The Federal High Court in Abuja has scheduled July 18 for ruling on a motion seeking to stop the National Assembly from approving budgets and appointments for the Rivers State Government under the current Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (rtd.).
The motion was filed by a group of Rivers State indigenes and the Registered Trustees of Hope Africa Foundation. They argued that the National Assembly’s actions, in recognizing and acting on the emergency government in the state, were unconstitutional.
Represented by counsel Ambrose Owuru, the plaintiffs urged the court to restrain the National Assembly and its Clerk from acting on any correspondence or request from the state government pending the determination of the substantive suit.
Owuru claimed that the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State was invalid, citing the lack of proper legislative approval. He argued that the use of voice votes in the National Assembly to approve the emergency rule was unconstitutional.
However, the National Assembly and its Clerk, through their lawyer Mohammed Galadima, opposed the motion, describing it as baseless. Galadima argued that the claims made in the supporting affidavit were “contrived falsehoods and calculated misrepresentation of facts.”
