Immediate past Deputy Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Honourable Leyii Kwane, has described as shocking, disappointing and regrettable, the hurried manner the seventh legislature in the state ended its business, last week.
Kwanee, who represented Khana State Constituency 11, in a statement issued from his office and made available to the newsmen at the weekend, condemned what he described as an inglorious sitting of his colleagues, saying the seventh Assembly had been brought to an inglorious end.
Some 17 lawmakers had sat, in a valedictory session, last week, but the sesssion ended abruptly without addressing some issues, which the legislature had tabled before the executive arm of government at the twilight of the former Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s administration.
The valedictory session was said to have been presided over by the immediate past Speaker, Honourable Otelemaba Dan-Amachree, who was accused of being colourless and less active in the legislative affairs of the state.
Also, members of staff of the Rivers State House of Assembly Commission recently embarked upon a protest over alleged non-payment of backlog of salary arrears and allowances.
“The so-called valedictory session of the seventh Assembly that would have ended in glamour, shamefully came to an end within minutes and failed to address some issues the executive arm could not address as it bows out,” Kwanee said.
Kwanee, who was not present at the sitting, frowned at the failure of the 17 lawmakers that attended the brief plenary to address the face-off that ensued between the legislature and aggrieved members of the Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria (PASSAN), wondering where history would place the affected lawmakers.
Regretting that his colleagues could not resolve the welfare needs of the PASSAN members that were been owed allowances since 2014, the former Deputy Speaker prayed that Rivers State would never again go through the trying times it faced in the transition from the seventh session of the legislature to the eighth session.
Kwanee, in the statement, however admonished the incoming eighth Assembly to learn from the mistakes and pitfalls of the seventh legislature and urged Rivers people to persevere, despite the disappointing attitude displayed by some public officials in the state.
It would be recalled that the Rivers State House of Assembly Complex, which had been under lock and key since July 9, 2013 on the order of a former Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Joseph Mbu, was formally reopened on Monday.
Governor Nyesom Wike, who gave the directive during his inauguration, last Friday, also promised that never again would the state lawmakers be holding their sessions and other legislative businesses at the state Government House, as it was obtainable during the seventh session.
Also judiciary complex which was shut down by the out-gone administration of Rotimi Amaechi, following an impasse over the appointment of a substantive chief judge for the state was opened.
