A Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed May 22 for hearing in a suit seeking to stop the Rivers state government from withholding the financial allocations of the state’s Local Government Areas (LGAs). Justice James Omotosho chose the date to enable parties already served with the court’s documents to file their responses......See Full Story>>.....See Full Story>>
Justice Omotosho directed the plaintiffs to serve the defendants who are not yet served with court documents.
The suit, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/537/2024 was filed by all the 42 LGA Chairmen in Rivers State.
Listed as defendants are the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Commissioner of Police (CP) Rivers, Director General (DG), Department of State Services (DSS), Director DSS Rivers, the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Chairman Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Rivers State Government, AG Rivers State and Finance Commissioner in Rivers.
Justice Omotosho, while ruling on an ex-parte motion on April 25 ordered parties to maintain status quo pending the determination of a motion on notice for injunctions.
The judge declined to issue an interim order against the Rivers State government and other respondents as sought by the plaintiffs.
Justice Omotosho, who ordered the plaintiffs to put the respondents on notice however, ordered all parties to maintain status quo and fixed hearing in the matter for May 2.
When parties got to court on Thursday, the IGP; the DG, DSS and the Chairman RMAFC were not represented.
Lawyers to the other defendants , who were in court, acknowledged service and asked for time to respond, arguing that they were still within time to file their responses.
When asked by the judge if they were equally served with the court’s order of April 25 directing all parties to maintain status quo, all but, lawyer to AGF admitted service.
Justice Omotosho proceeded to explain why he declined to grant the interim order sought by the plaintiffs in their motion ex-parte,
He said after lawyer to the plaintiffs Clement Ijom stated that the salaries of teachers, primary health workers and other local government staff depend on the allocation, he then ordered parties to maintain status quo pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice for injunctions.
The judge then ordered the respondents to file their responses and directed that service be effected on the remaining respondents.