- Amaehule-led House of Assembly to resume unhindered sitting
- Cost of N 5m against the Respondents.
The Supreme Court, on Friday, reinstated the judgement that barred the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and the Accountant General of the Federation from releasing statutory monthly allocations to Rivers State.
The apex court in the judgment delivered on Friday by Justice Emmanuel Akomaye Agim, the Supreme Court also ordered the Martins Amaewhule-led faction of the Rivers State House of Assembly and other elected members of the House to forthwith resume sitting, unhindered.
The court faulted the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal for vacating the initial order that stopped the release of funds to Rivers State from the consolidated revenue following the failure of Governor Siminalaye Fubara’s refusal to re-present the 2024 Appropriation Bill of the state before the Hon. Martins Amaewhule-led faction of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
It held that contrary to the verdict of the appellate court, the Federal High Court in Abuja had the requisite jurisdiction to entertain the suit the Amaewhule-led 27 lawmakers filed to challenge the continued withdrawal and expenditure of funds belonging to the state without the approval of the State Assembly.
A five-member panel of the apex court, in its lead judgement that was delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, held that the appellate court misapprehended the core issue in dispute when it pegged it on the consolidated revenue of Rivers State alone.
“This wrong view influenced it to hold that the subject matter was not within the power of the Federal High Court,” the Supreme Court noted, stressing that what was at the center of the case was the refusal of Governor Fubara to obey a subsisting court order mandating him to present the Appropriation Bill to the valid Assembly.
It agreed with the high court that the 27 lawmakers that allegedly defected from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the All Progressives Congress, APC, are still valid members of the Rivers Assembly, pending the final determination of their status.
The Supreme Court dismissed Governor Fubara’s claim that given the defection of the lawmakers, he had to invoke the doctrine of necessity by presenting the Appropriation Bill to the only five remaining members of the Assembly.
According to the court, the doctrine of necessity could not be invoked to justify an illegal action.
The Apex court lambasted the governor for engaging in criminal activity of demolishing the House of Assembly with impunity just to prevent 27 legislators in the House of Assembly from sitting to carry out lawful activities. N5 million cost was awarded against him.
Justice Agim ordered that the Clerk and Deputy Clerk who were unlawfully redeployed out of the House of Assembly must be allowed to resume work alongside the House of Assembly workers.
The court held that it was an aberration for Governor Fubara to operate with only 4 out of the 32 House of Assembly members under the guise of baseless fears that he would be impeached.
According to the Justices, Fubara by his unlawful act among others, collapsed the House of Assembly and used his immunity under section 308 of the 1999 Constitution to carry out barbaric acts against the rule of law.
The Supreme Court affirmed the judgments of the Court of Appeal and the Federal high court, both in Abuja which had earlier declared the acts against the 27 state of House of Assembly members as unlawful and illegal.
The federal high court had held that the receipt and disbursement of monthly allocations since January last year by Governor Siminalayi Fubara was a Constitutional somersault and aberration that must not be allowed to continue.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik who delivered the Federal high court judgment had last year issued an order that the presentation of the 2024 budget by Fubara before a 4-member Rivers House of Assembly was an affront to the Constitutional provision.
Specifically, the Judge had said that Fubara action in implementing unlawful budget smacked gross violations of the 1999 Constitution he swore to protect.
The judge had therefore restrained CBN, Accountant General of the Federation, Zenith Bank and Access Bank from further allowing Fubara to access money from the Consolidated Revenue and Federation Account.
Details later.
