Rep Bob blasts Falana Over Alleged Attempt To Mislead Public On SC Verdict
Abuja (Core Reporters) A representative of Abua/Odual and Ahoada East Federal Constituency at the National Assembly, Abuja. Rep. Solomon T. Bob has blasted Mr Femi Falana (SAN) over what he described as an attempt to mislead the public on the Supreme Court ‘s verdict on River State crisis.
Recall that on January 10, 2025, the Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by Governor Siminilayi Fubara against the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which had earlier upheld the judgment of Justice Joseph Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Suit N0 FHC/ABJ/CS/1613/2023.
Bob said 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; leadership and membership of the Rivers State House of Assembly and 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,” he said..
Bob noted that Mr. Falana was wrong when he claimed that the dismissed appeal related only to the 2024 appropriation law and, therefore, merely academic. Adding that, he was also downplaying the dire ramifications of spending without an appropriation law.
The federal lawmaker argued that 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.
Accordingly to him, “By rreason 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.
“Justice Omotosho’s judgment (with the affirming appeals) remains the only decision by a court with the requisite jurisdiction to have pronounced on the status of the 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly. Mr. Falana’s insistence that they have lost their seats is outrageous. It lacks legal basis.
“Contrary to his 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.
“I am dismayed by Mr. Falana’s consistent penchant for misleading the public with respect to the Rivers crisis,” he said.
Rep Bob was quick to remind Falana that Nigeria’s recent history is regrettably replete with instances of defections right across state (and federal) legislatures but he (Falana) has not been straining at the leash to make the same case in other instances.
He said, “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!
“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 delinquent 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 concluded.
