Wike, Fubara Camps Set for Supreme Court Showdown Over 5 Cases on Feb 10

The political rivalry between Wike and Fubara intensifies as both camps prepare to face off in the Supreme Court over five crucial cases scheduled for February 10.

The political factions of Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his predecessor, Barrister Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, are set to clash in five separate Supreme Court cases initiated against each other on February 10.

On Monday, the two camps escalated their legal disputes over irreconcilable differences related to Rivers State issues to the apex court. There, they found that five different cases had been filed against each other and were scheduled for determination on February 10th.

A five-member panel of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice Uwani Musa Aba-Aji, postponed the cases to allow all parties involved to file and distribute the required court documents for each separate appeal.

To simplify the process, the court decided to consolidate four of the appeals. This decision followed a request by Joseph Daudu, SAN, who is representing the Wike camp and serves as counsel for the appellants.

The court consolidated four appeals for streamlined hearings: SC/CV/1174/2024, involving the Rivers State House of Assembly and others versus the Rivers State Government and nine additional parties; SC/CV/1175/2024, in which the Rivers State House of Assembly and others are against the Rivers State Governor along with nine other entities; SC/CV/1176/2024, a case between the Rivers State House of Assembly and others opposing both RSIEC (the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission) and nine more respondents; lastly, there’s SC/CV/1177,/ 20124 where again,the,Rivers,state.,house,,of assemblyand..others challenge ,these : accountant.general.of rivers state alongwitha hostmore!

Earlier, after a request was made to withdraw the cross-appeal filed on November 18, 2024, in case SC/CV/1071A/2024 involving Rivers State House of Assembly and others versus the National Assembly and 16 additional parties, Justice Aba-Aji declared that the hearing is scheduled for February 10, 2025.

In a judgment delivered on January 22, 2024, Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja criticized the submission of the 2024 budget to four State House of Assembly members who are aligned with the governor.

Omotosho subsequently instructed the governor to resubmit the budget to Martin Amaewhule’s faction of the assembly, which supports Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.

Following Justice Omotosho’s ruling, another court in the Abuja division, led by Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, ordered that federal government allocations to Rivers State be halted until the governor submitted the budget to the Amaewhule-led assembly.

Nevertheless, although the Court of Appeal in Abuja upheld Justice Omotosho’s judgment, it overturned Justice Abdulmalik’s ruling due to significant injustices identified in the findings and decisions.

In a similar case, the Court of Appeal reversed Justice Peter Lifu’s decision from the Federal High Court in Abuja. His ruling had opposed holding the local government council election on October 5, 2024, due to non-compliance with Rivers State’s legal procedures for such elections.

During today’s proceedings, approximately 50 Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) represented the two groups, accompanied by a contingent of junior lawyers.

Governor Fubara’s camp was led by Chris Uche, whereas Joseph Bodunde Daudu headed Wike’s group.