{"id":7633,"date":"2025-10-02T17:47:55","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T17:47:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/?p=7633"},"modified":"2025-10-03T03:29:29","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T03:29:29","slug":"court-strucks-out-suit-challenging-tinubus-emergency-rule-in-rivers-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/2025\/10\/02\/court-strucks-out-suit-challenging-tinubus-emergency-rule-in-rivers-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Court struck out\u00a0 suit challenging Tinubu\u2019s emergency rule in Rivers State"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Our Correspondent<\/div>\n
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An Abuja Federal High Court has dismissed a lawsuit challenging President Bola Tinubu\u2019s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State earlier this year, ruling that the plaintiffs lacked the legal standing to bring the case.<\/div>\n
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Justice James Omotosho delivered the judgment on Thursday in the suit filed by Belema Briggs and four others, who sought to overturn the emergency proclamation made on March 18, 2025.<\/div>\n
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The plaintiffs had argued that President Tinubu\u2019s suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Ngozi Odu, and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly for six months was unconstitutional and amounted to a violation of the fundamental rights of the state\u2019s residents.<\/div>\n
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Tinubu had declared the emergency rule in Rivers following weeks of political turmoil, citing fears of a breakdown of law and order.<\/div>\n
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A sole administrator was subsequently appointed to oversee the state\u2019s affairs during the period.<\/div>\n
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The move triggered widespread controversy and legal battles, with more than 40 suits reportedly filed against the declaration.<\/div>\n
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\u00a0The most prominent challenge came from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which escalated the matter to the Supreme Court.<\/div>\n
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In his ruling, Justice Omotosho held that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate any special interest or injury suffered that distinguished them from the general populace of Rivers State.<\/div>\n
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He pointed out that none of them were members of the state executive council, the House of Assembly, or any organ directly affected by the suspension.<\/div>\n
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\u201cThe plaintiffs lack the locus standi to institute this case. They neither sought nor obtained the mandate of the people of Rivers State to sue on their behalf,\u201d Omotosho said.<\/div>\n
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He added that their claim of rights violations was unfounded since\u00a0 President\u00a0 Tinubu acted within the provisions of the law governing emergency rule.<\/div>\n
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He further noted that the plaintiffs did not contest Tinubu\u2019s justification that the measure was necessary to prevent a looming crisis in the oil-rich state. Describing the suit as frivolous and baseless, the judge struck it out in its entirety.<\/div>\n
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The ruling comes just two weeks after Tinubu, on September 18, formally lifted the emergency rule in Rivers State, ending the six-month suspension of the elected leadership.<\/div>\n
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By Our Correspondent An Abuja Federal High Court has dismissed a lawsuit challenging President Bola Tinubu\u2019s declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State earlier this year, ruling that the plaintiffs lacked the legal standing to bring the case. Justice James Omotosho delivered the judgment on Thursday in the suit filed by Belema Briggs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1059,4857,689,3435,1813,108,1352,723],"class_list":["post-7633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-law-crime","tag-crisis","tag-justification","tag-legal","tag-looming","tag-standing","tag-suspension","tag-unfounded","tag-violations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7633"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7645,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7633\/revisions\/7645"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}