…Says Move Is Legislative Rascality, Recipe for Chaos
The spokesperson of opposition lawmakers in the House of Representatives, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere has accused members of Rivers State House of Assembly of trying to plunge the state into a major crisis by extending of the tenure of local government chairmen in the State, few weeks to expiration of their tenure
Ugochinyere, who described the action of the Rivers Assembly as “democratic coup”, said the development could lead to anarchy in the state.
The legislator shared his concerns via a statement in Abuja on Friday.
He insisted that it was unconstitutional for the lawmakers to override the veto of the state governor on a law that was never sent to him, adding that the purported amendment of sections of the local government laws of 2018 extending the tenure of elected local government chairmen in Rivers state by the House of Assembly was dead on arrival and cannot be implemented.
The lawmaker noted that the members of the Rivers Assembly, who sat to take the decision, are by law no longer legislators, having defected from the Peoples Democratic Party( PDP), on whose platform they were elected into the House, to the All Progressives Congress ( APC).
Consequently he called on President Bola Tinubu to call his party members in the Rivers state House of Assembly to order. Ugochinyere threatened that opposition lawmakers will initiate moves for the House of Representatives to take over the functions of the Rivers State House of Assembly, if the crisis in the assembly persits.
According to him, “it is difficult for one to justify that local government chairmen that their tenure is about to expire in a matter of weeks; that you can make a law to extend their tenure. Such tenure extension is something that can lead to anarchy. It is unacceptable and cannot be enforced.
“The tenure extension for Rivers State local government local government chairman is legislative rascality and a, coup against democracy that is dead on arrival. Because you cannot change the goal post at the middle of the game…
“And now the local government chairman will now stay in office beyond their tenure, that is unacceptable and that will lead to crisis. That is what we don’t want and that is why we are calling on the President to call those his party members are former members of the House of Assembly to order before they blow up Rivers.”
