* Directs Fubara to represent 2024 Budget to pro-Wike led Assembly for approval
In what can be regarded as more troubles for Rivers State Governor Siminalaye Fubara in view of the crisis of confidence between him and his immediate predecessor and FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, the Court of Appeal in Abuja has affirmed Hon. Martin Amaewhule as the valid Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
The three- member panel of the appellate court also validated the pro-Wike 27 lawmakers as bonafide members of the Rivers Assembly.
In a unanimous judgment delivered on Thursday by a Justice of the Court of Appeal (JCA), Justice Joseph Oyewole and concurred with by two other JCAs, the appellate court also dismissed an appeal that was lodged before it by Governor Fubara.
The appellate court also upheld the judgement delivered by Justice James Omotoso of the Federal High Court in Abuja on January 22, 2024 in favour of Amaewhule- led 26 lawmakers.
Justice Omotosho had nullified the 2024 budget of Rivers State on the grounds that it was not presented before members of the state assembly that were known to the law.
The appellate court further held that Fubara
shot himself on the foot when he voluntarily withdrew a counter-affidavit he filed to challenge a legal action the Amaewhule-led lawmakers instituted to be recognised as valid members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
The court held that Fubara’s decision to present the 2024 Rivers State Appropriation Bill to only four out of 31 members of the Assembly, amounted to a gross violation of section 91 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
It is instructive to note that the Rivers Assembly has been fractionalised into two camps, owing to the frosty relationship between Governor Fubara and Wike.
In the heat of the fracas, Fubara sidelined the Amaewhule-led 26 members of the House that were loyal to Wike and presented the state’s N800billion 2024 budget before the four lawmakers led by Hon. Edison Ehie who had emerged as a factional Speaker of the Assembly.
The Ehie-led faction, which had also declared seats of the Amaewhule-led pro-Wike lawmakers vacant for defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), promptly passed the budget which was quickly assented to by Governor Fubara.
But President Bola Tinubu later intervened in the political crisis while Fubara and Wike signed a peace pact that included the restoration of Amaewhule as the bonafide Speaker of the State Assembly.
Reports have it that the factional Speaker, Ehie, who had approached the court and was joined as an interested party in the suit, subsequently withdrew all the processes he filed before the court and equally rescinded both his seat and his membership of the Assembly.
Whereas Governor Fubara, in line with terms of the peace deal, withdrew all the processes he filed to challenge the suit, the pro-Wike lawmakers only withdrew an impeachment notice they served on him while they declined to terminate their legal action.
In his verdict in the legal tussle, Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja held that the budget was invalid as it was not properly presented before the Rivers State House of Assembly as required by the law.
The judge further held that Governor Fubara acted like a tyrant when he demolished the Rivers State Assembly complex and withheld funds standing to the credit of the legislative house.
Justice Omotosho also described as unconstitutional, the redeployment of the Clerk and Deputy Clerk of the Rivers State Assembly by Governor Fubara.
The judge further held that the governor lacked the statutory rights to interfere with the operations of the Assembly, adding that he acted in contempt of a subsisting order that barred the parties from taking any steps to overreach the matter that was pending before the court.
Besides, the court held that the National Assembly could not take over the legislative affairs of the state in the absence of the preconditions that were listed under section 11 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
The court consequently nullified all actions the Rivers Assembly took without the participation of the Amaewhule-led members of the House which included the presentation of the state appropriation bill.
The court also issued an order of injunction, restraining Governor Fubara from impeding or frustrating the operations of the Assembly under Amaewhule’s leadership as its speaker.
The judge further ordered Governor Fubara to release all funds standing to the credit of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
Upholding the verdict of the lower court on Thursday, the Court of Appeal held that Fubara conceded to the Amaewhule-led lawmakers when he withdrew all the processes he filed against their suit.
The court said, “A party must be consistent in the presentation of its case. A party cannot approbate and reprobate or blow hot and cold at the same time.”
It also held that the orders of the trial court were appropriate given the circumstance of the case, saying the appeal Fubara filed before it amounted to an academic exercise.
The appellate court therefore ordered Fubara to pay N500,000 costs to each of the Respondents in the appeal marked: CA/ABJ/CV/133/2024.
