Members of the Rivers State House of Assembly have advanced reasons for their rejection of N100,000 each the state government gave them as Christmas gifts.
Recall that the lawmakers like their godfather, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, are at war with Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
The latter and his deputy, Ngozi Oduh, are currently facing impeachment moves by the lawmakers who initiated the process to sack them from offices on Thursday on grounds that both Fubara and Oduh committed multiple impeachable offenses.
About the Christmas time reports surfaced that the state government on the approval of the governor sent the lawmakers N100,000 each through individuals’ bank accounts with the beneficiaries pushing back at the gift.
Explaining the motivation behind the rejection, the spokesperson for the Rivers State House of Assembly, Enemi George said the lawmakers didn’t find the sums small but criminal.
According to him the Christmas cash gifts was not in the budget: “Within that principle, there is no constitutional provision for that. We didn’t reject it because the money is too small, we rejected it because I don’t want to go to prison.
“These funds do not belong to my father, mother, or sister; they belong to the people of Rivers State, in the nooks and crannies, who will pay for it.”
George stated this in an interview he granted Channels Television on Thursday where he declared that the lawmakers would take the impeachment moves to a logical conclusion ruling out a political solution to the face-off.
His words, “Very sincerely, I doubt that because we’ve had one too many political solutions… It demeans, diminishes the institution of the Rivers House of Assembly if you say that everything that we do is because of politics… Right now, what we’re talking about is the law.
“The first time the president intervened, he was insulted. They said it was a political solution that was not binding. The second time, the president went through hell to assemble stakeholders, to broker this peace, and then somebody goes back and reneges.
“You can’t keep breaking the law and expecting the president to come to your rescue.”
