January 23, (THEWILL) – The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered all the parties in the Rivers State House of Assembly crisis to maintain the status quo.
Justice J. O. Abdulmalik in a ruling on Monday, directed the parties not to take further steps, pending the determination of an application seeking to stop Governor Siminilaya Fubara from representing the already passed 2024 budget of the state before the legislative house.
Justice Abdulmalik fixed February 28 to hear the application which was brought before the court by six elders of the state.
The plaintiffs, led by a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly representing Bonny State Constituency, Victor Jumbo, include Bennett Birabi, Andrew Uchendu, Rear Admiral O.P. Fingesi, Ann Kio Briggs and Emmanuel Deinma.
They had, through their team of lawyer Olukayode Ajulo (SAN), approached the court, praying it to declare the seats of 27 lawmakers in the state that defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) vacant.
Contending the legality of the Abuja peace agreement, they maintained that the agreement signed on December 18, 2023, was not only illegal but amounted to an usurpation, nullification and undermining of the extant/binding relevant provisions of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
Consequently, they are praying the court to, among other things, determine whether President Tinubu, Governor Fubara and the Rivers State Assembly have the rights and are entitled to enter into any agreement that has the effect of nullifying or undermining the constitutional/legal potency of the provisions of Section 109 (I) (g) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
They contended that neither President Tinubu nor Governor Fubara has the statutory powers to stop the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from conducting a fresh election to replace the 27 Rivers State lawmakers who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
