Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State has signed into law the state’s N1.188 trillion budget for the 2025 fiscal year.
Mr Fubara assented to the budget within two working days after presenting it to the three-member Rivers Assembly loyal to him.
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He presented the budget before the Victor Oko-Jumbo-led faction of the assembly on Monday.
This is like a repeat of what happened last year, where Governor Fubara presented the N800 billion 2024 budget before a four-member assembly and assented to it within 24 hours.
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Lawmakers in the oil-rich Rivers had long split into two factions because of the protracted political crisis in the state; the three-member faction, led by Mr Oko-Jumbo, is loyal to Mr Fubara while Martins Amaewhule leads a 27-member faction loyal to Mr Fubara’s predecessor, Nyesom Wike.
Messrs Fubara and Wike are at loggerheads over the control of the political structure in the state.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja invalidated the 2024 budget following a suit filed against it by the pro-Wike lawmakers, but Governor Fubara appealed the case to the Supreme Court, insisting that the pro-Wike lawmakers were no longer members of the assembly after they defected to the All Progressives Congress.
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Amid the expected Supreme Court ruling, Mr Fubara presented the 2025 budget. He signed it into law after it was hurriedly passed by the three-member faction of the assembly.
‘No going back, we’ve moved on,’ Fubara insist
Speaking after assenting to the 2025 budget, Mr Fubara doubled down on his insistence that the 27 Wike’s loyalists were no longer members of the assembly. He insisted that Rivers has only one assembly, which is led by Mr Oko-Jumbo.
“I want to say this, maybe, for some persons somewhere who are still mixing up issues. We have only one Rivers State House of Assembly, and that Assembly is headed by Rt Hon Victor Oko-Jumbo.
Mr Fubara’s remark is contained in a statement sent on Thursday to PREMIUM TIMES by the governor’s spokesperson, Nelson Chukwudi.
“It is too late. We are not going back. We have moved on,” Mr Fubara said, describing Mr Wike’s allies as a group of friends who embarked on a “Sinbad journey, and halfway into the journey, they decided to return”.
The governor promised to start implementing the new budget and ensure its performance record surpasses that of 2024.
The pro-Wike lawmakers have yet to react to the governor’s signing of the 2025 budget into law. For now, it is unclear if they will also challenge its validity.
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