- Appellant fined N4m
- Govt: ruling not against governor
- Ahamaewhule predicts ‘end to rascality’
The Supreme Court yesterday dismissed Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s appeal against the judgment of the Court of Appeal affirming Martin Amaewhule as the Speaker of the House of Assembly.
A five-member panel of the apex court dismissed the appeal marked SC/CV/1171/2024 after Fubara’s lawyer, Yusuf Ali (SAN), sought to withdraw it, claiming that it had been overtaken by events.
Counsel to the respondents – Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Joseph Daudu (SAN), Tuduru Edeh (SAN) and Mini Ayua – did not oppose the withdrawal.
Olanipekun and Daudu, however, asked for N2 million cost each and prayed that the case be dismissed because issues had been joined.
Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, who headed the panel, dismissed the appeal and awarded the cost requested by Olanipekun and Daudu.
There were conflicting interpretations of the judgment by the camp of Fubara and the 27 pro-Nyesom Wike lawmakers.
The Rivers State Government claimed that the judgment was not against the governor, adding that the appeal was withdrawn because its subject matter, the 2024 Budget, ended on December 31, last year.
But, Amaewhule, who welcomed the judgment, said it marked the end of the governor’s alleged rascality.
On October 10, last year, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal in Abuja affirmed the January 22, 2024 decision by Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja nullifying the passage of Rivers’ N800 billion budget by four members of the House of Assembly head by Victor Oko-Jumbo.
The court also faulted Fubara’s failure to recognise Amaewhule as Speaker.
Also, the three-member panel of the appellate court, led by Justice Joseph Oyewole, dismissed the appeal filed by Fubara against the January 22 judgment.
In the lead judgment, Justice Oyewole, among others, faulted the decision by Fubara to deal with only four members of the Assembly, noting that the legislature forms the fulcrum of any democracy, which must be protected and guarded.
He said: “By encouraging four members of the Rivers State House of Assembly out of 32 to constitute the basis for legislative activities, the appellant (Fubara), as Governor of Rivers State, was operating with 12.5 per cent of the entity constituting Rivers State.
“In a constitutional democracy, the foundation of every act must be located in the Constitution as the grundnorm.
“Autocracy is out of place in constitutional democracy.”
Justice Oyewole awarded N6 million cost against Fubara.
Justice Omotosho had, in the January 22 judgment in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1613/2023, described the passage of the 2024 Appropriation Bill by the five lawmakers, led by Ehie Edison, as an aberration and illegality.
He ordered Fubara to represent the budget to the Amaewhule-led Assembly.
The judge, earlier on November 30, 2023, gave an ex-parte ruling restraining Fubara and his agents from obstructing the 27 lawmakers from carrying out their constitutional duties.
He also restrained the governor from removing or redeploying the Clerk of the Assembly and withholding funds meant for the Assembly, pending the determination of the substantive suit.
The judge extended the order on December 7, 2023, when the parties returned to court.
But, while the order subsisted, Fubara presented the budget to the four lawmakers loyal to him, which they passed.
The governor also prevented the pro-Wike lawmakers from sitting after the demolishing of a part of the Assembly building and withheld funding for the legislature.
On January 22, 2024, Justice Omotosho held that the passage of the budget and other actions taken by the four lawmakers while the November 30 order subsisted amounted to a nullity.
He said Fubara acted like a tyrant in the manner the Assembly complex was partially demolished and funds for legislative activities withheld.
The judge issued an order restraining the governor from frustrating the Assembly-led by Amaewhule from sitting or interfering in its activities.
He also described as unlawful Fubara’s redeployment of the Clerk and Deputy Clerk out of the Assembly, stating that the action amounted to an affront to the doctrine of separation of power.
Rivers govt: judgment not against Fubara
The Rivers State Government claimed that the judgment was not against Fubara, stressing that the appeal was withdrawn because the lifespan of the budget had ended.
It said Oko-Jumbo, and not Amaewhule, is the authentic Speaker.
The Commissioner for Information and Communications, Warisenibo Johnson, said in a statement in Port-Harcourt, the state capital, that the appeal was of no useful purpose.
He said: “The only reasonable thing left to do is to withdraw the appeal and have it dismissed.”
Johnson described the Supreme Court as a very busy court, insisting that it would be most unwise to belabour it with academic appeals without any practical or utilitarian value.
He added: “That is the appeal that the urchins are celebrating. There is no Supreme Court judgment against Governor Fubara. Ignore the outdated political propaganda by some desperate politicians.
“Supreme Court ruled on the Appeal over the 2024 budget voluntarily withdrawn by Governor Fubara because the 2024 budget cycle has ended.
“There was no need to waste time discussing a budget that has been fully spent and implemented. Rt Hon Victor Oko Jumbo is still the authentic Speaker, and nothing has changed that.”
‘End of Fubara’s rascality near’
Amaewhule, who said the judgment showed that Fubara’s alleged rascality was near, insisted that he was the authentic Speaker.
He said in a statement by Special Assistant on Media, Martins Wachukwu, that the deprived 27 lawmakers would get justice.
He said: “The Supreme Court has spoken, and the people of Rivers State are elated with this.”
Amaewhule thanked Rivers State leaders, who had supported the Assembly throughout the period, especially the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike.
He condemned Fubara’s refusal to provide the Assembly with its statutory entitlements for nearly a year because he thought they would starve.
Amaewhule said the judgment had strengthened their resolve and hope in the judiciary despite Fubara’s penchant for consistently disregarding court orders.
On the composition of the Assembly, Amaewhule maintained that one lawmaker passed away, another absconded from duty, and three other seats were declared vacant, following absenteeism.
He called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct elections to fill the vacant positions.
Amaewhule reminded Fubara of injunctive orders issued by Justice Omotosho, which barred him from withholding funds meant for the Assembly.
He said: “The end to this rascality is very near,” emphasising that the House remained committed to upholding the mandate given to them by the electorate.
Amaewhule said Fubara had been spending taxpayers’ money for a year without appropriation, in clear defiance of the Federal High Court and Court of Appeal judgments.
He added: “Today’s (yesterday’s) judgment confirms that Governor Fubara has been in gross violation of the 1999 Constitution as amended.”
‘Judgments reserved in other appeals’
Yesterday, the Supreme Court also reserved judgments on eight appeals and cross-appeals filed by Fubara and the Amaewhule-led Assembly.
Two of the appeal marked: SC/CV/1105 and 1106 are against the November 21 judgment by the Court of Appeal in Abuja which reversed an earlier decision by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja restraining INEC from releasing voters’ register to the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) for council polls.
Justice Lifu had hinged his decision (in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/987/2024 filed by the APC) on the grounds that RSIEC did not meet the conditions precedent for the conduct of such elections.
Reversing the Federal High Court judgment, the Court of Appeal held that the lower court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case and issue the orders.
The other appeals and cross-appeals relate to the December 13, 2024, judgment of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, which set aside all orders made in the October 30, 2024 judgment by a Federal High Court in Abuja restraining the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Accountant-General of the Federation (AG-F) from further releasing financial allocations to the Rivers State Government, pending when a lawful appropriation act is passed by a validly constituted House of Assembly.
A three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, led by Justice Hamman Barka, held that the subject matter of the case was not within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court because it related to the revenue of the state.
The Court of Appeal held that the appeal, filed by the Rivers State Government against the October 30 judgment by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court, Abuja, was meritorious.
Justice Abdulmalik had in the October 30 judgment restrained the Access Bank and Zenith Bank from allowing the Rivers State Government and the governor to make withdrawal from the state’s funds being held in the banks.
She held that the decision by Fubara to present the 2024 Appropriation Bill to a four-member Assembly should not be allowed to stand.
The judge noted that the budget purportedly passed by four lawmakers, which Fubara claimed he had assented to, was declared invalid in a January 22 judgment by Justice Omotosho.
She also noted that in the same judgment, which was affirmed by the Court of Appeal in a judgment on October 10, Justice Omotosho found that Amaewhule was the authentic Speaker.
Justice Abdulmalik held the decision by Fubara to present the Appropriation Bill before only four members amounted to a gross violation of Section 91 of the Constitution.
