The political crisis in oil-rich Rivers State which had hitherto remained low-keyed for a while now has been reignited following a recent ruling by the Supreme Court.
Rivers State Assembly has been embroiled in a protracted crisis since 2023 when over 25 lawmakers loyal to former governor Nyesom Wike dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The leadership of the House by Amaewhule was then contested by lawmakers in a rival group led by Victor Oko-Jumbo known to be loyal to Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
Fubara has since been transacting business of the state with the Oko-Jumbo group while he ignored the Amaewhule faction.
As a fallout, Fubara had presented the 2024 budget to the five-member House of Assembly led by Hon. Edison Ehie which angered the Amaewhule-led faction.
Consequently, Amaewhule-led faction approached the High and got a favourable judgement which mandated Fubara to re-present the budget to Amaewhule-led faction.
Fubara proceeded to the Appeal Court to contest the ruling, he was also floored at the Appeal Court which necessitated him moving to the Supreme Court.
However, earlier on Monday, February 10, 2025, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal filed by Fubara seeking to void the ruling of the Appeal Court declaring the 2024 budget of the state illegal because it was presented to a 3-man Rivers State House of Assembly led by Oko-Jumbo rather than the Assembly led by Amaewhule.
A five-member panel of the apex court led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji rejected the appeal and awarded a ₦2 million cost against Fubara.
The funds are payable to the Rivers Assembly and Amaewhule
It is important to note that this ruling followed Fubara’s counsel, Yusuf Ali (SAN), decision to withdraw the case.
Reacting to the ruling, Lere Olayinka, an aide to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, said that the Governor Fubara has admitted to spending his state’s money illegally by withdrawing his appeal from the Supreme Court.
According to Olayinka, after the governor withdrew his appeal, the apex court ordered him to present the budget to the Rivers State House of Assembly, led by Rt. Hon. Martins Amaewhule.
He said the Appeal Court had upheld the judgment of Justice J. K. Omotosho in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/1613/2023, wherein the court ruled that Fubara should re-present the 2024 budget to the House of Assembly led by Amaewhule.
“By this withdrawal, Governor Fubara has accepted the lower and appellate courts’ judgments, declaring the presentation of the Rivers State budget to three members of the State House of Assembly as illegal,” he said on X.
Olayinka added, “With the withdrawal, it stands that he spent Rivers State money illegally.”
Reacting to the ruling, Governor Fubara insisted that the Supreme Court ruling does not affect the legitimacy of Oko-Jumbo as the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
In a statement issued on Monday in Port Harcourt, the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Warisenibo Joseph Johnson, explained that the appeal had become an academic exercise since the 2024 budget cycle had already concluded.
Johnson stated, “The 2024 budget became spent on the 31st December of 2024 fiscal year. The appeal is of no useful purpose. The only reasonable thing left to do is to withdraw the appeal and have it dismissed.”
He emphasized that the Supreme Court’s decision does not invalidate the legality of the Victor Oko-Jumbo-led Assembly, affirming that Oko-Jumbo remains the authentic Speaker. “The Supreme Court is a very busy court. It will be most unwise to belabour the Honourable Court with academic appeals without any practical or utilitarian value,” Johnson added.
He further dismissed claims by political opponents, stating, “That is the appeal that the urchins are celebrating. There is no Supreme Court judgment against Gov. Fubara, ignore the outdated political propaganda by some desperate politicians.”
Johnson reiterated, “Supreme Court ruled on the Appeal over the 2024 budget voluntarily withdrawn by Gov. Fubara because the 2024 budget cycle has ended and no need to waste time discussing a budget that has been fully spent and implemented. Rt. Hon. Victor Oko Jumbo is still the authentic speaker and nothing can change that.”
Meanwhile, a human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN has disclosed that the Supreme Court verdict does not have anything to do with who is the authentic Speaker of the House.
He stated this on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday.
“When an appeal is dismissed not on merit but on the basis of withdrawal by the appellant, the question of celebration doesn’t arise. What happened in this case is that the governor of Rivers State instructed his lawyers to withdraw the appeal on the grounds that it has become an academic exercise.
“In other words, the issues are no longer alive and therefore, why do you want to waste the time of the court? It wasn’t contrary to what a colleague was saying, the court did not determine who is a speaker or who is not a speaker, no, it didn’t come up,” Falana said.
Countering Falana, lawyer to the Amaewhule-led assembly insisted that with the ruling, Oko-Jumbo is no longer the Speaker of the RSHA and Amaewhule is the authentic Speaker.
Hear him; “The appeal by the governor of River State was dismissed by the Supreme Court this morning following the notice of withdrawal by the governor on the appeal they filed.
“Consequently, the decisions of the Court of Appeal and that of the Federal High Court presided over by Honorable Justice Omotosho J affirming that the River State House of Assembly led by Honorable Martin Amaewhule and the other 26 members of the House of Assembly are the authentic members of that House of Assembly and remain so and that Martin Amaewhule is the leader that is the Speaker of the House of Assembly.
“So that is the position today and I must add that the Court of Appeal had admonished and clearly stated that the House purportedly being led by a three-man panel is not the River State House of Assembly” he added.
