The Supreme Court has validated the lower court judgment that barred the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN) and the Accountant-General of the Federation from disbursing the statutory monthly allocations to Rivers State.
The apex court in its ruling on Friday also ordered the Hon. Martins Amaewhule-led faction of the Rivers State House of Assembly and other elected members of the House to forthwith resume sitting for their legislative roles in governance.
A five-member panel of the Supreme Court, in its lead judgment delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, faulted the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal for vacating the initial order by the Federal High Court in Abuja that stopped the release of funds to Rivers State from the consolidated revenue following the failure of Governor Siminalaye Fubara’s refusal to re-present the 2024 Appropriation Bill of the state before the Hon. Martins Amaewhule-led faction of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
It held that contrary to the verdict of the appellate court, the High Court had the requisite jurisdiction to entertain the suit the Amaewhule-led 27 lawmakers filed to challenge the continued withdrawal and expenditure of funds belonging to the state without the approval of the State Assembly.
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According to the apex court, the appellate court misapprehended the core issue in dispute when it pegged it on the consolidated revenue of Rivers State alone.
It pointed out that “this wrong view influenced it to hold that the subject matter was not within the power of the Federal High Court,”, stressing that what is at the centre of the case is the refusal of the state governor to obey a subsisting court order mandating him to present the Appropriation Bill to the valid Assembly.
The apex bank agreed with the Federal High Court in Abuja’s ruling that the 27 lawmakers that allegedly defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to the All Progressives Congress (APC), were still valid members of the Rivers Assembly, pending the final determination of their status.
The Supreme Court dismissed Governor Fubara’s claim that given the defection of the lawmakers, he had to invoke the doctrine of necessity by presenting the Appropriation Bill to the only five remaining members of the Assembly,”, maintaining that the doctrine of necessity could not be invoked to justify an illegal action.
