Rivers Crisis: Pressure Mounts On Supreme Court To Review Judgement

By Gideon Njoku

A Deluge of criticisms has continued to rain on the Supreme Court’s judgement in the unending political crisis which engulfed Rivers State since about the October of 2023.

On February 28th 2025, the Supreme Court decisively weighed in when in its ruling, it all but stripped Governor Siminalayi Fubara of all dignity. The ruling ordered him to go back to his vomit by: (a) Re-present the 2025 Budget which he had presented in January to the faction of the State House of Assembly, led by then Speaker Victor Oko-Jumbo loyal to him, before the whole House led by the faction loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike; (b)Annulled the Local Councils Election held in October 2024, thus sacking everyone elected; (c)halting the remittance of Federation Allocation to the State until the budget is represented, among other things.

Since that judgement, Fubari has remained a Governor only in name as Members of the Assembly, led by Speaker Martin Amaewhule, has subjected him to one humiliation or the other including locking him out of the Assembly Complex when he approached to re-present the Budget as ordered by the Supreme Court.

Piqued by the full implications of the judgement, the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners, ALDRAP, has strongly weighed in and urged the Supreme Court to review its February 28 judgement. The Association pointed a number of alleged untidy areas in the judgement.

The request was made by the Legislative Lawyers in a letter dated March 13, 2025,  addressed to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, the Honourable Justice Kudurat Kekere-Ekun,  and signed by ALDRAP’s lawyer, Kenneth Amadi.

ALDRAP based its request on the provisions of Order 8 Rule 16 of the Supreme Court Rules, 2024. It argued

that the February 28 Supreme Court judgment failed to comply with previous verdicts  delivered by the Apex Court on similar cases.

The letter is entitled:

“Application for Review by a Full Panel of Seven Justices of the Supreme Court of Nigeria of the Judgment of the Supreme Court of Nigeria Dated February 28, 2025, Delivered by Hon. Justice Emmanuel Agim, JSC, and a Panel of Five Justices, Pursuant to Order 8 Rule 16, Supreme Court Rules, 2024, and Other Relevant Laws as the Supreme Court Deems Appropriate.”

The request reads in part:

“By way of introduction, my name is Kenneth A. Amadi, Esq. I am a legal practitioner and lawyer to the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners (ALDRAP), which is a professional association of lawyers in Nigeria with its national secretariat inside the National Assembly complex, Abuja.

“We write to request permission to submit an application on the above-named subject matter. This application for a review of the Supreme Court judgment of February 28, 2025, is made in accordance with the Supreme Court of Nigeria Rules, 2024, on the following grounds:

“A full panel of seven judges instead of the five judges that sat on the Rivers State House of Assembly case.

*”Failure of the panel of judges to follow and comply with the former judgments of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, such as the case of Attorney-General of Bendel State v. Attorney-General of the Federation (1981).”

Executive Secretary of ALDRAP, Dr. Tonye Clinton Jaja, in his analysis of the judgement, also, faulted the Supreme Court judgment. He said the Court failed to take note of the record of proceedings of the Rivers State House of Assembly concerning the defection of the 27 lawmakers.

Citing a court case, Hon. J. I. Ekpenkhio v. Hon. Matthew Egbadon (1962-2001)1 Legislative Law Reports of Nigeria (LLRN) pages 307 to 336, Jaja said: “The Supreme Court of Nigeria held that the Court has a duty to take judicial notice of the record of proceedings of the House of Assembly as stipulated under Section 73 of the Evidence Act.

“In accordance with the above-named judgment, it is reasonable to expect that the Supreme Court of Nigeria would consider the words and actions of Amaewhule and the 26 others on the floor of the Rivers State House of Assembly during the plenary session in December 2023.

“Ironically, the evidence of the defection of the said 27 lawmakers is contained in the Hansard of the Rivers State House of Assembly of December 11, 2023, when the Deputy Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly read a letter of defection on behalf of the 27 lawmakers, including the Speaker. The Speaker then put it to a voice vote, and it was approved by all 27 lawmakers. This was then approved as a resolution of the Rivers State House of Assembly as passed on the 11th day of December 2023.”

Jaja also argued that:

“There are so many absurdities that Hon. Justice Agim’s interpretation has created, such as the absurdity in his statement that only the offending legislature can declare that a defection has occurred.

“Additionally, Hon. Justice Agim’s interpretation has defeated the very purpose of Section 109(1)(g) of the Nigerian Constitution, considering that, going by his interpretation, it is next to impossible for any lawmaker who is in violation of the said Section to be declared as having vacated his seat if such a declaration is to be made by the Speaker of such a legislature—when the Speaker himself is also one of the lawmakers that has defected, as was the case with the 27 lawmakers of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

“How on earth would any offender readily agree that he or she has committed the crime of defection, which would result in the automatic forfeiture of his or her seat in the legislature, along with the humongous sums of money that are paid as both salaries and allowances to such lawmakers?

“The judicial powers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria are vested in the judiciary for the sole purpose that the judiciary would perform the tasks of undertaking judicial review of the actions of the other two arms of government, namely the Executive and the Legislature. The purpose is to create checks and balances to avoid tyranny by one arm of government.

“Therefore, in the event that an application is made to the judiciary to determine whether the actions of some members of the legislature (in this case, the defection of the 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly) are in violation of any section of the Nigerian Constitution, it is the judiciary alone that can adjudicate and make such a determination.

“The judiciary cannot shirk its responsibility to the legislature as Hon. Agim’s judgment has done in this case. It violates the very cardinal principle of justice and fair hearing to ask the legislature to sit as a judge in its own case to determine and declare whether a defection has occurred in violation of the said Section 109(1)(g) of the Nigerian Constitution.”

The crises, the way its proceeding, is likely to lead to impeachment moves against the Governor Fubara. Fubara’s ethnic group, Ijaw, is threatening fire and brimstone if he is impeached.