Rivers State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday said it stood by the judgment of the Federal High Court which barred the disbursement of monthly allocations to the state government.
A Federal High Court in Abuja has barred the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from disbursing further monthly allocations to the Rivers State government over alleged constitutional violations by Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
In her ruling on Wednesday, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik found that Governor Fubara’s presentation of the 2024 budget to a four-member House of Assembly breached constitutional protocol.
Addressing journalists in Abuja yesterday, the Rivers State APC chairman, Tony Okocha, supported the judgement of the court which he said intended to correct a constitutional anomaly which was uncalled for in a democratic setting.
Okocha also cautioned Fubara against what he described as attempts to disparage innocent persons, including President Bola Tinubu, minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike and the judiciary over the judgment.
The Rivers APC chairman also described recent moves by some stakeholders and elders in the Niger Delta to intervene in the political crisis of the oil rich state as belated, having emboldened the governor to push for the war.
He said: “As a political party, the All Progressives Congress, we stand with and by the judgment of the court because it is what will hold sway in the civil society, it is the court, not one man morality.
“We are also using this opportunity to speak against attempts to disparage innocent persons namely; Nyesom Wike, the FCT Minister. In all the cases in court, there are about 32 cases in which he is not a party to any. Why bring in the President?