• SAYS N300M NBA-AGC REFUND ‘DIVERSIONARY’

Foremost human rights activist, Mr. Femi Falana SAN has urged the Nigerian Judiciary to speedily determine the tenure of the Rivers State Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd).

The fiery senior lawyer also decried the controversy surrounding the N300 million donation by the state to the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), describing it as “diversionary.”

Falana bemoaned the delay in adjudication of cases in Nigeria, saying that “cases challenging the executive order of President Bola Tinubu on emergency rule in Rivers State will not be decided by any Nigerian court until after the expiration of the 6-month tenure of the Sole Administrator.”

According to Falana, “For the past two days, Nigerian lawyers have engaged in a diversionary debate about the priority of retaining the N300 million gift from the Rivers State Government to host a conference in Port Harcourt.

“As if Nigerian lawyers have lost their sense of shame, they have dared the administrator to go to court. Are we not aware that the case would not be decided before the end of the tenure of the administrator by any Nigerian court?

“Because of the irrelevant debate, Nigerian lawyers have not had time to challenge the Bola Tinubu administration over the reckless massacre of scores of unarmed people in Benue, Plateau, and Borno States.

“Meanwhile, in a matter of days, the courts in the United States, including the Supreme Court, have determined the constitutional validity of the executive orders of President Donald Trump.

“Are Nigerian lawyers and judges aware that many of the judges who have ruled against the government were appointed by President Trump during his first term in the White House.

“But in Nigeria, cases challenging the executive order of President Bola Tinubu on emergency rule in Rivers State will not be decided by any Nigerian court until after the expiration of the 6-month tenure of the Sole Administrator.”

CITY LAWYER recalls that President Bola Tinubu had suspended embattled Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara for an initial period of six months. Also suspended were the Deputy Governor and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.