The Countdown Begins: Waiting For The Ruling Of The Supreme Court

By PHC Telegraph

After several weeks of courtroom drama resulting in several pronouncements and interpretations of the law, Supreme Court Justices will hours from now take centre stage. 

About five cases, based on checks conducted by the Telegraph are to be heard by the Supreme Court.

It would be the first time that the matters from Rivers State which has led to crisis would be heard by their Lordships in open court, but certainly not the first time that the court will make pronouncements on matters like this.

No one is sure what the Justices will do when they file out tomorrow to hear the cases.

Given the fact that all the files relating to the matters have been transmitted, it is possible that Justices of the Apex Court saddled with the responsibility to adjudicate on the cases before them may have read submissions by the parties.

This could mean that they could indeed be armed with facts that are needed to deliver judgment. Will they proceed with a ruling? Nobody is sure

However, there is the possibility that their Lordships would provide the opportunity for learned counsels as the practice allows to make their final presentations and adopt their briefs.

Thereafter,  an adjournment would

be taken and lawyers contacted on the actual time of ruling, according to the mood of the court.

No matter what anyone thinks, the prerogative to decide which path to follow would be decided on Monday 10th February, 2025.

It is obvious that the impending decision of their Lordships would put to rest, issues which have both legal and constitutional implications for Rivers State and the nation.

So much is at stake at this stage as the Justices prepare to discharge their sacred responsibility.

There is the issue of respect for the rule of law and the place of Nigeria’s Constitution to deal with as the Rivers political crisis and the solution to it takes preeminence.

What for instance, will be the status of lawmakers in Rivers State who defected from the PDP to the APC?

Was the decision to defect from the platform on which they were elected, that is indeed part of the subject of litigation, in line with the prescription of the Constitution?

Could there have been any division within the party platform which brought these lawmakers to power at the time to warrant the decision that they took?

There could be more and more questions, but providing answers to these will certainly be the concern of the wise men whose duty it will be to interprete the position of the law.

The Supreme Court as its name suggests is the highest court in the land. Accordingly, it is the last busstop known to law when issues of judicial hearings are considered.

For all litigants in Nigeria who seek equity, fairness and justice before the law courts, its ruling, when delivered, cannot be appealed or revisited in any form.

Recall that some of the issues that are to be decided by the Apex Court originated in High Courts as far back as 2023, following the eventual clash between Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and Siminalayi Fubara, the Governor of Rivers State.

In defence of democracy and the mandate which was freely given to him by the Rivers people,  Fubara had purportedly refused to subordinate State resources and decisions of his government to external control.

That resolve to take absolute control of his administration and discharge the duties of a state governor as intended by law resulted in irredeemable differences.

From a botched impeachment bid frustrated by Edison Ehie and some of his colleagues in the Rivers State House of Assembly in 2023; through the declaration of some lawmakers elected on the platform of the PDP for the APC; to court actions which intensified in 2024; Rivers people have endured scenes which most of the time have put their State negatively in the public spotlight.

As things are, those matters consolidated at the level of the Court of Appeal are now to be adjudicated on by their Lordships.

Already, national attention is turning in the direction of Abuja, the nation’s capital as the court of all courts prepares to sit.

In Rivers State, where concerns over the Rivers crisis have been highest, the level of anxiety among ordinary people as well as members of the political class has risen to a feverish pitch.

This may not be unconnected with preferred interests and threats that are being issued in some quarters as a result of the impending decision which must come from the Supreme Court.

Notwithstanding what some evil doers may be plotting, information reaching our news desk suggest that supporters of the two sides as well as lawyers and high ranking officials of government would be leaving for Abuja to be part of the Supreme Court hearing.

While some supporters would travel by air, others are already making the trip to Abuja by road, regardless of risks which may be involved.

In which direction will the pendulum of justice swing? What will their Lordships say in respect of Section 109 1(g) of the Nigerian Constitution?

Again, no one is sure what the outcome of the case will be. The clock ticks as seconds, minutes and hours flash past.

Soon, it will be Monday the 10th, the day of reckoning. In the meantime, the people wait on the Supreme Court while supporters of all the sides to the Rivers conflict pray for victory.

What the Justices of the Apex Court do? Will they depend on precedence already set? Is it possible that the Supreme Court can ever reverse itself, following a plethora of rulings and matters which have become part of case law?

All that exists for now are questions and more questions, at least until the wise men of the Supreme Court come up with answers.

Hopefully, those answers will come.