I swore to protect Rivers people — Fubara
- One court nullifies 2024 budget, another orders parties to maintain status quo
THERE was confusion and disquiet, yesterday, as two Federal High Courts, in Abuja, issued conflicting orders on the political crisis in Rivers State.
Earlier in the day, a Federal High Court nullified the Rivers 2024 Appropriation Bill of N800.3 billion that had been passed by a faction of the House of Assembly, led by former Speaker, Edison Ehie, and signed into law by Governor Siminalayi Fubara. It ordered the governor to re-present the budget to the Mr. Martin Amaewhule-led House.
The court, in the judgment by Justice James Omotosho, held that the budget was invalid as it was not properly presented before the Rivers State House of Assembly, as required by the law.
While recognising Amaewhule as the authentic Speaker of the Rivers State Assembly, the court ordered governor Fubara to re-present the budget to the legislative house for approval.
The court faulted governor Fubara for meddling in the affairs of the state’s legislative organ, saying he acted like a tyrant when he demolished the Rivers State Assembly complex and also withheld funds that are standing to the credit of the legislative House.
Defendants in the suit were; the National Assembly, Senate President, Deputy Senate President, Senate Majority Leader, the Senate Minority Leader, Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Deputy Speaker, the House Majority Leader, House Minority Leader, as well as the Clerk to the National Assembly.
Others were the governor of Rivers State, Attorney-General of Rivers, Commissioner of Finance, Accountant-General of Rivers, Rivers State Civil Service Commission, Inspector-General of Police, and Edison Ehie.
The Rivers House of Assembly and its Speaker, Amaewhule, were the 1st and 2nd plaintiffs in the matter.
Contrary order
However, a few hours later, another court ordered all the parties in the matter to maintain status quo, pending the determination of an ex-parte motion that six elders of the state filed to stop Governor Fubara from re-presenting the 2024 budget before the Amaewhule-led faction of the Assembly.
Justice J. O. Abdulmalik ordered substituted service of the application on all the defendants, and adjourned the matter till February 28, for hearing.
The plaintiffs in the matter led by a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly representing Bonny State Constituency, Mr. Victor Jumbo, are Senator Bennett Birabi, Senator Andrew Uchendu, Rear Admiral O. Fingesi, Ann Kio Briggs and Emmanuel Deinma.
They had through their team of lawyers led by Mr. Olukayode Ajulo, SAN, prayed the court to declare the seats of 27 lawmakers in the state that defected from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the All Progressives Congress, APC, vacant.
Fubara’s team studies ruling
Meanwhile, asked if the governor will appeal the earlier judgment, Rivers State Commissioner for Information, Senibo Joe Johnson, said: “The judgment just came today. Our legal team will look at it and advise appropriately.”
APC, Rivers elders, others react
Reacting to the Justice Omotosho judgment, a member of the Rivers state elders forum and spokesman of the Pan-Niger Delta Elders Forum, PANDEF, Anabs Sara-Igbe blamed the governor over alleged inability to fight back to save his political career.
Sara-Igbe said though the judgment was “not a death sentence, he can as well appeal the judgment because it is not in his political interest. How can you fold your hands and allow yourself to be dragged to the slaughter?
“They are in the process of impeaching you. That is why you have to fight back and not give them any chance to remove you from office as governor.”
He insisted that by virtue of section 109 of the 1999 constitution, “the 26 defected lawmakers do not exist and as such, you cannot present the budget to them. The budget in question had since been passed into law and that is where Rivers’s people stand.”
However, the Rivers State Chapter of the APC, welcomed the decision of the court nullifying the N800 billion budget passed by the Edison Ehie-led faction of the Assembly.
Addressing newsmen in Port Harcourt, the Chairman of the APC in Rivers State, Tony Okocha, said: “The budget was presented in error. There is no way four Assembly members will be sitting as an Assembly when the law stipulated one-third, which is about 10 members. So, it means that the Assembly never met, and for the governor to take such a risk amounts to putting something on nothing.
“So, the decision of the Federal High Court, which also stopped the Governor from interfering with the affairs of the Rivers State House of Assembly, is in order and is welcomed by us.”
On his part, the convener of the Ogoni Development Drive, ODD, Solomon Lenu, described the judgment as a travesty of justice, and urged the Nigerian Judicial Council, NJC, to act swiftly to restore the sanctity of the institution by sanctioning erring justices who are ever ready to throw caution to the wind for pecuniary gains.