We saw it coming —Rivers govt
•Don’t set Rivers on fire —Atiku cautions •MOSOP calls for caution
•Court decision threat to democracy —Sara-Igbe, Civil Society
•They boasted we won’t last a week in office —Gov Fubara
A Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja, yesterday, barred the Federal Government from releasing further monthly allocations to Rivers State.
The court, in a judgment by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, specifically restrained the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, from allowing the state to draw funds from the Consolidated Revenue Account.
Meanwhile, the Rivers State government said it saw the judgment of the Abuja court, stopping the release of the local government allocations, as an already planned deal coming the way it did.
This came, as former vice president Atiku Abubakar cautioned Nigeria’s Judiciary against setting Rivers State on fire, in the wake of the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja, ordering the CBN to halt all payments to the state.
Also, the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, MOSOP, has said that the criminalisation of Rivers State was not the legitimate duty of Nigeria’s Judicial system.
The judgment followed a suit by the Martins Amaewhule-led faction of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
Recall that Amaewhule and 25 other members of the state Assembly defected from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the party that brought them to power, to the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Defendants in the matter include the CBN, Zenith Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc and the Accountant-General of the Federation, AGF.
Others are Governor Siminalayi Fubara, the Accountant-General of Rivers; Rivers Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, Chief Judge of Rivers, Justice S. Amadi; Chairman of RSIEC, Justice Adolphus Enebeli (retd) and the Government of Rivers State.
The plaintiffs had approached the court, praying it to withhold all federal monthly allocations meant for Rivers State.
They predicated their case on the ground that Governor Fubara had yet to comply with the court order that directed him to represent the 2024 Appropriation Bill to the Amaewhule-led faction of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
According to the plaintiffs, the high court had in a judgment by Justice James Omotosho, recognised Amaewhule as the authentic Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
They noted that the court invalidated the 2024 budget proposal that was presented before the four-member faction of the Assembly, led by Victor Oko-Jumbo.
The Amaewhule-led members of the Rivers State Assembly added that the Court of Appeal upheld the high court decision that was in their favour.
They alleged that Governor Fubara had continued to make unauthorized withdrawals from the consolidated revenue funds of Rivers state, in breach of section 120 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
We saw it coming, Rivers govt
State Commissioner for Information, Joe Johnson, while reacting, yesterday, said: “When the trial judge refused 23 council chairmen’s application to join the suit, refused the state to change their lawyer and refused our objection challenging jurisdiction of the Federal High Court,’ what did you expect?
“Meanwhile, the judgment has already been appealed and I believe that the Court of Appeal will upturn the judgment. We are not panicked and there is no cause for alarm,” Johnson said.
Don’t set Rivers State on fire —Atiku cautions judiciary
Atiku in a statement, yesterday, by his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, wondered why Justice Abdulmalik issued the order when it was public knowledge that Rivers State had already challenged the Court of Appeal’s judgment on the legality of Rivers State’s 2024 budget.
Atiku said: “Last week, the Court of Appeal declared that the Rivers State budget was illegal because it was passed by an inchoate Assembly. The court ordered Governor Fubara to present the budget afresh.
“The Rivers State Government has already filed a notice of appeal, so that the Supreme Court can hear the matter. However, some elements in the Bola Tinubu administration have procured a judgment intended to undermine the Supreme Court.
“Even before the judgment was delivered, legal luminary, Femi Falana, SAN, had alerted the Chief Justice of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho of possible compromise after house gifts had been presented to judges in Abuja. Sadly, Falana’s warning was ignored,” he said.
He hailed the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, for summoning judges sitting on the Rivers State cases.
According to Atiku, “From the emirship tussle in Kano State to the Rivers imbroglio where courts are going as far as preventing elections from holding, taking Nigeria back to the dark days of June 12, 1993, where polls were annulled.
“Sadly, under the leadership of those who claim to have fought for Nigeria’s democracy, the country is descending into chaos with conflicting orders from courts of coordinate jurisdiction flying all over the place while judges are being induced in the name of empowerment and provision of houses.
“The result is that Nigerians are gradually losing confidence in an institution which prides itself as the last hope of the common man.
“Foreign investors will avoid any place where judgments can be bought by the highest bidder.
“Nigeria should not descend to the Hobessian state of nature where life is short, nasty and brutish, where citizens opt for self-help.
“Rivers State accounts for almost 25 percent of Nigeria’s oil assets. For a country facing an economic crisis worsened by vandalism and banditry, Tinubu should put his 2027 ambition aside and put Nigeria’s interest first,” he added.
MOSOP calls for caution
Reacting to the court judgment, President of MOSOP, Fegalo Nsuke said: “Denying a people, their legitimate source of living is both unjust and genocidal. There cannot be a more destructive and conscienceless action worse than denying people their source of living. It is tantamount to gross injustice and genocidal. MOSOP does not think any arm of government should exist to have such impacts on the people.”
He noted that the court decision raises a lot of questions given pending legal issues in various courts, in respect of the subject matter including appeals to existing judgments which are pending before the Court of Appeal.
Nsuke expressed worries that the people of Rivers State were being pushed to the wall and could be compelled to fight back.
He noted that political differences should not be allowed to degenerate into a source of social crises, adding that denying the people legitimate sources of survival and livelihood could spark an unprecedented resistance from the Niger Delta state of Rivers.
“MOSOP thinks that Rivers State is too fundamental to Nigeria’s stability and economic development and suppressing or attempting to suppress Rivers State could have a far reaching effects on the stability and economic security of the Nigerian society.
“It is, therefore, important to allow ongoing litigation to be respected, more so when matters are before an appellate court. It is questionable to find issues before courts of competent jurisdiction to be enforced while the appeal is pending,” Nsuke added.
Court decision on Rivers allocation, threat to Nigeria’s democracy — Sara-Igbe, Civil Society
Meanwhile, the National Coordinator, South-South Elders Forum, Chief Anabs Sara-Igbe, described the decision of the court as a threat to the nation’s democracy.
Sara-Igbe in Port Harcourt said: “It is not strange to us. We are not surprised that this woman will come out with this kind of decision. From the beginning of this matter, she has been so biased and even when there was a petition for her to recuse herself, she refused to do.
“She refused to attend to all the motions that were filed. And she went ahead to give the judgment. We know it. Our concern is the judiciary.
“The Nigeria judiciary is so rotten that people begin to doubt their capability. Yesterday, the judiciary was the last hope man, but today, the reverse is the case.
“I see no reason the court in Abuja will be so interested in cases from Rivers State, when there are Federal High Courts in Rivers State and state High Courts, as well as Court of Appeal. Yet, they prefer to go to Abuja and the Chief Justice of Federal Hogh Court will allow it.
“We are waiting for the committee set up by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, to see the reforms she will come with. If she cannot reform the judiciary, them the judiciary is gone. But we pray they should not truncate the democracy in Nigeria because where their in no justice, there is room for anarchy. And when anarchy comes, it is destructive. But I pray that reason should apply.
They boasted we won’t last a week in office —Gov Fubara
Meanwhile, Governor Fubara, yesterday, said that those who attempted to end his administration undemocratically, had boasted then to achieve their purpose quickly to boot him out of office within one week but have failed woefully.
The governor said he had not only stayed in office more than one year and counting, his administration was forging on strongly with sterling leadership, focused on delivering social services and quality projects to Rivers people.
Fubara spoke at the Rivers State Day of Thanksgiving, Praise and Worship, held at the Main Bowl of Alfred Diette-Spiff Civic Centre along Moscow Road in Port Harcourt Old Township, yesterday.
The session was a gathering of thousands of enthusiastic residents and indigenes in Rivers State, including reputable worship leaders, clergies and gospel singers, who joined in the commemoration service to thank God over the botched attempt to abruptly end the administration of Governor Fubara on October 30, 2023, by undemocratic elements and haters of the state.
He expressed gratitude to God for His divine rescue by frustrating the schemes of detractors, acknowledging that without the overwhelming but organic support of Rivers people, his winning over his transducers would not have been entirely as sweet as it is now.
He said: “If you were not with us, if you had not stood with us, we wouldn’t be here at this hour. A lot of you might not understand what happened on October 30, 2023. It was an assassination to the people of Rivers State, indirectly and assassination at me directly.”
“Since they can’t kill every one of you, they need to kill one person, so that everybody will be declared dead. But somehow, somewhere, by the special grace of God, they failed. And the God that we are thanking today, what they meant for evil, God turned it to good.”
Governor Fubara mocked his detractors, who had remained determined to derail governance, and insisted that despite their antics, his administration has demonstrated prudence, transparency and accountability in handling the financial resources of the state.
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