The House of Representatives will today debate President Bola Tinubu’s request to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State, New Telegraph has learnt.
Recall that President Tinubu had Tuesday evening in a nationwide broadcast declared a state of emergency in Rivers state suspending Governor Siminalayi, his deputy, Ngozi Odu and the entire members of the State House Assembly for six months.
Although the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Akin Rotimi, who doubles as the spokesperson, had confirmed that the president had communicated the House and matter would be deliberated upon at yesterday’s plenary, it was eventually not discussed.
According to Rotimi: “The National Assembly was duly consulted by the President Mr. President’s formal letter, informing the House of Representatives of his decision and seeking approval in line with Section 305 of the constitution, has been transmitted and will be read during plenary tomorrow, Wednesday, March 19, 2025.”
Attempts to get Rotimi, the spokesperson to give more insight into why the House did not take the state of emergency issue yesterday were not successful as his phones were inaccessible but a lawmaker who preferred anonymity confided in New Telegraph that poor attendance at the plenary forced the leadership to defer debate till today.
According to the lawmaker: “I am aware that the president’s request for approval for the state of emergency he declared yesterday in Rivers State is with the Speaker.
The letter is actually here. But if you had witnessed our plenary today (Wednesday), you would see that most of the seats were empty. Most members have been on oversight to MDAs and so many were not around and because of the sensitive nature of the issue at hand, the leadership decided that the matter be deferred till Thursday when we will have a full house.
“There is no ulterior motive. You can see that it was the Deputy Speaker that presided today but tomorrow, the Speaker will also be around and the President’s letter will be debated on its own merit and an acceptable decision taken.
“We are all concerned about what is happening in Rivers State and our desire is that peace should return to the state as soon as possible.
You know how important Rivers are to this nation. So, we don’t want to do anything that would threaten the peace of the state. I believe Nigerians are going to be satisfied with our resolution tomorrow (Thursday),” he stated.
Many other lawmakers approached by New Telegraph shied away from commenting on the issue. Most of them told us to wait until today to hear their opinion on the matter.
Meanwhile, two members of the House of Representatives, yesterday engaged in a war of words over the declaration of state of emergency in Rivers.
The two members, both women, Blessing Amadi (PDP, Rivers) and Marie Ebikake (PDP, Bayelsa) almost came to fisticuffs before the commencement of plenary. They were, however, separated by other lawmakers, who intervened immediately to forestall a physical combat.
