Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has cautioned the judiciary against setting Rivers State on fire.

The warning came in the wake of Wednesday’s judgment, wherein a Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to halt all payments to the state.

In a statement by his media adviser, Paul Ibe, on Wednesday, the former Vice President, said it was appalling that some elements loyal to the Federal Government were pulling the strings from behind.

Atiku wondered why Justice Joyce Abdulmalik issued the order when it was public knowledge that Rivers State had already challenged the Court of Appeal’s judgment on the legality of Rivers State’s 2024 budget.

“Last week the Court of Appeal declared that the Rivers State budget was illegal because it was passed by an inchoate assembly. The court ordered Governor Siminalayi Fubara to present the budget afresh.

“The Rivers State Government has already filed a notice of appeal so that the Supreme Court can hear the matter. However, some elements in the Bola Tinubu administration have procured a judgement intended to undermine the Supreme Court.

“Even before the judgement was delivered, legal luminary Femi Falana (SAN) had alerted the Chief Justice of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, of possible compromise after house gifts had been presented to judges in Abuja. Sadly, Falana’s warning was ignored,” the statement quoted him as saying,” he said.

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 election hailed the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, for summoning judges sitting on the Rivers State cases.

He, however, called on the nation’s top judge to ensure that those found wanting are disciplined in order to restore the fading glory of God’s judiciary.

The former Vice President added: “Nigeria has descended into the theatre of the absurd since the Tinubu administration took office.

“Courts are playing a more ignoble role in fostering political crises within political parties and even in states. From the Emirship tussle in Kano State to the Rivers imbroglio, where courts are going as far as preventing elections from holding, taking Nigeria back to the dark days of June 12, 1993, when polls were annulled.

“Sadly, under the leadership of those who claim to have fought for Nigeria’s democracy, the country is descending into chaos with conflicting orders from courts of coordinate jurisdiction flying all over the place while judges are being induced in the name of empowerment and provision of houses.

“The result is that Nigerians are gradually losing confidence in an institution that prides itself as the last hope of the common man. Foreign investors will avoid any place where judgments can be bought by the highest bidder.

“Nigeria should not descend to the Hobessian state of nature, where life is short, nasty, and brutish, where citizens opt for self-help. Rivers State accounts for almost 25% of Nigeria’s oil assets. For a country facing an economic crisis worsened by vandalism and banditry, Tinubu should put his 2027 ambition aside and put Nigeria’s interests first.

“We call on the Nigerian judiciary to restore its image before it gets too late,” he added. (Nigerian Tribune)