Supreme Court dismisses Fubara’s appeal against 27 pro-Wike Rivers lawmakers

• Reserves judgment in 4 cases

From Godwin Tsa, Abuja

The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal by the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, relating to the judgment of the Abuja division of the Court of Appeal directing him to represent the state’s 2024 budget before the faction of the state House of Assembly led by  Martin Amaewhule.

A five-member panel of justices of the apex court led by Justice Uwani Musa Aba-Aji, dismissed the appeal shortly after it was withdrawn by the lead counsel to Fubara, Mr. Yusuf Ali.

A three-member panel of the Abuja division of the Court of Appeal, led by Justice Joseph Oyewole, had while dismissing an appeal by Governor Fubara, upheld a judgment the Federal High Court delivered on January 22, 2024, which nullified the 2024 budget of Rivers State on the premise that it was not presented before the members of the state assembly known to the law.

Fubara had predicated his decision to present the budget to the Edison Ehie-led House of Assembly on the ground that the Amaewhule-led faction, having defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), had ceased to be lawful members of the state assembly.

But, both the two lower courts held that he cannot present the budget before a five-member House of Assembly, especially when he did not present any evidence that the faction of Amaewhule-led 27 lawmakers had defected from the PDP to the APC.

Displeased with the judgments of the two lower courts, Fubara had, last year, approached the apex court for an order setting aside the concurrent judgments ordering him to represent the budget to the Amaewhule-led faction.

When the matter came up yesterday, Ali informed the five-member panel of justices of a notice of withdrawal filed on February 6, seeking to withdraw the appeal on the grounds that, “the appeal has been overtaken by events.”

Responding, Wole Olanipekun, who represented Rivers State House of Assembly and Amaewhule, first and second respondents, respectively, and Chief Joseph Daudu, who represented third to 12th respondents (National Assembly and its leadership), while stating that they were not opposed to the withdrawal, pointed out that since issues had been joined by all parties, the proper thing for the court to do was to dismiss the appeal instead of striking it out.

Counsel to the third and up to the 12th respondents, Daudu on his part, adopted the submissions canvassed by Olanikpekun in urging the court to dismiss the appeal and award cost.

Both Duduru Eden for the 14th to 16th respondents and Mimi Ayua for the 17th respondent did not object to the notice of withdrawal but did not ask for cost.

In her ruling, Justice Abba-Aji dismissed the appeal and awarded the cost of N2 million each against Fubura, in favour of the first to second respondents, as well as the third to 12th respondents (House of Assembly and Amaewhule).

Meanwhile, the apex Court has reserved judgment in four separate appeals on the raging political leadership tussles in Rivers.

Justice Uwani Aba-Aji, who led a five-member panel of justices reserved judgments to a date that would be communicated to parties, after taking arguments from lawyers involved in the matters.

The four appeals are the Rivers House of Assembly and others against the Rivers Government and nine others.

The second case is between the Rivers House of Assembly and others against Governor Siminalayi Fubara and nine others.

The third case is between the Rivers House of Assembly and others against the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, and nine others.

The fourth matter is between the Rivers State House of Assembly and others against the Accountant General of Rivers and nine others.

The cases are in respect of some judgments delivered by the federal high court in Abuja which prohibited the release of monthly funds to Rives from the Federation Account and another that barred INEC from releasing voter register to the state government for the purpose of conducting local government election among others.

Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court in Abuja had ordered the stoppage of the release of allocations from the federal government to Rivers  until the governor presented the budget before the Martin Amaewhule-led House of Assembly members.

However, the Court of Appeal in Abuja upturned the judgment on  grounds of grave injustice in the findings and decisions.

Similarly, the Court of Appeal, in another judgment, upturned the judgment of Justice Peter Lifu, also of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which had ruled against the conduct of the October 5, 2024, local government council election in Rivers on the grounds that due process of Rivers State laws on local government elections had not been followed.

At Monday’s sitting, Joseph Daudu represented the camp loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike while Chris Uche led the camp of Fubara.

Speaking after the court session, yesterday, Ken Njemanze said the coast has been finally cleared for the 27 lawmakers to take over the House of Assembly fully.

The senior advocate explained that all steps taken by Fubara in the absence of the 27 lawmakers, including presentation of the 2024 and 2025 budgets to only three lawmakers among others, have become a nullity.

A three-member panel of the appellate court led by Justice Joseph Oyewole, while dismissing the appeal by Governor Fubara, held that he 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 Governor 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, and an act of “executive recklessness.”

The appellate court held that the absence of any document from Fubara to contradict all the claims the Amaewhule-led lawmakers made in their suit meant that he admitted all the facts they stated in the matter.

A three-member panel of the appellate court led by Justice Joseph Oyewole, while dismissing an appeal that was lodged by Governor Fubara, upheld a judgement the Federal High Court delivered on January 22, 2024, which nullified the 2024 budget of Rivers State on the premise that it was not presented before members of the state assembly that were known to the law.

It accused Fubara of surreptitiously attempting to set aside orders of the trial court through the appeal, saying the mistake he made by withdrawing his counter-affidavit to the originating suit could not be redeemed by brilliant advocacy.

Maintaining that Fubara’s loss was “self-inflicted,” the appellate court held that since the counter-affidavit was withdrawn, “the appellant is deemed to have admitted the rather weighty facts that were presented by the respondents.”

Rivers State Assembly was factionalised owing to the frosty relationship between Governor Fubara and his predecessor.

In the heat of the fracas, Governor Fubara sidelined the Amaewhule-led 27 members of the House that were loyal to Wike and presented the state’s N800 billion 2024 budget before the four lawmakers led by Ehie, who had emerged as a factional Speaker of the Assembly.

The Ehie-led faction, which had also declared the seats of the Amaewhule-led pro-Wike lawmakers vacant for defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the Peoples Democratic Party, promptly passed the budget, which was quickly assented to by Governor Fubara.