Court reserves judgment in pro-Wike lawmakers’ suit seeking to cut off funding for Rivers govt

A Federal High Court in Abuja, on Friday, reserved judgment in a suit filed by a faction of the Rivers House of Assembly led by Martin Amaewhule, seeking to stop all monetary allocations to the state.

Justice Joyce Abdulmalik adjourned the judgment to a date that would be communicated to parties after the lawyers to the plaintiffs and the defence adopted their processes and argued their case for and against the suit.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Justice Abdulmalik had earlier dismissed all objections raised by the Rivers State Government against proceeding with the hearing of the suit.

The judge dismissed the applications by the state government and other defendants in the suit to stay proceedings, pending the hearing and the determination of the appeal already filed before the Court of Appeal

The judge held that the request was frivolous, vexatious, unwarranted and mischievous.

The plaintiffs, defendants in the suit

The faction of the Rivers assembly and Mr Amaewhule, as the 1st and 2nd plaintiffs, sued the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and nine others in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/984/24.

The plaintiffs, through their lead counsel, Joseph Daudu, SAN, filed the suit dated 14 July but filed on 15 July.

They listed the CBN, Zenith Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc and the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF) as the 1st to 4th defendants.

They also joined Governor Fubara, the Accountant-General of Rivers, Rivers Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), Chief Judge of Rivers, Justice S.C. Amadi; the Chairperson of the RSIEC, Adolphus Enebeli, and the Government of Rivers State as the 5th to 10th defendants respectively.

The orders sought by pro-Wike lawmakers

The faction of the assembly and Mr Amaewhule sought an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the CBN, the commercial banks, including the AGF from honouring any financial instruction issued by Mr Fubara regarding the state’s funds.

However, the faction of Rivers House of Assembly led by Oko Jumbo filed a notice of change of counsel on 6 August

The Oko Jumbo-led assembly, loyal to Governor Fubara, had told the court that Mr Amaewhule was not the lawful speaker of the assembly, since his seat had been declared vacant on 13 December 2023 following his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party to All Progressives Congress.

The faction of the assembly, therefore, told the court that Mr Amaewhule was not authorised to file the instant suit, hence, it had decided to change its counsel.

“The 1st plaintiff herein has changed their counsel, J.B. Daudu, SAN of J. B. Daudu & Co., and now briefed S. A. Somiari, SAN, MCIArb (UK) of Sammie Somiari & Associates for the purposes of legal representation in this suit,” the Oko-Jumbo-led assembly said.

Applications dismissed

Justice Abdulmalik dismissed the application for change of counsel after it was moved by Mr Somiari.

The judge equally dismissed the oral applications by the defence lawyers, including Femi Falana, SAN, who appeared for the 7th and 9th defendants, seeking an adjournment to enable them to respond to the processes served on them by the plaintiffs.

In his argument, Mr Falana told the court that he was just served a bundle of documents few minutes before the proceeding through the bailiff and that he would need more time to respond.

Besides, Justice Abdulmalik dismissed a motion on notice filed by Mr Oko-Jumbo to be joined as co-plaintiff in the suit.

The judge agreed with the plaintiffs that Mr Oko-Jumbo was not a necessary party to the suit.

NAN reports that Justice Emeka Nwite of a sister court had, on 21 July, refused to grant the ex-parte motion moved by the plaintiffs when it was earlier assigned to him during the vacation period.

READ ALSO: Pro-Wike lawmakers hit colleagues loyal to Fubara, ‘declare’ their seats vacant

Justice Nwite, in a ruling on the motion ex-parte moved by Sebastien Hon, SAN, rather ordered the plaintiffs to put all the defendants in the suit on notice.

The suit was, however, reassigned to Justice Abdulmalik after the Federal High Court resumed from vacation since Mr Nwite was a vacation judge.

The Rivers State Government had objected to hearing of the suit in Abuja but was turned down by the court. This prompted the state government to approach the Court of Appeal to intervene in the matter.

The state government filed an appeal marked CA/ABJ/CV/1197/2024 and filed a motion seeking the Federal High Court to stay proceedings until its appeal is determined.

(NAN)