- Says order restricting allocation least of his problems
- Coalition insists Fubara must refund illegally spent funds
- Don’t set Rivers on fire, Atiku warns judiciary
Embattled Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, on Wednesday said concerns over the Federal High Court decision that restricted the release of state allocations is “the least” of his problems.
Governor Fubara stated this during a special thanksgiving service organised by the state government to celebrate his administration’s resilience amid escalating political crises, which began with the arson attack on the State House of Assembly complex exactly one year ago.
Governor Fubara assured that despite the court order, his administration would continue payments to contractors and ensure workers’ salaries are disbursed from Thursday (today).
He also confirmed that allocations for the 23 Council Chairmen would be credited, as the Joint Accounts Allocation Committee procedures have been completed.
The governor encouraged his supporters to remain resilient, assuring them that all challenges are surmountable.
Reflecting on his administration’s success, Governor Fubara noted that despite predictions that his government would not last even a week, he has successfully led for over a year.
He said his administration has also conducted local government elections against all odds and maintained a full cabinet despite attempts to undermine his leadership through resignations.
Highlighting his administration’s progress, he mentioned ongoing project executions across the state, countering critics who claimed he would be unable to deliver.
He also cited recent reports that position Rivers State as one of the leaders in financial accountability and transparency.
Recalling an incident from October 30 last year, Governor Fubara described a violent confrontation with men in police uniforms as an assassination attempt.
The governor attributed the confrontation to political opponents, whom he accused of ambushing him after he withdrew legal cases against the Martin Amaewhule group, following an intervention by President Bola Tinubu.
While he expressed no regrets about seeking peace, he acknowledged that his peaceful disposition may have given his opponents an advantage, as they leveraged the withdrawal to secure judgments against him.
Governor Fubara emphasised that his opponents’ refusal to reciprocate his peaceful gestures has influenced his decisions not to yield to other expectations for the resolution of the political crisis.
The praise and worship session, held at the main bowl of the Alfred Diete-Spiff Civic Centre in Port Harcourt, was headlined by top gospel singers including Joe Praiz, Frank Edwards, Asu Ekiye, Peterson Okopi, and Jackson Jones, among others.
The guest preacher was the esteemed Pastor Uma Ukpai.
The event drew attendees from all walks of life, including top government officials, the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Emeka Beke, and his counterpart from the Action Peoples Party, Sunny Wokekoro.
However, as reactions continue to trail the judgment of a Federal High Court, Abuja, ordering the stoppage of the release of federal monthly allocations to Rivers State, the National Democratic and Change Coalition has called on Governor Fubara to refund all monies spent without appropriation to the state coffers.
The coalition, while expressing satisfaction with the ruling, said the people of Rivers State have been vindicated and the long awaited justice has been served on the governor.
Reacting via a press release Wednesday by John Uloko, president of the coalition, the group hailed Justice Joyce Abdulmalik for holding that since January 2024, Rivers State had received and spent allocations based on an “illegitimate” budget, thereby describing it as a “constitutional aberration”.
The statement read, “The NDCC, made up of a group of lawyers, has always been of the view that what is going on in Rivers State is a theatre of the absurd that persistently violates the constitution, stands logic on its head and even defies mathematical reasoning to the extent that four members were allowed to constitute themselves into a House of Assembly that is meant to have 32 members.
“We, therefore, commend Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court in Abuja for holding that Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s presentation of the 2024 budget before a four-member Rivers House of Assembly was an affront to the constitutional provision.
“This ruling is a victory for democracy and will teach rogue governors the bitter lesson that the Constitution of the Federal Republic must be respected and the sanctity of our democratic institutions upheld irrespective of their political desperation. Operating an illegal state Assembly of four men by any governor is something everyone should condemn in totality and welcome the court’s judgment.
“In the wake of this judgment, NDCC urges Governor Fubara to immediately reverse all his decisions and actions based on the illegitimate Assembly since they all suffer the same defect as the budget the court threw out.
“The governor must also strongly consider refunding all the Rivers States’ funds illegally expended from January to date.
“We further advise Governor Fubara to urgently do the needful by resubmitting the state’s budget to the legitimate Rivers State House of Assembly for due process to be followed so that governance is not truncated and the people plunged into more misery than they have already endured from the governor being absorbed in his political sabre-rattling.
“Finally, Governor Fubara must allow Rivers State to breathe by stopping all the unnecessary squabbling that has served no useful purpose.”
Don’t set Rivers on fire, Atiku warns judiciary
In the same vein, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has cautioned the judiciary against setting Rivers State on fire.
The warning came in the wake of Wednesday’s judgement, wherein a Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria to halt all payments to the state.
In a statement Wednesday by his media adviser, Paul Ibe, the former Vice President, said it was appalling that some elements loyal to the Federal Government were pulling the strings from behind.
Atiku wondered why Justice Joyce Abdulmalik issued the order when it was public knowledge that Rivers State had already challenged the Court of Appeal’s judgement on the legality of Rivers State’s 2024 budget.
“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 Siminalayi 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 judgement intended to undermine the Supreme Court.
“Even before the judgement 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,” the statement quoted him as saying.
The presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party in the 2023 election hailed the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, for summoning judges sitting on the Rivers State cases.
He, however, called on the nation’s top judge to ensure that those found wanting are disciplined in order to restore the fading glory of God’s judiciary.
The former Vice President added: “Nigeria has descended into the theatre of the absurd since the Tinubu administration took office.
“Courts are playing a more ignoble role in fostering political crises within political parties and even in states. 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, when 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 that 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% 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 interests first.
“We call on the Nigerian judiciary to restore its image before it gets too late.”
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of a Federal High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, ordered the stoppage of the release of monthly federal allocations to Rivers State.
Justice Abdulmalik predicated her action on the grounds that the state government was in violation of the Constitution as regarding the state expenditures.
According to the judge, the current budget being operated by the state was not passed by a lawful arm of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
“There is nothing to prove that the governor complied with the law in submitting the 2024 appropriation before a proper parliament.
“The questions raised by the plaintiffs are meritorious to warrant the grant of the injunctive and declaratory reliefs sought” , Justice Abdulmalik held.
Specifically, the court pointed out that the Rivers State government missed the point when it failed to accept the fact that the state budget had been invalidated by a Federal High Court, adding that the same judgment nullifying the budget was affirmed by the Court of Appeal in Abuja recently.
Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court had in a judgement nullified the state budget as passed by Edison Ehie -four member House of Assembly, on the grounds that they were not the authentic state legislators.
