Pro-Wike lawmakers adjourn indefinitely ahead of Fubara’s budget presentation

The faction of the Rivers State House of Assembly led by Martin Awaehule has adjourned its plenary indefinitely.

The decision was taken during a plenary session held at the assembly quarters in Port Harcourt on Friday.

The move comes just 24 hours after Siminalayi Fubara, governor of Rivers state, wrote to the assembly, requesting a new date for the presentation of the 2025 appropriation bill.

In the letter dated March 13 and personally signed by Fubara, the Rivers governor proposed Wednesday or any date in March convenient to the lawmakers for presentation of the budget.

Fubara said the letter is the second notice of budget presentation sent to the lawmakers.

The governor said his actions are in compliance with the supreme court judgment of February 28 that ordered the presentation of the budget to the assembly.

On Wednesday, Fubara and some of his commissioners were prevented from accessing the Rivers house of assembly quarters in Port Harcourt to present the 2025 budget.

The development came after the recent judgment of the supreme court on the political crisis in the state.

Fubara and Nyesom Wike, minister of the federal capital territory (FCT), have been locked in a supremacy battle over control of the political structure of the state.

The rift led to the polarisation of the Rivers assembly. The Awaewhule-led faction is loyal to Wike.

In December 2024, the governor presented a 2025 budget proposal of N1.1 trillion to the Victor Oko-Jumbo-led state house of assembly, which is loyal to him.

On February 28, the supreme court affirmed the judgment of a federal high court that barred the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the accountant-general of the federation from releasing statutory monthly allocations to Rivers state.

The apex court had ordered the CBN to withhold Rivers’ financial allocation until Fubara presents the state appropriation bill to the Amaewhule-led faction of the assembly.