Politics
Accountability Panel Criticises Supreme Court Over Rivers State Crisis
The Independent Judicial Accountability Panel (IJAP) has criticised Nigeria’s Supreme Court for failing to clarify the legitimacy of defected lawmakers in its recent ruling on the Rivers State political crisis.
In a statement on Friday, the panel, which includes three retired justices of the Court of Appeal, expressed concerns that the apex court’s 28 February judgement did not explicitly address the status of 27 lawmakers who switched allegiance from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in defiance of Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
Retired Justice Mojeed Owoade, chair of the 11-member panel, noted that while the court acknowledged the defection, it did not provide a definitive ruling on whether the lawmakers’ seats had been legally vacated.
“The judgement of the Supreme Court in the consolidated appeals leaves a gap as to whether the issue of the alleged defection of 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly is still alive or has been settled,” Mr Owoade said.
“This is because the court made comments on the issue of defection without actually addressing it.”
The Supreme Court’s ruling on 28 February favoured the defected lawmakers in two of the three cases related to the Rivers crisis.
These judgements led to the suspension of federal allocations to the state until Governor Fubara resubmits the budget to the assembly, as well as the invalidation of local government elections conducted in 2024.
However, the court reserved judgment on the third issue—the lawmakers’ defection—potentially the most politically significant aspect for Mr Fubara.
Mr Owoade suggested that the court should have either remained silent on the matter or ruled explicitly, rather than offering ambiguous remarks that failed to settle the dispute.
“Complex and lengthy judgements of courts defy easy comprehension and therefore undermine public trust,” he warned, adding that judicial ambiguity risks eroding confidence in the legal system.
The panel called on politicians to refrain from interfering in judicial processes and urged the judiciary to remain steadfast in upholding the rule of law.
The controversy has further deepened the political standoff in Rivers State. Earlier this week, the state assembly shut its gates, preventing Governor Fubara from entering the premises.
Lawmakers insisted they had not yet invited him to resubmit the budget, a condition required for the release of federal funds.
On Friday, the lawmakers announced an indefinite recess, a move that could stall the budget resubmission and prolong the crisis.
The Independent Judicial Accountability Panel includes Justices Chinwe Iyizoba and Oludotun Adefope-Okojie, as well as legal and civil society figures such as Okechukwu Ibeanu, Jummai Audi, Mac Imoni Amarere, and Sechap A. Tsokwa.
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike has again thrown his weight behind the Rivers Assembly in its tussle with Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
Fubara and the House led by Martin-Amaewhule have made claims and counter-claims over the presentation of the state’s 2025 budget. Their impasse followed a Supreme Court verdict, recognising the lawmakers as legitimate members of the Rivers State Assembly.
That move led the House to ask Fubara to re-present the state’s 2025 budget which he had presented to the sect of lawmakers led by Victor Oko-Jumbo. Amid the dispute between the legislature and the governor who accused the lawmakers of frustrating his attempts to re-present the budget, Wike has backed the Rivers State House of Assembly.
“Let me tell you, I’m not going to stop the Assembly from performing their constitutional duties. The Assembly should be allowed to perform their constitutional role,” Wike said on Saturday during a Thanksgiving Service held in Abalama, Asari-Toru Local Government Area (LGA) of Rivers State.
“The Assembly people should do their work. Whatever they deem necessary and fit, that is constitutional, they should do. I’m not going to stop anybody from carrying out their functions. I will not do that,” the minister said.
The immediate past governor of the state accused Fubara of seizing allowances and other benefits accrued to members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
Wike claimed Fubara was deceived into recognising a group of lawmakers and was wrong assured that “Nothing would happen”.
“You went, and they told you to seize Assembly members’ salaries, and allowances for more than one year. These people have no income to pay their children’s school fees and feed their families, and you were jubilating. You were jubilating and people were encouraging you that nothing would happen. But something has happened,” the FCT minister who is also a chieftain of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) told the jubilant crowd.
“They will lead you to hellfire,” the minister warned Governor Fubara.
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The constituents made this assertion in a statement titled: “Nothing can ever make us recall Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan” signed by the Coordinator/Convener of the Concerned Constituents of Kogi Central Senatorial District, Hon. Abdulrahaman Badamasiuy.
The statement reads in part: “We the Concerned Constituents of Kogi Central Senatorial District want the Nigerian Senate, fellow citizens of our country and the whole world to know that we are firmly standing with and fighting for justice alongside our daughter and duly elected Senator, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan on her illegal suspension from the Senate.
“Senator Natasha Akpoti -Uduaghan remains the one in whom we deposited our legitimacy as a Senatorial Constituency and nobody or groups of persons can unscrupulously violate our democratic and constitutional rights.
“We therefore wish to put the Senate, all Nigerians and the world on notice that:
“Senator Akpoti Uduaghan retains our irrevocable legitimacy as our Senator that we as constituents of Kogi Central duly and massively voted for in the 2023 elections to serve her full term ending May 2027.
“All our Communities that make up Kogi Central Constituency are resolute that we shall never trade off the quality of representation that Senator Akpoti -Uduaghan has given to us since she assumed office in the Nigerian Senate as our Distinguished Senator.
“We again demand that the Nigerian Senate terminates the illegal suspension of Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan because it unjustly denies our people of our constitutional right to federal representation in the National Assembly.
“We seriously warn against any attempt to further aggravate our Constituency through any fraudulent attempt to illegally recall Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan by any group of individuals conspiring to work against the collective will of we the people of Kogi Central constituency.
“Any unscrupulous attempt against the collective good of our people will be met with strong resistance from the entire Kogi Central communities.
“We the people of Kogi Central communities have maintained law and order and now wish to advise everyone else to do the same.
“The Nigeria Senate, reverse and terminate the illegal suspension order now to allow Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan continue her representation and exemplary service to all of us her people.
“Let no one provoke us any further while we look forward to having our concerns addressed within the shortest possible time.”
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The Presidency has clarified that President Bola Tinubu is currently focused on positively impacting the lives of Nigerians and not the next general elections.
Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Public Communications, Sunday Dare who made the clarification in a statement on X on Friday, said the president’s achievement would at the end of his tenure, be how he has been able to bring development to the economy.
Dare’s statement comes amid growing political tension and economic hardship in the country.
Efforts to form a coalition that could challenge Tinubu in 2027 are on top gear, as former Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, decamped from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
The statement read “President Tinubu is not worried about the next election. He’s worried about the shared prosperity that he can bring to Nigerians.
“He’s worried about how the reforms he has put in place will yield necessary impact. He is concerned about what happens to the economy of this country eventually. That’s the focus. “We’ve seen our foreign reserves go up. We’ve seen inflation come down. We’ve seen our trade surplus go up.
“We’ve seen exports go up and imports drop.
“We’ve seen the investments that have been attracted -over 50 billion. We are seeing prices dropping.
“We have clear data and you have a President that is clearly in the driver’s seat, and he has stayed the course of the decisions he has taken.
“And I think that the next election is not really in his view right now.
“It’s how to make sure that at the end of his first term, he can sit back and say, look, “I have impacted the lives of Nigerians. I have turned this economy around”.
Amid hardship rocking the country, Tinubu has assured Nigerians of hope, reiterating his commitment to running a government that listens to the needs of Nigerians.
While receiving the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) on Friday, he told the bishops that he made a tough decision upon assuming office in 2023 by removing subsidies on petroleum products.
He stressed the competition among operators in the petroleum sector, the bountiful harvest enjoyed by farmers, and the lower prices of commodities, adding that investments are flowing into the country.
“Yes, removing the fuel subsidy was hard, tough for me, but it’s a hard choice that Nigeria must face. We are not going to bankrupt our country,” the President was quoted in a statement by his spokesman, Bayo Onanuga.