The Supreme Court of Nigeria, on Friday, ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Accountant General of the Federation to stop further release of financial allocations to Rivers state government with immediate effect.
The Apex Court directed that the order shall be in force until the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, “stops all his illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional activities.”
The Supreme Court said that no money should be released to the Rivers state government until a lawful Appropriation Law is enacted under the Martin Amaewhule leadership of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
In a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Emmanuel Akomaye Agim, the Court also ordered the 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly to resume function immediately.
The five-member panel of Justices of the apex court, led by Justice Musa Uwani Aba-Aji, dismantled all actions carried out by governor Fubara for being unlawful.
The Court lambasted the governor for engaging in criminal activity by demolishing the House of Assembly with impunity just to prevent the 27 legislators in the Rivers State House of Assembly from sitting to carry out lawful duties.
Justice Agim ordered that the Clerk and Deputy Clerk who were unlawfully redeployed out of the House of Assembly must be allowed to resume work alongside the House of Assembly workers.
The court held that it was an aberration for governor Fubara to operate with only four out of the 32 House of Assembly members under the guise of baseless fears that he would be impeached.
According to the Justices on the panel, Fubara, by his unlawful acts among others, collapsed the House of Assembly and used his immunity under Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution to carry out barbaric acts against the rule of law.
The Supreme Court affirmed the concurrent judgments of the Court of Appeal and the Federal High Court, both in Abuja, which had earlier declared the acts against the 27 Rivers State House of Assembly members as unlawful and illegal.
A sum of N10 million fine was imposed on Fubara to be paid to the House of Assembly and the 27 members who instituted the suit against him.
The Federal High Court had held in its judgment that the receipt and disbursement of monthly allocations since January last year by Governor Siminalayi Fubara was a Constitutional summersault and aberration that must not be allowed to continue.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, who delivered the Federal High Court judgment,t had last year issued an order that the presentation of the 2024 budget by Fubara before a four-member Rivers House of Assembly was an affront to the Constitutional provision.
Specifically, the Judge said that Fubara’s action in implementing an unlawful budget smacked of gross violations of the 1999 Constitution he swore to protect and consequently restrained the CBN, Accountant General of the Federation, Zenith Bank and Access Bank from further allowing Fubara to access money from the Consolidated Revenue and Federation Account.
