Rivers Funds: Tinubu, CBN, AGF Brazenly Disobeying Supreme Court Decision – Peter Obi

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 election, Mr. Peter Obi has said that the brazen decision by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to release statutory allocations to an appointed Sole Administrator in Rivers State in spite of the Supreme Court judgement barring such, was not only unlawful, but a direct challenge to the authority of the highest court of the land.

He said that we cannot build a nation where those who swore on oaths to uphold the letters and spirit of our constitution and obey the laws are doing the complete opposite.

The former governor of Anambra State warned that if we continue this way, we are undermining the future of our democracy.

In his words; “We must choose to do the right thing — to respect the law and uphold the principles that bind us as a nation”.

Obi said that what Nigerians are witnessing in Rivers State is a brazen disobedience and total disregard to the rule of law and democratic principles.

Shortly after the controversial declaration of State of Emergency in Rivers State and the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy and members of the State House of Assembly for six months, and the subsequent appointment of Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd) as the Sole Administrator of the State, President Tinubu-led government through Ibas, said the withheld allocations have been released to the State.

Commenting on the development, Obi pointedly accused President Tinubu of disobeying the Supreme Court judgement barring the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), from releasing statutory from the Federation Account to Rivers State until the House of Assembly appropriates the funds.

Obi, who took to his verified X handle on Monday, March 24, 2025, accused the CBN and the AGF of colluding with President Tinubu to disobey the Supreme Court order, stressing that the decision to release the withheld allocations raised serious moral intentions, and questions of what is happening in Rivers State.

Obi further said; “By disregarding the judgment of the Supreme Court, those involved are setting a dangerous precedent. The CBN and AGF, institutions meant to uphold the law, should not be complicit in this disregard for our judiciary.

“Disregarding the rule of law, separation of powers, and judicial decisions threatens the country’s survival and undermines the future of its fragile democracy.

“A country cannot function where the rule of law is trampled upon, where the separation of powers is disregarded, and where judicial decisions are treated as mere suggestions,” he stressed.