The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections, Peter Obi has criticized the court order prohibiting financial allocation to Rivers state.
On Wednesday, a federal high court sitting in Abuja barred the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from further disbursing financial allocations to the coffers of the Rivers state government.
The presiding judge, Joyce Abdulmalik, in her ruling, said that funds from the federation account should not be released to the state until the passage of a lawful appropriation act by a validly constituted house of assembly.
The lawsuit was filed by Martins Amaewhule-led Rivers state house of assembly.
The judge also ruled that Siminalayi Fubara, the governor of Rivers state, did wrong by presenting the 2024 Appropriation Bill to a “not properly constituted” five-member assembly.
But in his reaction through a post on his X page on Friday, Obi knocked the verdict, and sthe need for leaders to prioritise the well-being of citizens.
“In my political trajectory, I have consistently refrained from name-calling or engaging in personal disputes, choosing instead to focus on issues that directly impact the masses, particularly the suffering poor of Nigeria,” Obi wrote.
“Despite the national attention the Rivers state crisis has gained, I have largely stayed away from matters specific to a state, but a recent court judgment halting allocations to the state—and the resulting consequences—demands attention.
“This curious decision now calls upon every well-meaning individual Nigerian to appeal for its immediate reversal.”
Obi added that the ruling may inflict more hardship and suffering on vulnerable Nigerians.
“Consider the pensioner struggling to survive on a meager income alongside the health workers, school teachers, civil servants, and everyday citizens whose lives are already marked by severe hardship. How much more can they endure?,” he said.
“This latest development risks pushing them even further into distress—even into untimely deaths—by compounding the challenges they face each day.”
The former governor also said that present efforts should lay the foundation for a better Nigeria.