Six leaders from Rivers State have dragged President Bola Tinubu to the Federal High Court in Abuja for allegedly inducing Governor Siminalayi Fubara to enter into what they termed an unconstitutional agreement.
They argued that the said agreement which was signed on December 18, 2023, was not only illegal but tantamount to an usurpation, nullification, and undermining of the extant/relevant provisions of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
The plaintiffs led by a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly representing Bonny State Constituency, Victor Jumbo, are Senator Bennett Birabi, Senator Andrew Uchendu, Rear Admiral O. P. Fingesi, Ann Kio Briggs, and Emmanuel Deinma.
They Consequently prayed the court to determine whether President Tinubu, Governor Fubara, and the Rivers State Assembly have the rights, and are entitled to enter into any agreement that has the effect of nullifying or undermining the constitution and provisions of Section 109 (I) (g) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
They posited that neither President Tinubu nor Governor Fubara has the statutory powers to stop the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from conducting fresh elections to replace the 27 Rivers State lawmakers.
It would be recalled that the rift between Fubara and his predecessor, Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike, split the state house of assembly into two, with 27 of them decamping from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
That made the group of four Assembly members led by Factional Speaker Edison Ehie to declare the seats of the decamped 27 members vacant.
However, President Tinubu had on Monday 18th December, 2023, met with Fubara and Wike at the Aso Villa in Abuja.
After Monday’s meeting, the President directed that the warring parties withdraw all matters instituted in the courts by Fubara, and his team and that the leadership of Martin Amaewhule in the Rivers State House of Assembly be recognised, and not that of Edison Ehie.
Several stakeholders have so far condemned the peace accord brokered by President Tinubu, including the likes of Human Rights Activist Femi Falana, saying that the President’s role is only advisory, and that the 27 defected lawmakers can’t be reinstated because the judgement of the Isiokpo High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, already recognized Edison Ehie as the authentic Speaker of the Assembly and the declaration of the 27 lawmakers seat vacant is in order.
