No need for impeachment threat — Nwuke

Chief Ogbonna Nwuke was the member of the House of Representatives representing the Etche/Omuma Federal Constituency from 2011 to 2015. He speaks about the renewed impeachment proceedings initiated by the Rivers State House of Assembly against Governor Similanayi Fubara, insisting that there is no need for the current crisis in the state.

What do you think could caused the renewed moves by the Rivers State House of Assembly to initiate another impeachment proceedings against governor Fubara?

I think there is a clear misunderstanding in what is playing out right now. There are people who think that wielding the impeachment proceedings gives them an advantage. But a great majority of Rivers people are amazed at what is playing out.  Nigeria operates January to December budget cycle. Somewhere along the line, we ran into a culdesac  when the supreme Court dumped the budget passed by the Oko Jumbo led factional Assembly.  If you google, you will find out that the federal government sent a budget to the National Assembly for a passage of a budget that was done around July 21 by the National Assembly. But something happened that altered the budget cycle of Rivers State from January to December. If you look at what the Assembly has passed and you want to tell yourself genuinely the truth, you will find out that the National Assembly has passed a new budget cycle for Rivers because the new budget cycle something has been missing since July.

How in truth can gentlemen of the Assembly say Fubara has broken any law in relation to budget passage?  You should also know that there is an operational budget passed by the national Assembly but I’m sure that this State Assembly which is supposed to be charting another course and supposed to be representing Rivers,  it does not appear that they understand what their role is. I want you to google it and find out when the national Assembly passed the budget and if they passed the budget around July there is a need for somebody to understand that the budget cycle is a whole part of the budget. Why are we being faced with constant threat of an impeachment is that what democracy should be?

You were in the House of Representative is it how things are done in terms of legislative functions?

I was a lawmaker. There is a relationship between the executive and the legislative. Why is it that the legislative arms in Rivers State thinks that it can give instructions to the executive arms?  No, there is something wrong and I have found that there is something but I don’t want to address. You need to sound like Wike to work with Wike and it’s a terrible thing and that will lead people to disrespect one another this has led people to ignore conventions.

In this country, there is a budget cycle that runs from January to December now the budget that was passed by the national Assembly came into effect in July 21 last year meaning that that budget is still alive. So how can anybody hold the government of Rivers State accountable for a budget that is yet to run a full cycle?

Does it mean that the Rivers State legislators are ignorant of the fact that the budget was passed by the national Assembly?

The lawmakers in Rivers State are supposed to understand that there is a budget that was enacted when they were not in office and when the governor was not in the office but nonetheless, the law says that in the absence of the a duly constituted Assembly the national Assembly takes control.

The law is very clear on that and it’s the national Assembly that passed the law and I think that this lawmakers who apparently thinks that they have strength to threaten should be able to study what the law says. There is committee of the house that deals on legal issues and they don’t appear to look at this analysis and this is where I stand as a former lawmaker. I think it’s not necessary to overheat the polity. I think that the political space must be given space to operate for the benefit of all of us and let us stop all this tension because this lawmakers should be loyal to Rivers State they should not be loyal to Nyesom Wike.

What do you think Wike stands to benefit from the stand off?

Two things, it is either Wike is pressing a panic button or pressing the social disrupt button. Now what do I mean by that? The lawmakers have become members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, the same party that their governor belongs to.  Has  this matter been treated responsibly at the party level where there should be room for some understanding? Some discussions surrounding differences?The other thing to say if people are being rationalistic we should ask ourselves why the hurry? There was an attempt to get the governor to pass a supplementary budget when the budget is still in operation and the governor thought that it was better in the interest of not just the economy of the state to have a budget that is functional and there was no need to go into appropriating additional funds. Why would that be an issue because those things are playing in the background because this people that we are talking to or who are talking to us are pretending as if the rest of us are dumb and this is the point.

The budget that is being run that was passed by the national Assembly as of the time the State Assembly was on suspension is still in force or are they saying that Fubara should jettison the law passed by the National Assembly in preference to the state Assembly? Is that what they are saying that the funds appropriated by the national Assembly should be returned to the State Assembly? Are they saying that the national Assembly has no right to make a law on any part of the Federation there was a stand off because that’s what the constitution says? I think that we don’t need to be emotional about this, we need to discuss the issues and I know you as a journalist should do your investigations if there is anything wrong that I said here let me be held accountable.

This panic button that you talked about was it targeted at Tinubu?

I think the panic button was pressed by Wike who is afraid that he is losing out that is what I think because there was no need for a thank you visit he embarked upon across local government areas in the state, there was no need for the incitement of the people.

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