Governor & Speaker. |
The Governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah, Tuesday morning, left rotten eggs on the faces of the Speaker and members of the Enugu State House of Assembly, after failing to show up for a scheduled budget presentation on the floor of the house.
The
presentation, which was being transmitted live on Arise Television, had to be
suspended when Governor Mbah refused to make an appearance, more than 40
minutes after the Speaker and all members had been seated.
The
2024 budget presentation would be the first time that such an occasion would be
transmitted live on television, but for reasons that are still not clear,
Governor Mbah chose the day to drive home his disdain for the Enugu State
legislature by standing them up.
The
embarrassment started when the Speaker, Enugu State House of Assembly, Hon Uche
Ugwu, appeared in the House chambers, dressed in full ceremonial regalia, and
took the job of recognizing the dignitaries that were present.
Although
normal parliamentary protocol stipulates that the Speaker makes his appearance
after the guests, including the Governor, had been seated, the Enugu State
House of Assembly Speaker chose to breach this protocol, apparently because of
his desperation to please Governor Mbah.
It
has been previously reported that Governor Mbah and many people in his inner
circle allegedly hold the speaker in disdain and have spoken derisively to him
on a number of occasions.
It
cannot immediately be ascertained whether the action of the governor was to
further demonstrate his disrespect for the Speaker, but the delayed appearance
of Mbah at such an important occasion left many people embarrassed.
Among
those gathered at the Enugu State House of Assembly were the Deputy Governor of
the State, Ifeanyi Ossai, former Chairman, Enugu State Universal Education
Board (ENSUBEB) Ikeje Asogwa, Secretary to the Enugu State Government,
Chidiebere Onyia, traditional rulers, market men and women and members of the
Enugu State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
To
pass the time while waiting for the governor’s arrival, the Speaker took to the
microphone to personally recognize all the dignitaries and groups present, and
in the absence of any other worthwhile business, announced that they’d have to
wait for the governor.
After
he had made this announcement, Arise TV, which was on live coverage of the
event had to yank the programme off the air and went to its regular programming
and only resumed after about an hour when the governor had arrived.
When
the business of the day eventually began following his arrival, Governor Mbah
presented a budget of N521, 561, 336, 000 (Five hundred and twenty-one billion,
five hundred and sixty-one million, three hundred and eighty-six thousand
naira) to the House for approval.
This
represented an ambitious departure from the 2023 budget, which stood at N166.6
billion, an increase of about 350 percent, that is, if the Supplementary Budget
of N57 billion approved for the Mbah administration in September is not
counted.
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