The Supreme Court on Monday reserved judgment in four separate appeals related to the ongoing political leadership crisis in Rivers State. Justice Uwani Aba-Aji, heading a five-member panel, announced that the judgments would be delivered at a later date, following arguments from the lawyers involved.
The four appeals address key issues: the Rivers House of Assembly and others vs. the Rivers Government and nine others; the Rivers House of Assembly and others vs. Governor Siminalayi Fubara and nine others; the Rivers House of Assembly and others vs. the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) and nine others; and the Rivers House of Assembly and others vs. the Accountant General of Rivers and nine others.
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These cases stem from decisions made by the Federal High Court in Abuja, which prohibited the release of monthly funds to Rivers State from the Federation Account and blocked INEC from providing the voter register to the state for conducting local government elections.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik had initially ruled to halt the release of federal allocations to Rivers until the governor presented the state budget to the House of Assembly led by Martin Amaewhule. However, the Court of Appeal in Abuja overturned this ruling, citing grave injustice in its findings.
Similarly, the Court of Appeal reversed another Federal High Court decision that had prohibited the local government elections in Rivers scheduled for October 5, 2024, citing procedural issues in the state’s election laws.
At Monday’s hearing, Joseph Daudu SAN represented the faction loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, while Chris Uche SAN led the legal team for Governor Fubara.
