Falana faults Fubara’s decision on relocating sitting of Rivers Assembly to Govt House

“I would like to assume that the governor issued that executive order before the intervention of the High Court in Rivers State.

“The house is independent of the executive. So the governor cannot tell the house where to sit, ” Falana said at the show.

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.

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.

“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 also said.

Falana emphasised that said if there is a need for a sitting elsewhere, the members of the House of Assembly, properly constituted, would 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.

Falana also said having defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), the lawmakers have lost their position.

“The 25 lawmakers who defected have lost their seats. They have lost their rights to remain members of the assembly.

“In the case of Adetunde and the Labour Party, the Supreme Court made it clear that you cannot decamp and then remain a member of a legislative house in Nigeria unless you can show that there is a division in your party. Today, the PDP is one.”