A Federal High Court in Port Harcourt has summoned President Bola Tinubu, the Senate President, Senator Goodwill Akpabio the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas; the National Assembly and the Attorney General of the Federation Lateef Fagbemi over the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State.
The suit, marked FHC/PH/CS/45/2025, was filed by the Incorporated Trustees of Peoples Life Improvement Foundation, Precious Elekima, and Inanna Wright Harry, through their counsel, Ebere Ugwuja, challenging the legality of the emergency declaration and seeking the court’s interpretation of order’s constitutionality.
The plaintiffs prayed the court to declare President Tinubu’s state of emergency declaration in Rivers on March 18, 2025, as unconstitutional, null and void.
They insist that the emergency rule declaration by the president and subsequent ratification by the national assembly constitutes “a breach of Article 13 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement Act) and Section 305(3)(b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).”
They are also seeking a court order restraining the Rivers State Administrator from appointing caretaker committees for the 23 local government councils, forming a state executive council, awarding contracts, or making any financial transactions from the state treasury.
The plaintiffs are demanding the “restoration of democracy in Rivers State” by reinstating the suspended Executive and Legislative arms of government.
They are further praying the court to issue a perpetual injunction restraining the President from further suspending democratically elected officials in the state.
Joined in the suit are the Rivers Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, the Revenue and Fiscal Mobilization Commission, and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
