Prominent pro-democracy advocates: Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has tasked the National Judicial Council to be vigilant and use her constitutional might to stop a particular judge of the Federal High Court Abuja division from becoming a partisan party in the ongoing battles for political relevance between Rivers State Governor, Mr. Siminalayi Fubara and his erstwhile benefactor and immediate past Rivers State Governor, Barrister Nyesom Wike.
HURIWA said it was calling on the Nigerian court system to guard her constitutional independence jealously.
The Rights group expressed disappointment and consternation that public opinion was building up around the perception, wrongly or rightly, that a certain presiding judge of a Federal High Court in the Abuja division of the Federal Court system has become an integral part of the political discords in the crude oil rich Rivers State just as the Rights group said the alleged ex-parte order which was speculated to be cooking up in that same court to deny the Local Government Councils of Rivers State from benefitting from their statutory allocations from the federation account if true, is a coup against civil rule and constitutional democracy.
HURIWA said, “Any attempt to deny Rivers State people of their funding entitlement from the federation account as constitutionally guaranteed, amounts to treason and an attempt to overthrow constitutional democracy.”
In a media statement in which HURIWA warned that time was fast ticking away and the public perception of the Federal Court was fast approaching an all-time loss of public trust and confidence because of perceived antagonistic and destructive illegal orders against the administration of Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State just as the Rights group urged the National Judicial Council to rise up to the occasion and restore discipline, professionalism and public faith on the integrity and credibility of the Federal Court system.
The media statement endorsed by Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, the National Coordinator said the interest of her members was on the preservation of constitutional democracy and has nothing to do with partisan politicking by politicians because our organisation is absolutely non-political.
“HURIWA is deeply disturbed by the partisanship of this segment of the Abuja division of the Federal High court and we believe that this is the best time to arrest the ugly development. It is tragic and indeed farcical that while the state High Court presided over by Justice I. Igwe on September 4, 2024, rightly ordered the state’s Independent Electoral Commission, RSIEC, to conduct the local government elections in the state, using the 2023 voters’ register compiled by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, a Federal High Court in Abuja presided over by Justice Peter Lifu on September 30 restrained INEC from releasing the voters’ register to RSIEC, technically stopping the parties from going ahead with the polls.
“In a suit instituted by the Action People’s Party, APP, against RSIEC, the state government and the governor, Justice Igwe, mandated the Nigeria Police Force as well as the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps to provide necessary security during the election process.
“The State High Court judge stated that the defendants were bound by Section 7, sub-section 1 of the Constitution and Section 5 (A) of the RSIEC Law Number 2 of 2018 to make provisions and conduct the local government polls, especially following the expiration of the tenure of the former elected officials on June 17.
“The judge also cited, as a necessity, the recent decision of the federal government mandating states without democratically elected local government to do so within three months, following the judgment of the Supreme Court on local government autonomy.
“He urged all necessary arrangements to be made to ensure the conduct of the election on October 5, 2024, as announced by RSIEC.”
HURIWA expressed shock, consternation and rude disappointment, that these orders from a court with concurrent constitutional powers as the Federal High court, were, however, purportedly overturned by Justice Lifu of a Federal High Court in Abuja, just five days before the elections when the state had put all necessary in logistics in place for the polls.
HURIWA lamented that the Abuja judge, Lifu ordered INEC not to make the certified voters’ register available to RSIEC until all relevant laws have been fully complied with.
“The judge, while delivering judgment in a suit brought before him by the All Progressives Congress, APC, challenging the legality or otherwise of the processes leading to the fixing of the October 5, 2024 for the elections, also barred the Inspector General of Police, IG and the Department of the State Services, DSS, from participating and providing security for the conduct of the elections.
“Justice Lifu held that the update and revision of the voters’ register by INEC ought to have been concluded 90 days before an election date can be legally fixed in law.
“The Supreme Court had on July 11, 2024, delivered a landmark judgment on the financial autonomy of Nigeria’s 774 Local Governments. The nation’s apex court also condemned the dissolution of elected Local Government Councils by State Governors.
“Delivering the lead judgment read by Justice Emmanuel Akomaye Agim in the suit filed by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, against the State Governments, a seven-member panel of the Supreme Court, chaired by Justice Mohammed Garba, disagreed with the position of the state governments and ordered that the allocations belonging to the local governments must be paid to local government councils that are democratically elected,” the statement disclosed.
HURIWA said it therefore charged the hierarchy of the National Judicial Council to act swiftly to restore public confidence on the judiciary which has waned due to the alleged frivolous anti-democratic orders emanating from a particular judge of the Abuja division of the Federal High Court.
Besides, HURIWA has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to act always in the interest of democracy and justice just as the Rights group said the President being a respected Statesman shouldn’t allow politics to misdirect his administration into seizing legally and constitutionally protected allocations belonging to the Local Government Councils of Rivers State just as HURIWA reminds the President that posterity would judge him harshly should he accept to deny the good people of Rivers State of their fundamental financial assets from the federation account in line with the Supreme Court judgment that recognised LGAs as financially autonomous.