Eke; Peter Medee, Elloka Tasie-Amadi; Basoene Joshua Benibo; Tambari Sydney Gbara and Ovy Orluideye Chinendum Chukwuma without screening and confirmation by the Rivers State House of Assembly in full compliance with Section 192(2) & (6) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“Others who were sworn in on Tuesday 13″h of August 2024 are llamu Arugu; Rowland Obed Whyte; Samuel Anya; Samuel Eyiba and Austin Emeka Nnadozie while Israel Ngbuelu; Evans Bipi; Otamiri Ngubo and Benibo Alabraba were sworn in on Monday 7th October 2024. Emmanuel Frank-Fubara was sworn-in on the 8th of July 2024 amounting to total number of 19 persons parading themselves and misleading Rivers people that they are Commissioners.”<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Amaehwule in the letter also pointed 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 30 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.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“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.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“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.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“The House therefore, 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.”<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Similarly, the Rivers State House of Assembly has also invited the Chairman of the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, Justice Adolphus Enebeli (rtd.) and all the Commissioners of the Commission to appear before it in 48 hours, for questioning on their conducts in office, particularly, with respect to the Judgment of the Supreme Court in Suit No. SCICVI1105\/2024, on the nullification of the October 5th, 2024 Local Government elections in the state.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The RSIEC Chairman was asked to come along with relevant documents empowering him and his Commissioners to spend any fund of the Commission without an Appropriation Law from January 1st 2024 to March 5th, 2025 or face arrest.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
However, the RSIEC, in a letter by one Ibuchim Chambers to the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, which circulated online, responding to the invitation, has asked the of Assembly to withdraw the 48 hours ultimatum given to the Chairman and it’s Commissioners to appear before the the House or face legal actions.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The letter reads, “According to the principles of fair hearing enshrined in both the Section 36 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 and the case law of El-Rufai vs. House of Representatives, National Assembly (2003), at least seven (7) day notice would suffice to honour an invitation from any legislature according to the Legislative Houses (Powers and<\/div>\n
Privileges)Act, 2018.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“Take notice that in the event that you and the honorable Rivers State House of Assembly fails to withdraw the said ultimatum we intend to take legal steps to approach a court of law to seek redress.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“We use this opportunity to remind you that we are in a democracy and not a dictatorship wherein ultimatums are issued without regard to the relevant laws such as the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges)Act, 2018.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“We respectfully suggest that both yourself and other legislators of the Rivers State House of Assembly undergo a re-orientation training workshop wherein you will be re-acquainted with the scope and ambits of your powers as a legislature as prescribed by the Nigerian Constitution.”<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Our Reporter Following Supreme Court judgement in favour of sacked majority members of Rivers State Assembly lawmakers recently,State House of Assembly led by Martin Amaehwule on Wednesday gave Governor Siminalayi Fubara another 48 hours ultimatum to sack all his cabinet members that were not screened by them. The Parliament also asked\u00a0 also asked the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1579,1581,106,587,555,1580],"class_list":["post-2513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-appointees","tag-legislative-order","tag-parliament","tag-powers","tag-sack","tag-screening"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2513"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2514,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2513\/revisions\/2514"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}