By Ignatius Chukwu
Chief Tony Okocha, the man regarded as the voice of the opposition in Rivers State, has commended the state governor, Sir Sim Fubara, for heeding to the call for the state executive council to be made functional.
Chief Okocha is the chairman of the caretaker committee (CTC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State. He had taken out strikes against the governor and wrote him off as a failure, pointing to the failure to convene the State Exco since December 2023. He also pointed to other areas especially inability to sign laws made by the House of Assembly which is made up almost by defected APC members.
Okocho has now commended Gov Fubara for, according to him, heeding to the call by the APC in Rivers State to convene a meeting of the State Executive Council (SEC), to make room for a government of the collective, as against dictatorship and totalitarianism.
He made this commendation after the SEC meeting presided over by Gov Fubara on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, at the Executive Council Chambers of the Government House in Port Harcourt.
In a statement signed by Amb. Vincent Gbosi, the Special Assistant on Media to the Chairman, the chairman recalled that the APC in Rivers State as the leading opposition political party in the State has been in the forefront of advocating for the meeting of the State Executive Council, to make room for healthy debates, and inputs, by members of Council, for the development of Rivers State.
In his commendation, the CTC chairman said that the APC in Rivers State would continue to provide useful clues to the Rivers State Government, and continue offering constructive criticisms for the enthronement of good governance in Rivers State without caring a hoot whose ox would be gored.
He added that SEC meeting is very important to State governors and the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“It is so crucial that a Governor or President delegates his power to preside over SEC/FEC to his Deputy/Vice.”
Speaking further, the chairman said: “In any case, we still commend him for giving heed to the advocacy for Government of the collective as against dictatorship and totalitarianism”.
Though he stated that the latent motive for the SEC meeting after many months, is for the Governor to be careful not to be caught in the web of another possible veto, following the amendment to the principal procurement law of Rivers State, which hitherto allowed sometimes 100 per cent payments to contractors and suppliers doing business in the State.
In the new amendment, the Rivers State House of Assembly, puts a seal of 20 per cent as mobilisation to cure the possibility of contractors running away with State Government money.
The governor was this time smart enough to convoke the SEC meeting to approve and award a road contract of over N80Bn knowing that after 30 days, upon refusal to assent to the bill, the Legislative would latch in on section 100 (1~5), to override him.
He commended the Rivers State House of Assembly headed and presided over by the Speaker, the Rt. Hon. Martin Chike Amaewhule, who passed a Bill to amend the procurement law.
He argued that the bill when passed into law, will engender discipline in contractors and suppliers doing business with the Rivers State Government.
Chief Tony Okocha, opposition leader in Rivers State, commends Gov Fubara for heeding to advice on need for state executive meeting
