Fubara can’t change House of Assembly venue – Falana

“The house is independent of the executive. So the governor cannot tell the house where to sit.”

Fubara had on Friday issued an executive order for the immediate and temporary relocation of the sitting of the Rivers State Assembly to the Auditorium, Admin Block of the Government House, Port Harcourt.

READ ALSO:

• EFCC to work with UK prosecutors in Diezani’s case
• Private depots have raised petrol price to N770/litre – Marketers
• Police declare wanted Ogun landlady, husband who dumped tenant’s corpse in canal

In an official Gazette, Executive Order of the Rivers State Government 001-2023, Fubara cited the unsafe state of the House of Assembly complex.

But Falana insisted that Fubara was wrong to move the sitting venue of the Rivers State House of Assembly, and referenced an impeachment of a governor done outside the premises of the House of Assembly which was nullified by the Supreme Court.

“This was very clear in the Oyo State case which led to the impeachment of Governor Ladoja whereby under the influence of the late Chief Lamidi Adedibu, the House was alleged to have sat in a hotel and the Supreme Court made that point abundantly clear that an impeachment carried out in a hotel deviates clearly from the Constitution,” the human rights lawyer said.

“So any sitting of the House outside the premise of the House of Assembly complex will not be known to law; will not be recognized by law.”

He said if there is a need for a sitting elsewhere, the members of the House of Assembly, properly constituted, will have to decide where to carry out their meeting.

“There is a separation of powers under the Constitution and each organ of the government must recognise its own powers and limitations,” he said.

Fubara can’t change House of Assembly venue – Falana