Political activist and former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, has alleged a plot to manipulate the recent Supreme Court judgment on Rivers State.
Frank claimed that loyalists of former Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, who is currently the FCT minister, were attempting to insert the defection cases against 27 lawmakers of the Rivers State House of Assembly into the apex court’s ruling to undermine pending cases.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday, Frank described the alleged move as a “desperate lobby to smuggle into the judgment an aspect which was not decided.”
He warned that any attempt to alter the ruling would damage the credibility of the Supreme Court and Nigerian democracy.
The activist accused the Wike camp of allegedly trying to insert references to the defection of 27 lawmakers from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC, even though that was never litigated before the Supreme Court.
According to Frank, the defection matter remains before the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal, where legal proceedings are ongoing to determine the legitimacy of the lawmakers’ switch to the APC.
He urged the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the panel of Justices involved in the case to resist any attempt to “taint their judgment” by allowing the insertion of issues that were never part of the case before the court.
“I have just been reliably informed of a last minute desperate moves by Former Gov.Wike and his lawyers working with some elements in the Supreme Court to use the ongoing writing of the Recently delivered Judgement of the Supreme Court on the issue of Rivers LGA election and presentation of Budget to smuggle an item which was never the substantive matter that the Supreme Court decided and which was never part of what was read in the open Court, the issue of the legality of the decampment of the Wike loyal lawmakers from PDP to APC at a time there was no crisis.
“This desperate move, which will rubbish the integrity of the Supreme Court if not stopped by our respected jurist, will do irredeemable damage to our nation’s apex and respected Court.
“The move is to insert several pages of strange ruling on defection, knowing fully well that the illegal defection of the Wike group of lawmakers was not the subject matter before the Court, but rather on the issue of conduct of LGA election and issue of budget presentation and seizure of federal allocation to Rivers State based on cases they filled even before their defection.
“What they want to push into the Judgment secretly was never part of the ruling of the lower courts or the Supreme Court. They are already celebrating, and my contact in the chamber of one of their lawyers has shown me a draft of what they are confident will be inserted today ahead of the release of the typed CTC of the Judgment today or tomorrow,” Frank alleged.
The Supreme Court last week ruled on a case involving the allocation of revenue to Rivers State, dismissing Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s appeal against the decision mandating him to re-present the 2024 state budget before the Martin Amaewhule-led Rivers State House of Assembly.
In a unanimous verdict delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the apex court restored a previous Federal High Court ruling that barred the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) from releasing funds to the Rivers State Government.
The judgment recognised the Amaewhule-led state assembly as legitimate, faulting the passage of the state budget by four lawmakers loyal to Governor Fubara as unconstitutional and void.
Following the ruling, reports emerged suggesting that the Supreme Court had also determined the legitimacy of the 27 lawmakers who defected from the PDP to the APC.
However, Governor Fubara dismissed the claims and clarified that the matter of defection was still pending before the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt and was never before the Supreme Court for determination.
In response to the ruling, the Rivers State Government, through the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Joe Johnson, called for calm.
Johnson reiterated that the Supreme Court had not ruled on the lawmakers’ defection and that the case remained unresolved in the lower courts.
“We believe that the determination of the main issue of defection of the 27 lawmakers is a matter not before the Supreme Court as it is pending at the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt. Since the issue of defection wasn’t on the table before the learned Justices, in their eyes, Amaewhule and the 26 others are still operating as lawmakers until that matter of defection comes before them,” he said.
Frank, in his statement, urged the judiciary to uphold its integrity and resist any external pressure that could undermine due process.
“This desperate move, if successful, will do irredeemable damage to our nation’s apex and respected Court,” said Frank.
“The move is to insert several pages of strange ruling on defection, knowing fully well that the illegal defection of the Wike group of lawmakers was not the subject matter before the Court.”
