An appeal filed by Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, challenging the leadership of the Rivers State House of Assembly has been dismissed by the Supreme Court in Abuja.

Fubara was also ordered to pay N2m to the Assembly and the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Martin Amaewhule, by a five-member panel led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji on Monday.

The case was dismissed after Fubara’s lawyer, Yusuf Ali, withdrew the suit.

Recall that on October 10, 2024, the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, admonished Fubara for failing to follow the rule of law in his actions.

The court further held that Fubara’s actions violated Section 96 of the 1999 Constitution, which requires at least one-third of the Assembly members to form a quorum.

The court noted that “four out of 31 members cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, constitute the required quorum for legislative business.”

Meanwhile, Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court also ruled against Fubara’s presentation of the 2024 budget before the four-member Assembly led by Edison Ehie.

The budget presentation was a result of the leadership crisis within the Rivers State House of Assembly. Fubara had argued that the Amaewhule-led faction lost its legitimacy after defecting from the People’s Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.

However, the lower courts ruled that he failed to provide evidence of their defection and, therefore, could not legally present the budget to a four-member House.

Following the Court of Appeal judgment, Fubara approached the Supreme Court to set aside the lower court’s ruling and allow him to present the budget to the Ehie-led faction.

However, when the case was called on Monday, Fubara’s counsel, Yusuf Ali, informed the Supreme Court that the governor had decided to withdraw the appeal.

Ali stated that a notice dated February 6 had already been filed, explaining that the appeal had been overtaken by events.

All 17 respondents in the case, represented by various lawyers, did not oppose the withdrawal. However, J.B. Daudu (SAN), representing the 3rd to 12th respondents (National Assembly and its leadership), and Wole Olanipekun (SAN), representing the 1st and 2nd respondents (Rivers State House of Assembly and Amaewhule), requested a cost of N2 million.

Daudu further urged the court to dismiss the appeal rather than strike it out, as issues had already been joined.

The five-member Supreme Court panel dismissed the appeal after confirming that the withdrawal was not opposed.

In a brief ruling, Justice Abba-Aji declared the appeal dismissed and awarded a cost of N2 million in favour of the 1st to 12th respondents.

The Punch

The Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), on Friday, disclosed that the recently re-streamed Warri refinery has been shut down for routine maintenance, and would be back soon.

The company, through a statement by its Chief Communications Officer, Mr. Olufemi Soneye, clarified that there was no explosion at the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), describing any report suggesting otherwise as “completely false”.

Soneye said: “On January 25, 2025, operations at WRPC Area 1 were intentionally curtailed to carry out necessary intervention works on select equipment, including field instruments that were impacting sustainable and steady operations.

“These intervention works are essential to ensure the production of on-specification finished and intermediate products, particularly Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) and Kerosene (Kero).

“The routine maintenance is progressing as planned, and Area 1 will be back in operation within the next few days. Despite ongoing interventions, over the past 11 days, AGO loading has been maintained at an average of eight trucks per day, with a sufficient supply available to sustain ongoing truck load-out operations.

“NNPC Ltd remains committed to ensuring uninterrupted product supply and appreciates the patience and cooperation of all stakeholders as it completes these essential maintenance activities”.

The 125,000 barrels per day refinery was re-steamed just before the new year after over 10 years in comatose with NNPC saying it was operating at 60 percent capacity.

The Federal Executive Council, in August 2021, approved the contract for the rehabilitation of the Warri and Kaduna refineries at the sum of $1.48 billion.

The House of Representatives Committee on the review of the 1999 Constitution has proposed the creation of 31 additional states in the country.

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, who presided over plenary on Thursday read a letter from the committee containing the proposed states.

If approved, this will increase the number of states in Nigeria to 67.

The letter read: “This is to inform members that the House of Representatives Committee on the Review of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as altered), has received legislative proposals for the creation of states and local governments in the following order:

NORTH CENTRAL

1. BENUE ALA STATE from the present Benue State.
2. OKUN STATE from the present Kogi State
3. OKURA STATE from the present Kogi State
4. CONFLUENCE STATE from the present Kogi State
5. APA-AGBA STATE from Benue South Senatorial District
6. APA STATE from the present Benue State.
7. A 37th state, namely FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY, ABUJA

NORTH EAST

8. AMANA STATE from the present Adamawa State.
9. KATAGUM STATE from the present Bauchi State.
10. SAVANNAH STATE from the present Borno State.
11. MURI STATE from the present Taraba State.

NORTH WEST

12. NEW KADUNA STATE and GURARA STATE from the present Kaduna State.
13. TIGA STATE from the present Kano State.
14. KAINJI STATE from the present Kebbi State.
15. GHARI STATE from the present Kano State

SOUTH EAST

16. ETITI STATE as the sixth (6th) state in the South East geopolitical zone.
17. ADADA STATE from the present Enugu State of Nigeria.
18. URASHI STATE as the sixth (6th) state in the South East geopolitical zone.
19. ORLU STATE from the South Eastern Region of Nigeria.
20. ABA STATE from the South Eastern Region of Nigeria.

SOUTH SOUTH

21. OGOJA STATE from the present Cross River State.
22. WARRI STATE from the present Delta State.
23. BORI STATE from the present Rivers State
24. OBOLO STATE from the present Rivers and Akwa Ibom states.

SOUTH WEST

25. TORU-EBE STATE from the present Delta, Edo, and Ondo States.
26. IBADAN STATE from the present Oyo State.
27. LAGOON STATE from the present Lagos State.
28. IJEBU STATE from the present Ogun State.
29. LAGOON STATE from the present Lagos State and Ogun State
30. IBADAN STATE from the present Oyo State.
31. OKE-OGUN and IFE-IJESHA STATES from the Present-day Ogun, Oyo, and Osun states.

The request for states’ creation can only materialise if at least “the third majority of members of the Senate and the House of Representatives (National Assembly) and the House of Assembly in respect of the area, and the Local Government Council in respect of the area is received by the National Assembly.”