There is an atmosphere of uncertainty in the political circle as the Supreme Court reserved judgements in four separate appeals surrounding the Rivers State leadership tussle.
The Apex Court had at the last adjourned date dismissed the fifth appeal by the Governor Siminilayi Fubara against the judgement ordering him to re-present the state’s 2024 appropriation before the faction of the State House of Assembly led by Rt Hon. 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panel of Justices of the Apex Court led by Justice Uwani Musa Aba-Aji, dismissed the appeal shortly after it was withdrawn by Fubara’s counsel, Yusuf Ali, SAN.
Sunday Telegraph recalls that both the Federal High Court and Court of Appeal had in separate judgements, faulted Fubara’s presentation of the 2024 appropriation before a five-member assembly led by Rt Hon. Edison Ehie.
The governor had premised his decision to present to the Ehie-led Assembly on the grounds that the Amaewhule-led faction, having defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) ceased to be lawful members of the state assembly.
But the two lower courts held that he could not present the budget before a five member house of assembly, especially when he did not present any evidence that the faction of Amaewhule’s 27 lawmakers defected from the PDP to the APC.
Not satisfied with the judgments of the two lower courts, Fubara, last year, approached the apex court for an order setting aside the concurrent judgements ordering him to represent the budget to the Amaewhule-led faction.
However, at the last adjourned date, 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, SAN, who represented Rivers State House of Assembly and Amaewhule, 1st and 2nd respondents respectively and Joseph Daudu, SAN, who represented 3rd to 12th respondents (National Assembly and the leadership), said they were not opposed to the withdrawal, pointing 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.
Besides, Olanipekun and Daudu also asked for a cost of N2 million for each of their clients.
In a short ruling, Justice Aba-Aji, granted the application and dismissed the appeal.
She also granted the request for cost of N2 million in favour of the 1st to 12 respondents.
However, the apex court reserved its verdicts on four other cases on the state political crisis, saying a date would be communicated to lawyers representing parties in the appeals shortly after the counsel adopted their processes for and against the various appeals.
Remaining four appeals
The four appeals are marked SC/CV/1174/2024, between Rivers State House of Assembly and others against the Rivers State Government and nine others.
The second is marked SC/CV/1175/2024, between Rivers State House of Assembly and others against the Rivers State Governor and nine others.
The third appeal is marked SC/CV/1176/2024, between Rivers State House of Assembly and others against Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), and nine others.
The fourth appeal is marked SC/CV/1177/2024, between Rivers State House of Assembly and others against the Accountant General of Rivers State and nine others.
The remaining four appeals were sequel to judgements delivered by the Federal High Court, Abuja, which prohibited the release of monthly allocations to Rivers State from the Federation Account and another that barred the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from releasing voter’s register to the state government for the purpose 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 State until the governor presented the budget before the Martin Amaewhule-led House of Assembly members.
The Court of Appeal, Abuja division, however, set aside the judgement on the grounds of grave injustice in the findings and decisions.
In a similar vein, in another judgement, the Court of Appeal, set aside the decision 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.
Tracing the facts leading to the appeal, Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Dagodo Israel Iboroma, said for SC/CV/1701/2024, “On the 29th day of November, 2023, Martin Chike Amaewhule & Anor instituted Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/1613/2023 at the Federal High Court, Abuja. Here are copies of their originating summons containing the 11 (eleven) reliefs claimed by Martin Chike Amaewhule and others.
“On the 11th day of December, 2023 while Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/1613/2023 was pending at the Federal High Court, Abuja, Martin Chike Amaewhule & 26 others defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress and automatically lost their seats as members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
