Court rejects request to stop National Assembly from approving Rivers 2025 budget

The Senate took over the legislative functions of the Rivers State House of Assembly following the emergency declaration in the state in June.

The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a request to restrain the National Assembly from approving the Rivers State 2025 budget under the current sole administrator, Ibok-Ete Ibas, a retired vice admiral.

Judge James Omotosho, in a ruling on Friday, held that the court could not grant the prayer because the action the plaintiffs sought to stop had already been completed.

President Bola Tinubu, on 18 March, declared an emergency rule in Rivers State under which he suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara and other elected officials for six months and appointed Mr Ibas as the sole administrator of the state for the period.

The Senate, which took over the legislative functions of the Rivers State House of Assembly following the emergency declaration, passed the state’s 2025 budget on 25 June.

It has also approved appointments to positions requiring legislative input in the state.

The applicants, a group of Rivers State indigenes, sought an interim injunction restraining the National Assembly “from further interference, approving, supporting and engaging in any legislative activities, including approving, appointment or budgets of Rivers State Government.”

The plaintiffs are Oziwe Amba, king regent of Diobu in Port Harcourt; Julius Bulous, George Ikeme, Amachelu Orlu, Odioha Wembe, and Hope Africa Foundation, which claimed to represent the Niger Delta Confederal Assembly.

They sued the National Assembly and its clerk over the emergency rule and its fallout, including the ratification of appointments and budgets.

Their application for interlocutory injunction, filed on 24 June, is tied to the substantive suit instituted on 19 June.

In the main suit, the plaintiffs asked the court to nullify Mr Tinubu’s proclamation of a state of emergency in Rivers State and the appointment of Mr Ibas as sole administrator, describing both actions as unconstitutional.

At the 10 July hearing, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Ambrose Owuru, urged the court to invalidate the Senate’s approval of the state’s budget, arguing that the emergency proclamation and related legislative actions lacked constitutional backing. He said the proclamation was invalid, having been passed via voice vote instead of the two-thirds majority required under Section 305 of the Constitution.

But Mohammed Galadima, who represented the National Assembly, defended the procedure as lawful and warned that granting the application could disrupt governance in the state.

The ruling

Mr Omotosho ruled on Friday that the main action the plaintiffs sought to restrain was the passage of the budget submitted to the Senate by the administrator.

He added that the court was aware that the Senate had already passed the budget on 25 June.

The judge ruled that the act being challenged was a completed one and therefore dismissed the motion.

He added that some of the issues raised in the motion are contained in the substantive suit and would be better addressed during its hearing.

The judge adjourned the matter to 20 October for the hearing of the main suit.

Mr Tinubu controversially declared state of emergency in Rivers State in June, citing escalating violence and worsening political crisis resulting from the rivalry between Governor Fubara and his successor, Nyesom Wike, the incumbent FCT minister, who helped Mr Fubara to win the 2023 governorship election. The emergency rule has been widely condemned for collapsing democratic institutions in the state.