Don’t tamper with Rivers Assembly quarters – Elders warn Fubara

Elders and leaders of Rivers State urged Governor Siminalayi Fubara not to contemplate tampering with the structures at the state 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 across party lines, gave the charge after their surprise visit to the quarters on Sunday, May 12, 2024, to appraise the condition of the buildings.

The visit of the elders came on the heels of Governor Fubara’s recent controversial visit to the facility, giving rise to speculations that he has plans to renovate the estate.

The quarters are occupied by members of the Martins Amaewhule-led House of Assembly, who are loyalists of Nyesom Wike, the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, FCT, with whom the governor is in an epic battle for the soul of the state.

The elders were received by Amaewhule and other lawmakers, who took them round the structures in the complex and the auditorium that currently serves as a chamber for the factional lawmakers.

Amaewhule, who is the factional Speaker of the 25 members loyal the FCT minister, allege of a design Fubara to pull down the structures the same way the House of Assembly Complex was demolished.

According to him, the structures, which remained the property of the Rivers State House of Assembly, are in excellent condition, and were currently houses the lawmakers and their family members.

Amaewhule how Fubara invaded the quarters with thugs and armed policemen without invitation, adding that the governor broke the gate while others scaled the fence.

“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,” the factional Speaker said.

“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.”

On the judgement of Omotosho, Amaewhule said governor violated the subsisting orders of the Federal High Court.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

Kingsley Chinda, the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, said they were concerned about reports of impending demolition of another democratic institution and came to assess the condition of the premises.

He disclosed that before their visit, they had already engaged experts to assess the integrity of the structures and had got a favourable report that the structures would last for more than 25 years.

“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,” Chinda said.

“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.

“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.”

According to Igo Aguma, a former member of the House of Representatives, Justice Omotosho’s judgment indicted the governor of willful destruction of the assembly complex, alleging that Fubara committed a criminal offence.

He said: “I want to remind the governor that the same Justice Omotosho judgment had found that he willfully brought down the institution of the Parliament in the Rivers State House of Assembly by demolishing it.

“He willfully did it in order to prevent them from sitting. That is malicious damage to public property. It is a criminal offence. The red biro will run dry one day and you will be made to answer. It has not been appealed against. I want to also let him know that Rivers people will muster all democratic institutions in the world to defend democracy in Rivers.

“We will not run away. We will fight him back. Democracy is the best form of government and we will have democracy in Rivers. He should take pity on the governed and remember that Rivers State House of Assembly has made itself financially autonomous.

“It is an act of the law. So if they have any issue that has to do with engineering and reconstruction, the law empowers them to do it by themselves. This is an edifice. It behooves on all Rivers people to defend this edifice.”

Ikuinyi Ibani, a former Speaker of the Rivers House of Assembly, added by their assessment, there was nothing wrong with the structures.

He advised the governor not to tamper with quarters, warning any action that could trigger violent reaction in the state.

“I am here with other leaders to show and prove to the world that democracy is the best form of government and that this is one institution that should be defended in any democratic setting,” he said.

“We have listened to the Speaker, Martins Amaewhule, who cited many rulings and judgments of courts in relation to what is happening in Rivers. For me as a former Speaker, I have a sense of disappointment at what is happening today.

“I can recall very vividly that in 2022 this project was inaugurated by Femi Gbajabiamila as the Speaker of the House of Reps. His comments were quite complementary and a useful tool for the development of Rivers. So, I am here with the other leaders to check whether there is anything wrong with the structure. There is nothing wrong with the structure.

“You don’t need to be a civil engineer to know there is nothing wrong with the structure. Public money should be channeled into the development of the state and making the people be happy. The government should try to diversify the economy.

“It is old that action and reaction are equal and opposite, but I will say that action and reaction are opposite but they are not equal. When you engage in an action and the reaction comes, there is no way the reaction will be equal, as in the case of Hammas and Isreal. We will continue to support the speaker. Leaders who do not like democracy always attack democratic institutions first when they come to power”.

For Senator Olaka Nwogu: “I have never seen a situation where those tasked with protecting public property will be those to destroy such property. When the Rivers State House of Assembly was brought down, it was like a movie to most Nigerians. That was the greatest assault on democracy.

“No matter the reason people try to put before things, I don’t think there is any Rivers son or daughter that will support that the assembly was brought down because some persons think it will help their self-preservation.

“Today, the Rivers State Assembly sits here and again they want to bring it down. Let me make it clear that it is not the building that makes the Parliament. It is the members themselves and the constitution. Even if you break down this place, the members can decide to sit in any place in their resolution favours. Parliament is self-regulatory. Nobody regulates them.

“You can break a thousand chambers and they will create more. It is about us, the people, the institutions, and their duty to provide checks and balances on our behalf within the tenets of democracy. We are a nation of laws. You cannot be protected by law when you become the chief lawbreaker.

“It is the duty of the chief executive of the state to do everything to ensure that there is law and order. What example do you put out when you become the chief lawbreaker, demolisher of the institution of the state, and a waste of its resources? This is unacceptable. Decent minds must condemn it. I urge those involved to have a rethink.

“These structures belong to the people. No court has said they are not members. So, they are. Let’s hope that the planned so-called renovation is quickly set aside. You cannot order the assembly to sit where the executive wants them to sit. That is not how the law is.

“You cannot take the assembly into government house against wishes of the assembly. This assembly premises is the best within the West African subregion. Show me any state that has something like this. When you take it down, you need Rivers money to build it again.”

Chief Tony Okocha, the Rivers Caretaker Committee Chairman of the APC, commended the leaders and elders across party lines for defending democracy saying it was a demonstration of the unity in the state.

He said: “This goes to show the world that Rivers people are united. We are one. The speaker had taken us round the premises and had given us the synopsis of what transpired when the governor in a Gestapo manner cane with thugs to harass the inhabitants here.

“27 lawmakers are members of our party and we owe them the responsibility to protect and defend them. At every twist and turn, the governor attempts to see how he can curry political patronage by claiming that he supports Mr. President. It is not true. It is a fluke.

“The world should know that they are not supporters of Mr. President. They want to lash it to see whether they can continue to engage in their illegality. As chairman of APC, Rivers State, I have taken a look at the details of voting in the past election and it is clear to me that the governor did not vote for Mr. President.”