*It is illegal, says PDP
*Vows to challenge passage
Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers state on Tuesday shocked the people of the state when he presented an estimated N485.524billion budget for 2014 amidst argument that the state House of Assembly has no constitutional right to sit outside the hallow chambers.
Before the passage, the state chapter of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, had raised an alarm that the lawmakers loyal to the governor were planning to sit any time soon, an allegation which government agents denied that there was no such plan.
The budget was passed inside the Government House, the Banquet hall, to be specific and the process lasted for less than an hour to the surprise of local journalists in the state.
Defending the allegation by the PDP, the Deputy Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Hon. Leyii Kwanee on Monday condemned in strong terms the release issued by the special Adviser on Media to the PDP Chairman, Mr. Jerry Needam stating that the House would commence sitting at the Government House with regard to the passage of the 2014 appropriation bill.
Speaking to newsmen in Port Harcourt, today, the Deputy Speaker said as a principal officer he was not aware of such notice and that such was the imagination of PDP and its Adviser on Media.
He accused the party of trying to overheat the polity again and to ensure that Rivers people do not benefit from the developmental programmes of governor Amaechi by making unguarded utterances with the intention to disrupt the Assembly in order to appropriate funds for the government.
The Deputy Speaker urged the PDP to leave the Rivers State House of Assembly alone and not to drag the House into another upheaval.
He said the House if it is to sit would issue its statement and described the statement credited to the publicity secretary as mischievous and a calculated attempt to incite another fracas.
Reacting to the budget passage, the state chairman of the PDP, Chief Felix Obuah in a press briefing at the party secretariat shortly after the budget was passed described the governor’s action as an act of illegality.
“The passage of the 2014 budget outside the hallow chambers is illegal and we in the Rivers state PDP will use every legal means to challenge the implementation of such budget”, Obuah said.
Source: Daily Independent
