Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has defended his decision to present the 2025 budget to only three lawmakers, stating that the 27 members of the State House of Assembly who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) have permanently forfeited their seats.
Fubara, engaged in a political standoff with his predecessor and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, declared there is no legal remedy for the defected lawmakers to reclaim their positions.
The governor, speaking after signing the N1.1 trillion 2025 budget at the Rivers State House in Port Harcourt on Thursday, stated that he had endured significant insults from Wike’s camp and would no longer tolerate further disrespect.
He dismissed claims of a factional Assembly, affirming that the three-member legislative body led by Speaker Victor Oko-Jumbo remains the only legitimate Assembly in the state.
Clarifying his stance, Fubara said, “I want to say this, maybe for some persons somewhere who are still mixing up issues. We have only one Assembly, and that Assembly is headed by Rt. Hon. Victor Oko-Jumbo.”
The governor compared the defected lawmakers’ actions to a failed expedition, saying, “A group of friends about nine months ago embarked on what is called a sea-bared journey; halfway through the vessel, while they were coasting, they realized that they were entering the den of devils and sharks, and they now want to retreat. It is too late, and the truth is that we are not going back.”
Fubara reiterated his commitment to defending the state’s integrity, adding, “We have given them enough room for peace. There is no governor in Nigeria who can take the kind of insult I took from those set of people. As it stands now, our major target is the interest of Rivers State, and we will continue to defend the integrity of governance. As far as I am concerned, we have moved on.”
