Chibuzor Okereke is a Political Analyst. In this interview he speaks on Rivers State crisis, where the gladiators have faltered, among others. JOY ANIGBOGU brings the excerpts:

What can you say about the development in Rivers State in terms of the Governor’s visit to the House of Assembly Complex and being denied access by the lawmakers?

What is happening in Rivers State is quite unfortunate and indeed by standard legislative procedure, this doesn’t comply with a standard administrative or even legislative procedure. Usually if the governor of a state will be visiting the state assembly whether to make budget presentation, which is mostly what they go there for or maybe there’s a matter of interest, inspection of facility, infrastructure or what have you, there will be official correspondence from the executive arm of government particularly from the governor to the speaker who will hold leadership meeting and direct the chairman committee on rules and business of the house to enlist that particular engagement in the order paper, and your reporter said there was no such a thing as a visit of the governor. We can understand that both parties have been having issues and people can argue that indeed a desperate situation may be required desperate measures to address. But again, you have to be careful how you choose to address such desperate situation because if you look at the legislative house powers and privileges act that actually certain actions of the executive either by their agent or themselves would be construed to mean obstruction of legislative proceedings which would amount to a breach of the privileges of the assembly. So I don’t know what would have happened because if you are coming to present budget for this time those correspondences will happen, one and then protocols from each arm of government. They will have to even exchange list of those of that will accompany the governor to the Assembly to make a presentation and of course, it will be a formal outside listing to the order paper, there will be a formal Motion by the leader of the house seconded by the minority leader or anyone seconded to do so when it is needed to do so to admit those people who are coming with the governor as strangers into suspension of the rules of the house to admit those people into the chamber and then they will follow the agenda to make sure that the governor is allowed either to address the state through the assembly to present a budget or any other activity he may have elected to come and do in the assembly. Official exchanges or even informal exchanges didn’t happen. It was like a kind of invasion of the assembly. What we have in Rivers is not a normal situation. Maybe the governor is trying to make an effort to see how he can engage the legislature, but I think there are better strategies to be deployed in dealing with the current issue.

https://independent.ng/fubara-should-have-appointed-special-envoy-on-parliamentary-affairs-to-engage-the-legislators-okereke/