Federal High Court should also tell us if people who left their party can return without penalties – Dele Momodu
By KEMI KASUMU
The DEFENDER reports that the pro-Wike lawmakers, in whose instance this judgment was delivered, had their seats declared vacant by Rivers State High Court as it was standing ruling of Supreme Court that they automatically lost their seats the moment they willingly defected from their party, PDP, to All Progressives Congress (APC).
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain and former presidential candidate in Nigeria, Chief Dele Momodu, has expressed concerns after Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, stopped the Central Bank of Nigeria from further releasing monthly financial allocations to the Rivers State Government.
The journalism veteran said, “I’m not a lawyer, but even as a layman, I wish to ask the following questions: a Federal High Court can stop statutory allocations to a state for not following due process, but can the courts also tell us if some legislators who voluntarily sauntered out of their political party can casually return to their forfeited seats without repercussions and penalties? Does the law permit any arm of government to grant amnesty to those who have already disqualified themselves with automatic alacrity? It shall be well with Nigeria.”
In addition, the presiding judge ruled that Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s presentation of the 2024 budget to only four members of the Riverside House of Assembly violated constitutional provisions.
She further criticized Fubara’s receipt and distribution of monthly allocations since January, calling it a constitutional breach that must be stopped.
The DEFENDER reports that the pro-Wike lawmakers, in whose instance this judgment was delivered, had their seats declared vacant by Rivers State High Court as it was standing ruling of Supreme Court that they automatically lost their seats the moment they willingly defected from their party, PDP, to All Progressives Congress (APC).
Governor Siminalayi Fubara subsequently wrote a letter to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct by-elections for fresh persons to fill the vacant seats but the electoral umpire failed to do so.
This has called to question the integrity of both the Federal courts that have involved themselves in the Rivers State political crisis standing with Nyesom Wike and his group and favouring them with judgments in a way that tend to cause setback to governance and destabilize the state.
Stakeholders in the state, including the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of The Albino Foundation Africa Mr. Jake Ekpelle, have repeatedly revealed the root cause of crisis in the state as Wike, despite having spent his own eight years tenure, struggling against the sitting governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, to control the Rivers State resources.
