BREAKING: Court Affirms Amaewhule As Rivers’ Assembly Speaker
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has affirmed Martin Amaewhule as the recognised Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court Abuja also nullified the N800billion budget passed by the Edison Ehie-led group of the Rivers State House of Assembly and signed into law by the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara.
The court also upheld the suit filed by the Assembly and Speaker Martin Amaewhule, against Fubara, which sought an order of injunction restraining the governor from frustrating the Assembly under his leadership as speaker, among others.
On December 13, 2023, in the heat of the protracted political crisis rocking the oil-rich state and the demolition of the Assembly Complex, Fubara presented the 2024 budget proposal of N800bn to five members of the State Assembly led by Edison Ehie.
The presentation was done at the Government House in Port Harcourt, following the demolition of the Assembly Complex by the state government and after a court restrained Ehie’s contender, Martins Amaewhule, from using the Assembly Complex.
Ehie and the other pro-Fubara lawmakers passed the budget estimates and the governor signed the bill into law, saying it is aimed at promoting economic development through inclusive growth and addressing socio-economic inequality in the state.
Ehie would later resign from the House and Amaewhule was restored as the Assembly’s Speaker after both sides met with President Bola Tinubu in Abuja.
Amaewhule and 25 other lawmakers loyal to ex-Governor Nyesom Wike subsequently demanded that Fubara presented the 2024 budget estimates to the Assembly afresh and the matter was taken to court.
However, a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, on Thursday in a unanimous judgment, dismissed the appeal filed by the Rivers State governor, Siminalayi Fubara, for lacking in merit.
The appellate court firmly upheld the January 22 judgment of the Federal High Court, delivered by Justice James Omotosho, which nullified the 2024 N800million Rivers State budget of renewed hope on the grounds that it was not presented before members of the State Assembly as required by law.
The court admonished Governor Fubara to adhere to the rule of law in his actions.
The court held that Governor Fubara’s decision to present the 2024 Rivers State Appropriation Bill to only four out of 31 members of the Assembly constituted a gross violation of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
The appellate court also determined that the withdrawal of the counter-affidavit Fubara initially filed to challenge a suit instituted by the Amaewhule-led lawmakers to be recognised as valid members of the Rivers State House of Assembly indicated his agreement with the claims filed against him.
