G60 lawmakers condemn Rivers State Assembly’s override of governor’s assent

The coalition of opposition lawmakers in the 10th National Assembly known as the G60 has faulted the amendment and passage of the Rivers State Local Government (Amendment) Bill by the State House of Assembly.

The Rivers State House of Assembly had on Monday passed the amended Bill into law overriding the assent of Governor Siminalayi Fubara.

Reacting to the development, opposition lawmakers in the House of Representatives, in a statement signed by its spokesperson Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere stated the passage of the bill is unenforceable and an invitation to anarchy.

Ugochinyere stated that the Martin Amaewhule-led Rivers House of Assembly are illegitimate and has no right to enact, amend or veto any law hence it’s unenforceable and “legislative rascality taken too far.”

READ MORE: Controversy trails Rivers politics as lawmakers override Fubara’s assent, pass LGA bill

They wondered how far the “illegitimate” lawmakers, who they described as loyalists of former Rivers State governor and current Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, are willing to go to “destabilise the government of Fubara” and breaching the presidential peace accord.

The G60 lawmakers accused Amaewhule and his colleagues of entangling in unconstitutionality, stating that the passage of the amended Bill into law and overriding the assent of Governor Fubara is an exercise in futility.

They called on the Inspector General of Police to arrest and prosecute the decamped Rivers lawmakers for criminally tampering with the Rivers LGA law.

Martin Amaewhule.

The statement from the G60 read: “The audacity of Decamped Rivers State House of Assembly passing the Rivers State Local Government (Amendment) Bill into law, overriding the assent of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, is legislative rascality taken too far.

“Amaewhule and his cohorts are on a spree of amending several laws, even when they are still not lawmakers in the eyes of the law. This is in reference to Section 109(1g) of the 1999 Constitution as amended. So it’s laughable for the supposed lawmakers to assume that such law can take retrospective effect.

“Martin Amaewhule-led Rivers House of Assembly are illegitimate and has no right to enact, amend or veto any law hence it’s unenforceable and legislative rascality taken too far. We therefore call on the Inspector General of Police, IGP to arrest and prosecute the decamped Rivers lawmakers for criminally tampering with Rivers LGA law.”