Court Stops CBN From Releasing Allocation To Rivers Government

Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of a Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered that monthly federal allocations to Rivers State be halted.

This decision was based on claims that the state government had breached constitutional guidelines in its handling of state funds.

Justice Abdulmalik highlighted that the budget currently in use by the state hadn’t been properly passed by a legitimate Rivers State House of Assembly.

“There is nothing to prove that the governor complied with the law in submitting the 2024 appropriation before a proper parliament.

“The questions raised by the plaintiffs are meritorious to warrant the grant of the injunctive and declarative reliefs sought,” she held.

The judge supported the plaintiffs’ arguments, granting their requests for injunctions and declarations against the state.

The court specifically noted that the Rivers State government failed to recognize that its budget had been invalidated in an earlier Federal High Court decision.

This ruling, which found the budget’s approval by a four-member assembly led by Rt. Hon Edison Ehie to be unlawful, was recently upheld by the Court of Appeal in Abuja.

KanyiDaily recalls that the Court of Appeal in Abuja had previously voided the N800 billion budget passed by five members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, led by Edison Ehie.