The Appeal Court in Abuja last week came to the rescue of Rivers State by upturning the judgment of a Federal High Court that stopped the release of federal monthly allocations from the consolidated funds to the Rivers State Government.
The bold judgement by the three-member panel of the appellate court averted what could have snowballed into anarchy and brought to a halt the seemingly judicial rascality of the lower court on the matter.
The landmark judgement of the appellate court also reaffirmed the burden of trust, hope, reliability and confidence that the nation's judiciary carries and the truism that there are still noble minds on the bench with patriotism, conscience and righteousness flowing in them.
When on October 30, 2024 Justice Joyce Abdulmalik delivered the controversial judgement, and restrained the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Accountant General of the Federation, from releasing funds to the Rivers State Government on alleged constitutional breach, there was every reason to believe that something was wrong. The judgement received massive knocks except for those it favoured.
Justice Abdulmalik had based her judgment on the current budget being operated by the state, saying it was not passed by a lawful arm of the Rivers State House of Assembly, led by Rt. Hon. Martin Amaewhule, who also instituted the case alongside 26 others.
But in rescuing Rivers State from financial quagmire the appellate court held that the trial court in the first instance lacked the necessary jurisdiction to entertain the suit asking it to withhold funds accruing to the state on grounds that the current appropriation was yet to be presented before the Rivers State House of Assembly.
The three-member panel of the appellate court led by Justice Hamman Barka, in the landmark judgment, emphatically stated that the mere listing of federal agencies does not confer unrestricted jurisdiction on the Federal High Court. The court held that the subject matter, which centered on the appropriation of a state, ought not to have been entertained by the trial court.
The appellate court insisted that the said orders were unconstitutional, null and void having been made without jurisdiction, and that the lower court over-reached itself in entertaining the matter and ordered that the allocations of the state be freed and paid to the government accordingly.
While it will not be surprising for those who instituted the case to approach the Supreme Court, which is their right of further and final appeal, we urge the apex court to do justice to the matter if and when it is brought before them as final arbiters.
But in the meantime, we urge President Bola Tinubu to direct the relevant government agencies to pay the Rivers State Government all that has been withheld and continue doing so. We also request the president to use his office to stop the vindictive politics that has been extended to the judiciary, as we have seen in recent cases like that of Rivers State.
The judiciary is a sacred institution and cannot be used to settle cheap political scores. The implications of withholding state funds is tantamount to crippling that state, and in a democracy like ours, such should not be allowed to fester as it is not in the best interest of the people of Rivers State.
