Rivers crisis: Court reserves judgment in five separate appeals
23 November 2024 |
3:32 am
The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, on Friday, reserved judgments in five separate appeals arising from the judgments of a Federal High Court, Abuja on the political crisis in Rivers State.
The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, on Friday, reserved judgments in five separate appeals arising from the judgments of a Federal High Court, Abuja on the political crisis in Rivers State.
The presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, Justice Hamma Barka, reserved the judgments to a date that would be communicated to the parties after all processes filed in the appeals were adopted by counsels.
The appeals are: CA/ABJ/CV/ 1277/2024, CA/ABJ/CV/ 1303/2024 , CA/ABJ/CV/1293/2024, CA/ABJ/CV/1287/2024 filed against the judgments of the Federal High Court, Abuja delivered on October 30, 2024 and appeal number CA/ABJ/CV/ 1196/2024 filed against the judgment delivered by the same Federal High Court on October 2, 2024.
Earlier, while adopting his briefs of argument in the appeal, Yusuf Ali (SAN), representing the Governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, in appeal number CA/ABJ/CV/1303/2024, prayed the court to consolidate the five appeals, a request the court granted.
It would be recalled that Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of a Federal High Court, Abuja had, in a judgment delivered on October 30, stopped the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from further releasing monthly financial allocations to the Rivers State government.
The court held that the receipt and disbursement of monthly allocations since January this year by Fubara is a constitutional summersault and aberration that must not be allowed to continue.
Justice Abdulmalik, who issued the order in a judgment in the suit filed by the Rivers State House of Assembly and Rt. Hon. Martin Chike Amaewhule as its Speaker, held that the presentation of the 2024 budget by Fubara before a four-member Rivers State House of Assembly was an affront to the constitutional provision.
The judge specifically held 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 apex bank, the Accountant General of the Federation, Zenith Bank and Access Bank from further allowing Fubara to access money from the Consolidated Revenue and Federation Account.
Justice Abdulmalik held that the action of the four-member Rivers State House of Assembly being held on to by governor Fubara as yardstick to justify an unlawful budget had since been nullified and set aside by the Federal High Court, Abuja and the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division.
According to the judge, the judgment of the Rivers State High Court, which gave power to the governor to implement the 2024 budget, had also been set aside by the Court of Appeal.
She said the Appropriation Bill for January to December 2024, being operated by the 5th defendant (Fubara), having not been passed by the lawful House of Assembly, is illegal, unlawful and a subversion of the 1999 Constitution.
According to the judge, “it is mandatory to present Appropriation Bills before the appropriate Houses of Assembly before legitimate disbursement and withdrawal can be made.”
She also issued another order of injunction which restrained Fubara, Accountant General of the state and their agents from authorising the withdrawal of money from the Rivers State bank accounts domiciled at the Zenith Bank and Access Bank until the budget of the state is passed by the appropriate House of Assembly.
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