Court Dismisses Fubara’s Appeal to Disqualify Lawmakers

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara, who sought to disqualify 27 members of the State House of Assembly due to their defection from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The Court also dismissed the appeal from the Rivers State Governor challenging the Federal High Court’s judgment, which nullified the N800 billion budget passed by the Edison Ehie-led group of the Rivers State House of Assembly and signed into law by him.

A three-member panel of the Appeal Court unanimously dismissed the appeal, declaring it devoid of merit.

Justice Joseph Oyewole, who delivered the lead judgment, stated that the governor, having withdrawn from the case, cannot claim to be aggrieved by the Federal High Court’s judgment.

Interfering in the affair

As a result, the Court of Appeal prohibited Fubara from interfering in the affairs of the House of Assembly under Rt Hon. Martins Amaewula.

The appellate court also restricted him from withholding funds from the House of Assembly and removing the Clerk and Deputy Clerk and mandated that he re-present the state’s budget to the House under the recognized Speaker, as specified in the judgment of Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court.

Justice Oyewole remarked that by approaching the court, Fubara was both affirming and contradicting his position, which is legally untenable, as parties must maintain consistency in their court dealings.

Therefore, he voided and invalidated the passage of the 2024 budget by 4 out of 32 members on the grounds of illegality, emphasizing that such actions should not be tolerated in a democratic setting.

The court further ruled that Fubara acted with executive recklessness by presenting the budget to only 4 members and signing it into law within 24 hours, actions that are not sanctioned by law.

On January 22, 2024,  the trial Court upheld the suit filed by the Assembly and Speaker Martin Amaewule against Fubara, which sought an order of injunction restraining the governor from frustrating the Assembly under his leadership as speaker, among other issues.

In January, trial judge James Omotosho declared that all actions taken by the four lawmakers led by Edison Ehie were null and void, while also recognizing Amaewhule as the speaker of the state assembly.

Lateefah Ibrahim