Rivers State emergency rule case dismissed by court as plaintiffs lacked legal standing and failed to prove breach of rights by President Tinubu

Rivers State emergency rule case brought by five indigenes against President Bola Tinubu has been dismissed by the Federal High Court in Abuja for lack of merit and legal standing.

Also read: Governor Fubara returns to Rivers State after emergency lifted

Justice James Omotosho, delivering judgment on Thursday, ruled that the plaintiffs, led by Belema Briggs, had no locus standi to challenge the six-month emergency suspension imposed on Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the Rivers State House of Assembly earlier this year.

The suspension, declared on March 18 and lasting until September 18, followed what the Presidency described as a deteriorating security situation in the state.

During this period, Tinubu appointed a sole administrator to oversee governance in Rivers.

However, the court ruled that none of the plaintiffs were officeholders in the Rivers government or the State Assembly and failed to demonstrate how their rights were violated differently from any other citizen.

“They neither showed they were directly affected nor presented any authorisation from the Attorney General of Rivers State to act on the state’s behalf,” Justice Omotosho noted.

The judge further stated that the plaintiffs could not disprove the government’s justification for imposing the emergency rule, which was aimed at averting chaos.

He also dismissed the argument that President Tinubu violated fundamental rights, stating that the relevant legal processes appeared to have been followed.

Adding that the Supreme Court, not the Federal High Court, would have been the appropriate venue for such a constitutional matter, Justice Omotosho described the case as “frivolous and baseless” before striking it out entirely.