The Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt has dismissed a lawsuit seeking to compel Governor Siminialayi Fubara to re-submit the 2024 budget to the 26 lawmakers led by Speaker Martins Amaewhule, who are loyalists of Nyesom Wike.
The case was initiated by the Registered Trustees of the Association of Claimant of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners, naming the Rivers State Government, the governor, and the Attorney-General as defendants.
In a judgment delivered on December 20, 2024, Justice S.M. Aprioku ruled that the suit was premature, noting that legal disputes regarding the legitimacy of 27 former lawmakers to make laws are still unresolved in various courts.
He emphasized that the status quo should remain until these matters are conclusively determined.
Justice Aprioku stated, “The claimant’s claim seeking declarative and injunctive reliefs for the re-representation of the 2024 budget to the former 27 lawmakers, who defected and automatically vacated their seats, lacks merit and is accordingly dismissed.”
The court also imposed a penalty of N500,000 against the claimant in favour of the defendants.
In the detailed 33-page judgment, the judge clarified that the Constitution’s Section 109(1)(G) is self-executing, meaning lawmakers who defect from their sponsoring party without legitimate cause automatically lose their seats. He further observed that the Constitution does not require court intervention for such vacancies to take effect.
“Once the person defects from the party that sponsored their election to another party, without any division in the political party, that person automatically vacates the seat,” Justice Aprioku explained.
The judgment highlighted that the budget was presented and passed into law on December 14, 2023, after the lawmakers’ defection on December 11, 2023.
The court found that the claimants failed to dispute the defendants’ affidavits detailing the lawmakers’ defection and the concealment of this information during earlier proceedings.
The judge ruled that Governor Fubara could conduct business only with lawmakers who did not vacate their seats.
He added, “The governor cannot carry on business with those who defected and by that act of defection, lost their seats.”
He cited precedents from the previous administration of Governor Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, stating that budget presentations and financial bills could proceed even when legislative membership fell below the constitutional threshold.
Justice Aprioku concluded that the lawsuit was premature, as the Supreme Court must first resolve jurisdictional issues concerning the 27 defected lawmakers’ status.
Pending such a verdict, only lawmakers who retained their seats could engage in legislative business with the governor.
The suit was dismissed, and the court reaffirmed its earlier order for the claimant to pay N500,000 to the defendants.
