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Former Deputy Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Marshall Stanley-Uwom, has filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking to stop the Federal Government from disbursing funds to local government councils currently administered by a sole administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (retd.).
In the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/797/2025 and filed on April 24, Stanley-Uwom contends that appointing unelected officials to oversee local governments in Rivers State violates the law.
He relied on Section 7(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and a recent Supreme Court ruling affirming local government autonomy.
The suit lists President Bola Tinubu, the National Assembly, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Vice Admiral Ibas, the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Accountant-General of the Federation, and the Federation Account Allocation Committee as defendants.
Stanley-Uwom argues that under the Constitution and the Electoral Act, the CBN, the Accountant-General, and FAAC are prohibited from releasing funds intended for local governments to officials who were not democratically elected.
He emphasized that each level of government—federal, state, and local—is mandated to be constituted through elections.
Quoting Section 7(1) of the Constitution, he stated, “The system of local government by democratically elected local government councils is guaranteed.”
He insisted that no federal, state, or local authority has the constitutional backing to manage local governments through caretakers, administrators, or any other unelected bodies.
Stanley-Uwom, who served during former Governor Nyesom Wike’s administration, is asking the court for several reliefs, including a declaration that the state of emergency reportedly proclaimed by President Tinubu in Rivers State is no longer valid.
He also seeks an order compelling Vice Admiral Ibas to vacate office and allow a democratically elected governor to resume duty.
The former lawmaker further argued that Tinubu’s proclamation of emergency rule did not secure the necessary two-thirds approval of the National Assembly, making it unconstitutional.
He also accused Ibas of mismanaging state funds by making allocations without the consent of a duly constituted legislature and illegally appointing caretaker committees to oversee local councils.
As of the time of filing this report, no date has been set for the hearing of the case.