The state government said it expected the judgment delivered by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court on Wednesday.
The administration of Governor Siminalayi Fubara in Rivers State has reacted to the Federal High Court judgment stopping the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from releasing further financial allocations to the state amid the political crisis in the state.
The state government said it expected the judgment delivered by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court on Wednesday.
The Commissioner for Information and Communications in the state, Joseph Johnson, while reacting to the judgment, said the state government has appealed the Federal High Court judgment, noting that there is no panicking as they are confident that the Appeal Court will reverse the judgment.
Johnson said the state government under Governor Fubara’s leadership saw the judgment coming when the presiding judge refused to grant the request for 23 local government chairmen as joinders in the case.
He said the presiding judge also denied the state government’s request to change its lawyer, as well as its objection challenging the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court in the case.
The commissioner said, “We saw this judgment coming the way it did when the trial judge refused 23 council chairmen as joinders, refused the state to change their lawyer and refused our objection challenging jurisdiction of the federal high court.
"The judgment has already been appealed, and I believe that the Court of Appeal will overturn the judgment. We are not panicking, and there is no cause for alarm."
SaharaReporters had reported that the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja in a judgment on Wednesday restrained the CBN from releasing financial allocations to Rivers State Government until a lawful appropriation act is passed by a validly constituted House of Assembly.
Justice Abdulmalik who delivered the judgment in response to a suit filed by a faction of the Rivers State House of Assembly, loyal to a former Governor of the state, Nyesom Wike and led by Martins Amaewhule, held that the decision by Governor Fubara to present the state’s 2024 Appropriation Bill to a four-member Assembly, that was not properly constituted, should not be allowed to stand.
The court order essentially puts a hold on any further funding to the Rivers State Government until the necessary legislative steps are taken.
This means that the state's financial activities will be on hold until the House of Assembly passes a lawful appropriation act.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja earlier affirmed Amaewhule as the recognised Speaker of the state House of Assembly.
Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court Abuja had also nullified the N800 billion budget passed by the Edison Ehie-led faction of the Assembly and signed into law by Governor Fubara.
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 N800 billion to the Edison Ehie-led faction of the Assembly.
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.