Rivers: Court Rejects Push To Bar Fubara From Spending Public Funds

A Federal High Court in Abuja has declined to bar Governor Siminalayi Fubara from spending government funds pending the hearing and determining the suit filed by the Martin Amaewhule-led Rivers State House of Assembly.

Ruling on the motion ex parte marked FHC/ABJ/CS/984/24, Justice Emeka Nwite declined to grant the prayers, though he ordered the plaintiffs to put the defendants on notice.

Justice Nwite however granted the motion ex parte to serve the 5th to 10th defendants in the matter by substituted means saying “the leave is hereby granted to the plaintiffs/applicants, to serve the 5th to 10th defendants/respondents with the plaintiffs/applicants’ originating, and any other process (es) filed or issued in this suit by substituted means to wit: by publishing same in the Nation Newspapers.”

The judge further adjourned the matter to the 7th of August to hear the motion on notice.

The 5th to 10th defendants are Mr Fubara, Accountant-General of Rivers; Rivers Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC); Chief Judge of Rivers, Justice S.C. Amadi; Chairperson of RSIEC, Adolphus Enebeli and the Government of Rivers State respectively.

The 1st and 2nd plaintiffs being the Rivers State House of Assembly and Martin Amaewhule, had filed the suit through their counsel, Joseph Daudu SAN against the Central Bank of Nigeria, Zenith Bank Plc, Access Bank PLC, and the Accountant General of the Federation as the 1st to 4th defendants.

The court ruling comes after Fubara, last week, vowed to remain upright, and never to govern the state on bended knees no matter how much he is pushed politically.

“I will not, I repeat, I will not govern our dear State on my knees (bending). If that was the purpose, I would not do that. I will stand to govern our dear State and stand continually on the side of right,” the governor emphasised.

He said there was a fierce battle to destroy the soul of the state, but expressed optimism that he will win the battle, with the support of well-meaning persons who are standing firmly with him.

Governor Fubara remarked at the country home of Sir Celestine Omehia in Ubima, Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State last Saturday.

The governor, accompanied by some elders of the State, was in Ubima to commiserate with Sir Omehia, who had just laid his late mother, Mrs Ezinne Cecilia Omehia, to rest after 95 years.

Fubara told Omehia and other elders at the gathering of the need for every true lover of the state, to unite and be resolute in the fight to safeguard the soul of Rivers State.

“And I am happy to say, and I’ve said it over and again, it doesn’t matter the number of people that are standing with me, I will stand on that side of truth.”

The governor decried the evil of politics of bitterness and the telling danger it has on the progress of the state, which according to him, should be discouraged as a bad political culture in contemporary times.

He urged whoever claimed to love Rivers State, not to be party to anything, directly or indirectly, that will bring the state backwards.

“Anybody who claims to love this State should not be party to anything, directly or indirectly, that will bring us backwards,” he said.