Femi Falana, a human rights activist, claims that Governor Siminalayi Fubara lacks the constitutional authority to designate where Rivers State House of Assembly (RSHA) lawmakers would meet.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) disclosed this in response to Governor Fubara's executive order last year, but it was only recently made public after a State High Court prevented a faction of the RSHA from parading as lawmakers.
The executive order dated December 2023 relocated the legislature to the government house, alleging a fire that happened at the RSHA complex in October, rendering it inhabitable.
To back up his position, the activist cited an impeachment of a governor conducted outside the House of Assembly and later overturned by the Supreme Court.
“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.” Mr Falana said in an interview with journalists on Sunday.
The activist cited the case of Oyo State which led to the impeachment of Governor Ladoja, where under the influence of the late Chief Lamidi Adedibu, the House was alleged to have sat in a hotel, and the Supreme Court made that point explicitly clear that an impeachment carried out in a hotel deviates clearly from the Constitution.
"There is a separation of powers under the Constitution, and each organ of the government must recognize its own powers and limitations," he stated.
The human rights lawyer further stated that Rivers State House of Assembly legislators who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressive Congress (APC) had lost their legislative seats as a result of their actions.
