Supreme Court has ruled that Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara had already undermined the Rivers State House of Assembly before the defection of Speaker Martin Amaewhule and 26 other lawmakers.
In the judgment delivered by Justice Emmanuel Akomaye Agim, the court found that the concurrent findings of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal proved Governor Fubara engaged in several illegal and unconstitutional activities to subvert the State Assembly, the Nigerian Constitution, and to avert his assumed impeachment plans by opposition lawmakers.
This was contained in the apex court’s judgment on Cross-appeal No SC/CV/1175A/2024 by Governor Fubara, where he challenged the rulings of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal.
The cross-appeal was part of the appeal filed before the Supreme Court by the Rivers State House of Assembly and Amaewhule.
The appeal lists the Government of Rivers State; Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission; Hon. Justice Adolphus Enebeli (Rtd) (Chairman, Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission); Central Bank of Nigeria; Zenith Bank Plc.; Access Bank Plc.; Accountant General of the Federation; the Government of Rivers State (Sir Siminalayi Fubara); the Accountant General of Rivers State; and Hon. Justice S. C. Amadi (Chief Judge of Rivers State) as the 1st to 10th respondents.
Governor Fubara requested the Supreme Court to determine whether Sections 102 and 109(g) of the 1999 Constitution and the doctrine of necessity validate the proceedings of the Rivers State House of Assembly, which was constituted by less than one-third of its members, and the actions of the State government based on such proceedings.
Justice Agim stated, “The concurrent findings of facts in the Court of Appeal Judgment in Appeal No. CA/ABJ/CV/133/20249 (exhibit RSHA 5) indicate that some months after the 8th respondent was elected and sworn in as Governor of Rivers State in 2023, he began to fear that, instigated by his political opponents, members of the Rivers State House of Assembly were planning or initiating proceedings to impeach and remove him from office as Governor of the State.
The apex court also knocked Fubara for preventing the lawmakers and other staff of the Rivers State House of Assembly “from having access to the House of Assembly Complex to do official work and engaging in all these actions in disobedience of interim restraining orders of Courts that were obtained by the said 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly in suits to restrain these actions”.
According to the judge, the said activities of Governor Fubara were adjudged by the concurrent holdings of the Court of Appeal in its judgment in Appeal No. CA/ABJ/CV/133/2024 as illegal and unconstitutional long before the allegation of defection started.
The apex court ruled that the assertion that the 27 Assembly members are no longer part of the House due to alleged defection is a continuation of Governor Fubara’s efforts to prevent their participation in House proceedings.
