On Wednesday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was ordered by the Federal High Court in Abuja to stop providing the Rivers State government with monthly financial allocations.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the decision also applies to the state-owned banks Zenith Bank and Access Bank, as well as the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF).
Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s receipt and usage of monthly allocations from January 2024, according to Justice Joyce Abdulmalik’s ruling, represent a constitutional infraction that cannot be allowed to continue.
Fubara’s presentation of the 2024 budget to the four-member Rivers House of Assembly was characterized by the judge as a clear violation of the constitution.
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She said that the governor’s execution of the budget is a flagrant violation of the 1999 Constitution, which he is required to enforce.
The CBN, AGF, Zenith Bank, and Access Bank were subsequently directed by Justice Abdulmalik to prevent Fubara from gaining any more access to funds from the Federation Account and the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
Political instability in Rivers State
A political crisis that began earlier in 2024 as a result of Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s disagreements with state legislature members is the root cause of the disagreement over the finances of the Rivers State administration.
When it was claimed that the majority of the members of the Rivers House of Assembly had been suspended or impeached, leaving just four loyalists in the assembly, tensions peaked.
Governor Fubara proceeded in spite of the anomaly, presenting and accepting the state’s 2024 budget with the substantially diminished assembly—a move that was highly criticized as being unconstitutional.
The Rivers State House of Assembly faction led by Edison Ehie adopted a N800 billion budget in January, but Governor Siminalayi Fubara signed it into law. However, the Federal High Court in Abuja declared the budget unconstitutional.
A lawsuit brought by the Assembly and its Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, was also granted by the court. Among other reliefs, the action sought an injunction to stop Governor Fubara from interfering with the Assembly’s operations under Amaewhule’s direction.
All of the four lawmakers who supported Fubara’s conduct were deemed unlawful and ineffective by Presiding Judge James Omotosho.
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The Court of Appeal in Abuja denied Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s appeal earlier this month, contesting the Federal High Court’s ruling that declared the N800 billion budget approved by the Rivers State House of Assembly faction led by Edison Ehie and signed into law by the governor invalid.
The three-member appellate panel upheld the lower court’s decision in its decision on Thursday, October 10, 2024.
