Rivers: The court dismisses the request to prevent Fubara from using public funds.

A Federal High Court in Abuja has decided not to prohibit Governor Siminalayi Fubara from using public monies while the Rivers State House of Assembly, led by Martin Amaewhule, is having its lawsuit heard and decided.

Justice Emeka Nwite denied the petitions in his ruling on the motion ex parte with the file number FHC/ABJ/CS/984/24, however he did require the plaintiffs to notify the defendants.

“The leave is hereby granted to the plaintiffs/applicants, to serve the 5th to 10th defendants/respondents with the plaintiffs/applicants’ originating, and any other process (es) filed or issued in this suit by substituted means, to wit: by publishing same in the Nation Newspapers,” said Justice Nwite, who granted the motion ex parte to serve the 5th through 10th defendants in the matter by substituted means.

In order to hear the motion on notice, the judge further postponed the hearing to August 7.

The defendants numbered five through ten are Mr. Fubara, the Accountant-General of Rivers; the Rivers Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC); Justice S.C. Amadi, the Chief Judge of Rivers; Adolphus Enebeli, the Chairperson of RSIEC; and the Government of Rivers State.

The Central Bank of Nigeria, Zenith Bank Plc, Access Bank PLC, and the Accountant General of the Federation were named as the first through fourth defendants in the lawsuit brought by the first and second plaintiffs, the Rivers State House of Assembly and Martin Amaewhule, through their legal representative, Joseph Daudu SAN.

The court’s decision follows Fubara’s vow last week to stand his ground and never submit to political pressure in order to rule the state on his knees.

“I reiterate that I will not be governing our beloved State while on my knees.” I wouldn’t do that if it was the goal. The governor emphasized, “I will continue to stand on the right and stand to lead our beautiful State.

He declared that a hard war was underway to destroy the state’s soul, but he was optimistic that he would prevail since well-meaning people were standing firmly behind him.

Last Saturday, at Sir Celestine Omehia’s rural residence in Ubima, Ikwerre Local Government Area, Rivers State, Governor Fubara made a statement.

The governor was in Ubima to offer his condolences to Sir Omehia, who had just laid his late mother, Mrs. Ezinne Cecilia Omehia, to rest after 95 years, along with a few state elders.

At the event, Fubara informed Omehia and the other elders that every sincere supporter of the state needed to band together and battle resolutely to protect Rivers State’s spirit.

“And I’m glad to say—as I’ve said many times before—that I will stand on the side of truth regardless of the number of people who support me.”

The governor criticized harsh politics for their evil and the clear harm they do to the state’s progress, saying that they ought to be discouraged as a poor political culture in the modern day.

He pleaded with everyone who professed to love Rivers State to abstain from any action that might, directly or indirectly, set the state backward.

He declared, “Anyone who claims to love this State should not be party to anything that will bring us backwards, either directly or indirectly.”