Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has condemned the judgement by the Federal High Court, Abuja, directing the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stop allocations to the Rivers state government, alleging that elements loyal to the president were pulling the strings from behind. 

In a statement by his media adviser, Paul Ibe on Wednesday, Mr Atiku slammed the judiciary for allowing itself to be used by loyalists of the Bola Tinubu government to procure judgement, warning that it could set Rivers State on fire.

The statement read, “Former Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar has cautioned the judiciary against setting Rivers State on fire in the wake of the Wednesday judgement wherein a Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria to halt all payments to the state.”

Stating that it was appalling that “elements loyal to the Federal Government were pulling the strings from behind,” Mr Atiku knocked Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, for giving the order, when the Rivers Government had already challenged the Court of Appeal’s judgement on the legality of the state’s 2024 budget.

The former VP said, “Last week the Court of Appeal declared that the Rivers State budget was illegal because it was passed by an inchoate assembly. The court ordered Governor Siminalayi Fubara to present the budget afresh.

“The Rivers State Government has already filed a notice of appeal so that the Supreme Court can hear the matter. However, some elements in the Bola Tinubu administration have procured a judgement intended to undermine the Supreme Court.”

The latest judgement comes just days after legal luminary, Femi Falana, alerted the Chief Justice of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, of possible compromise after the immediate past Rivers governor and now minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nysom Wike, presented house gifts to judges in Abuja.

While hailing the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, for summoning the judges sitting on the Rivers State cases, Mr Atiku urged her to discipline those found wanting, and restore the fading glory of the judiciary.

“Nigeria has descended into the theatre of the absurd since the Tinubu administration took office. Courts are playing a more ignoble role in fostering political crises within political parties and even in states. From the emirship tussle in Kano State to the Rivers imbroglio where courts are going as far as preventing elections from holding, taking Nigeria back to the dark days of June 12, 1993 where polls were annulled.”

He said the Tinubu government, which claimed to have fought for the survival of democracy in Nigeria, is now landing the country into chaos and people’s confidence in the judiciary, while urging the president to put the people’s interests first, and not his 2027 presidential re-election ambition. 

“Sadly, under the leadership of those who claim to have fought for Nigeria’s democracy, the country is descending into chaos with conflicting orders from courts of coordinate jurisdiction flying all over the place while judges are being induced in the name of empowerment and provision of houses.

“The result is that Nigerians are gradually losing confidence in an institution which prides itself as the last hope of the common man. Foreign investors will avoid any place where judgments can be bought by the highest bidder.

“Nigeria should not descend to the Hobessian state of nature where life is short, nasty and brutish, where citizens opt for self-help. Rivers State accounts for almost 25% of Nigeria’s oil assets. For a country facing an economic crisis worsened by vandalism and banditry, Tinubu should put his 2027 ambition aside and put Nigeria’s interest first. We call on the Nigerian judiciary to restore its image before it gets too late.”