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.
