Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State is facing another headache. On Wednesday, October 30, a Federal High Court in Abuja issued an order stopping the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from releasing further financial allocations to the Rivers State government.
The court ruled that Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s “receipt and disbursement of monthly allocations since January this year is a Constitutional somersault and aberration that must not be allowed to continue.“
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, in her order, said Fubara’s presentation of the 2024 budget before a four-member faction of the Rivers House of Assembly led by Hon. Victor Oko-Jumbo was “an affront to the Constitutional provision.” The judge said Fubara has been implementing an unlawful budget in “gross violations of the 1999 Constitution he swore to protect.”
Consequently, the court restrained the CBN, the Accountant General of the Federation, and banks, including Zenith Bank and Access Bank, from allowing the governor to access funds from the Consolidated Revenue and Federation Account.
The governor has been embroiled in a legal tussle with a faction of the state parliament led by Hon. Martins Amaewhule, whose members purportedly resigned from their political party and defected to another, thereby legally losing their seats. They sought to reverse their resignation. The faction is allegedly loyal to former Governor Nyesom Wike.
The government claims their resignations are valid and fears their reinstatement could lead to the governor’s impeachment.
2024 Budget Declared Invalid
The suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/984/24 was initiated by the Amaewhule faction, which contests they are the rightful state assembly.
The plaintiffs argued that “Governor Fubara had failed to re-present the 2024 Appropriation Bill to their faction, as previously directed by a Federal High Court ruling by Justice James Omotosho,” which recognized Hon. Amaewhule as the legitimate Speaker of the Rivers State Assembly.
The plaintiffs referred to “unauthorized withdrawals by Governor Fubara from the state’s consolidated revenue funds,” alleging breaches of Section 120 of the 1999 Constitution.
With the court’s ruling, the Federal Government is now legally bound from releasing further funds to the State, at least for now.
The Rivers State government has not reacted to this latest development but it still has the option of challenging the order at the Court of Appeal.
However, it must be noted that Nyesom Wike’s wife, the former First Lady of Rivers State, Mrs. Eberechi Wike, is now an appellate judge at the Court of Appeal.
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