On Thursday, October 10, the Court of Appeal in Abuja declared that Hon. Martin Amaewhule is the official Speaker of the Rivers State Assembly. This decision came from a panel of three judges who all agreed on the ruling.
The court also stated that the members of the Assembly who support Amaewhule are the real lawmakers for Rivers State. They dismissed an appeal from Governor Siminalaye Fubara, backing a previous decision made by the Federal High Court on January 22, which said that the 2024 budget for Rivers State was not properly presented to the Assembly.
According to the court, Fubara made a mistake by withdrawing a statement he had filed to challenge the lawmakers led by Amaewhule, who wanted to be recognized as valid members of the Assembly. The judges explained that Fubara’s choice to share the budget with only four out of the 31 Assembly members was against the law.
The Rivers State Assembly had been divided because of disagreements between Governor Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike. In the confusion, Fubara presented the state’s large budget to just four lawmakers, led by Hon. Edison Ehie, who claimed to be the Speaker. This group, which had declared the seats of Amaewhule’s supporters vacant, quickly passed the budget, and Fubara approved it.
However, after President Bola Tinubu helped resolve the issues, both Fubara and Wike agreed to a peace deal that recognized Amaewhule as the rightful Speaker of the Assembly. Ehie, who had taken his case to court, eventually withdrew his claims and stepped down.
Fubara agreed to drop his challenge against the court ruling, while the lawmakers who support Wike only withdrew their impeachment notice against him but continued their legal action.
In the court’s decision, Justice James Omotosho ruled that the budget was not valid since it was not presented correctly. He criticized Fubara for disrupting the Assembly and unlawfully removing the Assembly’s Clerk and Deputy Clerk.
The court highlighted that the governor did not have the right to interfere with the Assembly’s work and stressed that the National Assembly could not take over the state’s legislative functions without meeting specific requirements.
As a result, the court canceled all actions taken by the Assembly without Amaewhule’s members and ordered Fubara not to interfere with their work. It also instructed him to release funds due to the Rivers State Assembly.
In conclusion, the appellate court emphasized that Fubara should have been consistent in his actions and ordered him to pay N500,000 to each respondent involved in the case.
