23/01/2024
RIVERS CRISIS: Court To Fubara: By Withdrawing All Suits, You’ve Admitted Wrong and Liability Justice Omotosho said the governor acted in violation of the court's order which had ordered parties to maintain status quo.
A Federal High Court sitting Abuja, on Monday, told the Rivers State governor, Siminalayi Fubara, that by withdrawing all the processes he filed in the suit before it, he had admitted to all the allegations against him and was, consequently, deemed liable.
The court voided the presentation of the 2024 Appropriation Bill by Fubara before a four-member legislature led by Edison Ehie. It also declared invalid the reposting and redeployment of the clerk and deputy clerk of the state House of Assembly.
Justice James Omotosho, who ruled in the matter, subsequently, declared that the governor was not entitled to invite the National Assembly (NASS) to take over the Rivers State House of Assembly and that NASS also lacked the powers to do so in the instant case.
Omotosho made an order restraining the National Assembly from accepting, entertaining or dealing with the request from Fubara to take over the legislative function of the state Assembly.
He further issued an order of mandatory injunction compelling the Inspector General of Police to protect and provide adequate security and protection to the Speaker and other members of the state assembly.
The court also restrained Fubara and the state government from invading, interfering or stopping the lawmakers from holding meetings, or accessing the Rivers State House of Assembly complex.
In arriving at the decisions, the court observed that Fubara had by withdrawing all the processes he filed in the suit admitted all the allegations against him and was, thus, deemed liable.
Omotosho, who voided the presentation of the budget, said the governor acted in violation of the court’s order, dated November 30, 2023, which had ordered parties to maintain status quo as at November 29, 2023.
The judge made “an order restraining the governor from making any further presentation, except to the leadership of the second plaintiff (Martin Amaewhule).”
He stated that an order of court not set aside remained valid and binding, and the sitting of the four members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, believed to be loyal to Fubara, in violation of a court order, was a nullity.
The court held that the passage of the 2024 Appropriation Bill by the four lawmakers and every other action taken by them amounted to a void act.
In five months of taking over leadership in Rivers State, Fubara had run into trouble with his sponsor and benefactor, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and immediate past governor of the state, Mr Nyesom Wike.
The disagreement led to a division in the state assembly, with a faction of 26 lawmakers said to be loyal to Wike threatening to impeach the governor, who was accused of inviting the National Assembly to intervene and take over the state’s legislative function.
The 26 lawmakers, led by Martin Amaewhule, had defected from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the platform with which they came into office as legislators, to All Progressives Congress (APC).