The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has barred the Federal Government from releasing further monthly allocations to Rivers State.
Justice Joyce Abdulmalik delivered the judgment on Wednesday, specifically restraining the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from allowing the state to draw funds from the consolidated revenue account.
The ruling followed a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/984/24, brought before the court by the Hon. Martins Amaewhule-led faction of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
Cited as defendants in the matter were the Central Bank of Nigeria, Zenith Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc, and the Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF). Others included Governor Siminalayi Fubara, the Accountant-General of Rivers, the Rivers Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), Chief Judge of Rivers, Hon. Justice S.C. Amadi, Chairman of RSIEC, Hon. Justice Adolphus Enebeli (rtd.), and the Government of Rivers State.
The plaintiffs sought the court’s intervention to withhold all federal monthly allocations meant for Rivers State. They based their case on the grounds that Governor Fubara had yet to comply with a court order directing him to present the 2024 Appropriation Bill to the Amaewhule-led faction of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
According to the plaintiffs, the high court had previously recognized Hon. Amaewhule as the authentic Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly in a ruling delivered by Justice James Omotosho. They noted that the court invalidated the 2024 budget proposal presented before a four-member faction of the Assembly led by Hon. Victor Oko-Jumbo.
