February 28, 2025
The long awaited judgements over the lingering political face off between the Rivers state government and the supposedly defected Hon. Martins Amaewhule-led 27 lawmakers, came to it end on Friday, as the Supreme Court, 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 supreme court further ordered the Hon. 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 judgement of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal which vacated 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.
The supreme court, 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, in its lead judgement 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.
READ MORE; Supreme Court Dismisses Fubara’s Appeal Against Amaewhule-Led Rivers assembly
“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 pending the final determination of their status, 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.
The Supreme Court dismissed Governor Fubara’s claim that he had to invoke the doctrine of necessity given the defection of the lawmakers and therefore presented the state 2024 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 illegality
It accused governor Fubara of deliberately destroying the government because of his fear of being impeached, the Supreme Court therefore, awarded N5million cost against him.
