Human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong has accused President Bola Tinubu of violating Nigeria’s Constitution following the announcement that the previously withheld Rivers State allocation, ordered by the Supreme Court, will now be disbursed to a Sole Administrator.
Journalist101 reported that on Tuesday night, the president declared a state of emergency in Rivers State and announced the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, and the members of the House of Assembly amid escalating tensions in the state.
The president subsequently appointed Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas, retired Chief of Naval Staff, as the Sole Administrator of the state.
In a post on his X account, Inibehe questioned the rationale behind the allocation of Rivers State funds to the president’s appointee, asking whether the Sole Administrator serves as a “constitutional substitute for the House of Assembly and the Governor.”
His post reads;
His post reads;
“The Supreme Court decided that the statutory allocations due to Rivers State should be withheld because the Governor did not recognize the House of Assembly, and did not present the budget before the said House for passage.
“President Tinubu claims that Governor Fubara, who had written to the same House to enable him present the budget, has failed to obey the Supreme Court.
“The same Tinubu went ahead to appoint a Sole Administrator after suspending the Governor, Deputy Governor, and the members of the House of Assembly.
“Now we are reading that the withheld allocations will be released to the Sole Administrator who is nothing but an impostor concocted capriciously by the President.
“So, the allocations were withheld because there was no House of Assembly or the Governor did not recognize the House, and did not present the budget, but you have now suspended both the Governor and the House and proceeded to appoint a Sole Administrator and handed over allocations to the Sole Administrator.
“How do you reconcile this?
“If it was right for the allocations to be withheld because there was no House of Assembly or due to the governor’s refusal to present budget before the House, on what legal, moral, or logical basis are you releasing the same allocations to a Sole Administrator after suspending the Governor and the House?
“Is the Sole Administrator a constitutional substitute for the House of Assembly and the Governor?
“Is this shenanigans all about stealing the allocations of Rivers State? Is that what this impunity is all about?
“Which budget will the Sole Administrator now use to appropriate the allocations of Rivers State?
“State funds and allocations cannot be appropriated without being enabled by an Appropriation Law. Sections 120 and 121 of the Constitution are very explicit on this.
“Tinubu has defecated on the Constitution of Nigeria.”
