Official Statement: Rivers State-Government Reacts To Court Ruling On 27-State Assembly Members (Details)

Official Statement: Rivers State-Government Reacts To Court Ruling On 27-State Assembly Members (Details)

The Rivers State government has submitted that the court did not declare Martins Amaewhule and 26 others as members of the Peoples Democratic Party and the Rivers State House of Assembly.

The Rivers State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Dagogo Israel Iboroma, made this submission on Monday while reacting to an earlier court judgement regarding the fate of some lawmakers in the state.

Ireporteronline recalls a Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt, led by Justice Okogbule Gbasam, on Monday, dismissed a lawsuit seeking to vacate the seats of 25 lawmakers who allegedly defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

However, Iboroma, in an immediate reaction to the court ruling, said there is misleading news circulating in social media, print and electronic media regarding the interpretation of the court order.

He argued that reports claiming the court declared the 27 lawmakers led by Speaker Martins Amaewhule as members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is misleading and false.

The Commissioner added that the suit before the court did not seek to declare the seats of Amaewhule and 26 others vacant.

Iboroma said the suit of the claimants was struck out for want of locus standi and jurisdiction and also for being an abuse of court process.

According to him, “As Hon. Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice and 3rd defendant in SUIT NO DHC/20/CS/2024, my attention has been drawn to a recent judgment. This suit did not seek to declare the seat of Martins Amaewhule and 26 others in Rivers State House of Assembly vacant.

“The suit of the claimants was struck out for want of locus standi and jurisdiction and also for being an abuse of court process which robbed the trial court of jurisdiction to adjudicate on the matter.

“There is misleading news circulating in social media, print and electronic media that Martins Amaewhule & 26 others are members of the Peoples Democratic Party and the Rivers State House of Assembly.

“As you all know, Martins Amaewhule and 26 others defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress on the 11th Day of December, 2023, and stated that much in affidavit evidence deposed to by Martins Amaewhule for himself and on behalf of 26 others in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/1681/CS/2023 before Hon. Justice Donatus Okorowo of the Federal High Court, Abuja Division. The Suit is still pending in court.

“By Section 272(3) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, it is only the Federal High Court that can determine whether Martins Amaewhule and 26 others are still members of Peoples Democratic Party and also members of the Rivers State House of Assembly. This much was held by the trial court.

“However, you will recall that there is a subsisting order of interlocutory injunction in Suit No. PHC/512/CS/2024 restraining Martins Amaewhule and his co-travelers from further parading or presenting themselves as law makers in Rivers State pending the determination of the substantive suit, which has not been appealed against till date.

“We urge the public to disregard the news presently making rounds in social, print and electronic media to the effect that Martins Amaewhule and 26 others have been declared as members of the Peoples Democratic Party and the Rivers State House of Assembly.”