Court Bars CBN From Releasing Federal Allocation to Rivers State
A Federal High Court in Abuja has barred the Central Bank of Nigeria from further disbursing monthly allocation from the federation account to the Rivers State government, citing alleged constitutional violations by Governor Sim Fubara.
In Wednesday’s ruling, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik ruled that Governor Fubara’s submission of the 2024 budget to the four-member legislature violated the Constitution.
Justice Abdulmalik emphasized that since January, Rivers State has been receiving and spending allocations based on an “illegal” budget, which he described as a “constitutional anomaly.”
The court order further restricted the release of any funds to Governor Fubara by the Accountant-General of the Federation, Zenith Bank and Access Bank.
The judge argued that the state governor’s action disregarded the constitutional requirement of budget approval by a fully constituted legislature.
Delivering her judgment in the FHC/ABJ/CS/984/2024 case, Justice Abdulmalik referred to previous rulings by the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeals invalidating their authority and declared that the decision of the four-member assembly in favor of Gov Fubara was invalid.
Justice Abdulmalik stressed the CBN’s responsibility to ensure that the state budget is approved by the constitutionally authorized assembly before funds are released.
“Any appropriation bill must pass through the constitutionally recognised House of Assembly,” she stated, “without which any budget implementation is unlawful.”
According to the ruling Gov Fubara’s actions violated Sections 91 and 96 of the 1999 Constitution, and warned that any continued bypassing of legislative processes constituted an affront to the rule of law.
The court’s judgment followed a suit filed by the Rivers House of Assembly faction led by Martin Amaewhule, challenging the legitimacy of the four-member faction loyal to Gov Fubara.
Didactic Information Hut recalls that the Amaewhule-led Assembly had earlier in July declared that all state expenditures would be stopped until the governor resubmits his budget to the legitimate House of Assembly.
Justice Abdulmalik who denied a request to stay the proceedings, also dismissed the application as “frivolous and vexatious.” She further refused to recuse herself from the case, rejecting the defence’s allegations of bias.
