\u00a0Court bars, AGF, CBN from releasing fund to Rivers<\/p>\n
A Federal High Court in Abuja has barred the Central Bank of Nigeria from disbursing further monthly allocations to the Rivers State Government, citing alleged constitutional violations by Governor Siminalayi Fubara.<\/p>\n
In her ruling on Wednesday, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik found that Governor Fubara\u2019s presentation of the 2024 budget to a four-member House of Assembly breached constitutional protocol.<\/p>\n
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Justice Abdulmalik highlighted that since January, Rivers State has received and spent allocations based on an \u201cillegitimate\u201d budget, describing this as a \u201cconstitutional aberration.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The court order further restricts the CBN, the Accountant General of the Federation, and the state\u2019s accounts at Zenith Bank and Access Bank from releasing any funds to Fubara.<\/p>\n
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The judge contended that the governor\u2019s actions ignored constitutional requirements for budget approval by a fully constituted House of Assembly.<\/p>\n
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Delivering judgment in suit FHC\/ABJ\/CS\/984\/2024, Justice Abdulmalik declared that decisions made by the four-member Fubara-backed assembly were void, referencing prior rulings by the Federal High Court and Court of Appeal that had annulled its authority.<\/p>\n
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Justice Abdulmalik stressed the CBN\u2019s responsibility to ensure that state budgets are approved by a constitutionally recognised House of Assembly before releasing funds.<\/p>\n
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\u201cAny appropriation bill must pass through the constitutionally recognised House of Assembly,\u201d she stated, \u201cwithout which any budget implementation is unlawful.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The ruling also held that Fubara\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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The court\u2019s decision 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 Fubara.<\/p>\n
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The Amaewhule-led Assembly had earlier declared in July that all state expenditures would be halted until the governor resubmitted his budget to the legitimate legislative body.<\/p>\n
Justice Abdulmalik denied a request to stay the proceedings, dismissing the application as \u201cfrivolous and vexatious.\u201d She also refused to recuse herself from the case, rejecting the defence\u2019s allegations of bias.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0Court bars, AGF, CBN from releasing fund to Rivers A Federal High Court in Abuja has barred the Central Bank of Nigeria from disbursing further monthly allocations to the Rivers State Government, citing alleged constitutional violations by Governor Siminalayi Fubara. In her ruling on Wednesday, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik found that Governor Fubara\u2019s presentation of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":144964,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,18,11],"tags":[78,82,750,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-145325","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-featured","8":"category-news","9":"category-politics","10":"tag-cbn","11":"tag-fubara","12":"tag-rivers","13":"tag-wike"},"yoast_head":"\n