Port Harcourt, March 3, 2025
The political air was thick with tension in Port Harcourt with the intervention of the Supreme Court in the high-stakes political chess match that had been unfolding for months in the state involving Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the state legislature.
In January 2025, Governor Fubara had confidently signed the N1.1 trillion 2025 budget into law. The signing ceremony had been a moment of apparent triumph for him, surrounded by lawmakers loyal to his cause, led by Victor Oko-Jumbo.
But Friday’s Supreme Court ruling changed everything.
The 2025 budget that Fubara had so proudly signed now stood on shaky legal ground, its validity questioned by the highest court in the land. Martin Amaewhule and the 26 other lawmakers who had been cast aside were to be recognized as legitimate members of the Rivers State Assembly, according to a Supreme Court ruling.
The roots of this drama stretched back to when Fubara had presented the 2024 budget to a mere quartet of Assembly members. Edison Ehie, now comfortably installed as the Governor’s Chief of Staff, had led this small group after the administration had declared vacant the seats of Amaewhule and his 26 colleagues. Their alleged sin? Defection from the People’s Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress—a charge they vehemently denied.
Now, the Supreme Court had not only restored these lawmakers but had taken an extraordinary step. In a move that sent shockwaves through government circles, the apex court ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria to withhold Rivers State’s allocations until Fubara’s administration complied with its directives. The financial lifeline of the oil-rich state now hung in the balance.
Amaewhule and his reinstated colleagues wasted no time. With a newfound confidence, they formally requested the governor to present his “Budget of Inclusive Growth and Development” to their now-reconstituted Assembly.
Political analysts see the judgment as a significant setback for Governor Fubara. No statement or reaction was released from the governor’s office, as strategy sessions undoubtedly unfolded behind closed doors.
The Supreme Court’s judgment is as a reminder that in Nigeria’s democracy, even the most powerful must eventually answer to the law.
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