…say Falana’s assertion is baseless, lacks merit
By Gloria Ikibah
Rep. Solomon Bob, representing Abua/Odual and Ahoada East Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, has stated that Justice Omotosho’s judgment, along with the affirmed appeals, remains the only valid court decision on the status of the 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
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In a statement issued in Abuja on Friday in response to Human Rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), Rep. Bob dismissed his claims suggesting the lawmakers had lost their seats, and said “Mr. Falana’s assertion is baseless and lacks legal merit”.
Naijablitznews.com recalls that on January 10, 2025, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Governor Siminilayi Fubara against the Court of Appeal’s ruling, which had previously upheld Justice Joseph Omotosho’s decision in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1613/2023.
Speaking on the judgement the Rivers lawmaker stated that “Justice Omotosho’s judgment, which was delivered on 22nd January 2024, touched on the entirety of the issues at the centre of the crisis, including:
(a) leadership and membership of the Rivers State House of Assembly and
(b) presentation of the 2024 appropriation law or any presentations to the House of Assembly.
“One of the judgment orders declares that:
“AN ORDER is hereby made restraining the 11th Defendant (Governor Fubara) from howsoever or in whatsoever manner making any request, presentation, or nomination in the Rivers State House of Assembly except to the House of Assembly under the leadership of the 2nd Plaintiff” (Speaker Martin Amaewhule).
“Clearly, the judgment does not address question of the 2024 budget presentation alone, but all subsequent presentations (including that of 2025), requests, or nominations before the Rivers State House of Assembly.
“However, the ink on the Supreme Court’s dismissal had hardly dried up when Mr. Femi Falana SAN appeared on a television programme to proffer yet another misleading interpretation.
“In his presentation, Mr Falana claimed that the dismissed appeal related only to the 2024 appropriation law and, therefore, merely academic.
“As the above order shows, Mr. Falana was wrong. He was also downplaying the dire ramifications of spending without an appropriation law.
“He also claimed that the dismissed appeal did not touch on the question of membership of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
“Indeed, virtually all the reliefs sought and granted by the Federal High Court and the decision of the Court of Appeal affirm the subsisting membership of the House of Assembly by the 27 legislators.
“By reason of section 272(3) of the constitution, only the Federal High Court is vested with jurisdiction on any question of vacancy in the seats of a House of Assembly”, he added.
According to Rep. Bob, contrary to Falana’s “vaunted opinion”, section 109(1)(g) of the constitution is not self-executory. “And realistically, under a constitutional democracy, no law is. Because every constitutional provision is ultimately subject to judicial interpretation. To suggest otherwise is to deny the imperative of judicial review”.
He expressed concerns by “Mr. Falana’s consistent penchant for misleading the public with respect to the Rivers crisis”.
“Often presenting his brief to the appotheosizing lay public as public interest advocacy, Mr. Falana eagerly justifies dangerous out-of-control behaviour and egregious constitutional abuse in Rivers State; the type he would certainly not accept in his native Ekiti.
“Nigeria’s recent history is regrettably replete with instances of defections right across state (and federal) legislatures. Mr. Falana has not been straining at the leash to make the same case in other instances.
“In his many public appearances on the Rivers crisis, he has employed self-serving sophistry and hollow whataboutism to justify every illegality and absurdity, including that 3 members can constitute the legal quorum in a House of as yet 30 members!
“Mr. Falana should separate his animus towards an individual from his exposition of the law and have the humility to admit that he is not the law.
“Because no matter how much legal knowledge he professes, his opinion remains his personal opinion and can not approximate to the law. As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once famously said, the law is “The prophecies of what the courts will do in fact…”
“As Rivers State reels under Fubara’s unexampled and deliquent misrule, and the courts undo his myriad criminal misdeeds, a lawyer of Mr. Falana’s prominence should at least respect their decision, not mislead the public”, Rep Bob asserted.
