Rivers ex-Speaker, Ibani faults Fubara’s ‘uninvited’ visit to Assembly

A former Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Ikuinyi-Owaji Ibani, has berated Governor Siminalayi Fubara for not notifying the House of his budget presentation visit.

Ibani stated this on ‘The Morning Brief’, a breakfast programme on Channels Television on Thursday.

The former Speaker, who referenced his eight-year tenure, said then-governor Nyesom Wike informed him behind the scenes of his planned visit for budget presentations every year.

“I operated as Speaker from 2015 to 2023. When Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was governor, I informed him to look at the state of the Assembly Quarters.

“He had to write to me; he had to call me to say that he would be visiting the Quarters of Rivers State House of Assembly.

“I then put the members on notice that the governor of Rivers State was coming. He couldn’t have driven down there to inspect it knowing that it is a different institution headed by a different official of government,” he said.

Recall that Fubara was on Wednesday denied access to the Rivers State House of Assembly quarters, where lawmakers currently hold plenary sessions.

The governor said he communicated his visit to Amaewhule but the Assembly said it received no correspondence to the effect.

According to Ibani, what transpired on Wednesday between the Amaewhule-led Assembly was not unconnected to the frosty relationship between Fubara and Wike since 2023.