- Rivers state governor Siminalayi Fubara-led government has rejected the ruling of the state high court, saying Speaker Martins Amaewhule and 27 others are members of the PDP
- Dagogo Israel Iboroma, the Rivers state commissioner for justice and attorney general, said the court only dismissed the case for lack of locus standi
- However, the court earlier ruled that the state government could not present evidence that the lawmakers left the PDP for the APC, as claimed in the suit
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Siminalayi Fubara-led Rivers state government has described the report that a state High Court sitting in Port Harcourt delivered a judgment declaring the 27 lawmakers led by Speaker Martins Amaewhule as members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as misleading and false.
The Attorney-General of the state and Commissioner for Justice, Dagogo Israel Iboroma, said the suit before the court did not seek to declare the seats of Amaewhule and 26 others vacant.
Photo Credit: @SimFubaraKSC
Source: Twitter
He said:
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“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 the Rivers State House of Assembly vacant.”
Why court strike out Governor Fubara’s suit
He went on to say that the court struck out the suit over lack of locus standi and jurisdiction. The suit was also dismissed over abuse of court processes, as it denied the trial court jurisdiction to adjudicate on the case, Business Day reported.
According to the commissioner, the report that Martins Amaewhule and 26 others are members of the Rivers State House of Assembly and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is misleading.
In a ruling on Monday, June 10, the Court struck out a suit filed by Wosa Amadi and three others seeking to declare the 27 lawmakers’ seats vacant following their defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in December 2003.
Delivering its judgement, the presiding judge, Justice Okogbule Gbasam, ruled that Martin Amaewhule and the 26 other lawmakers are still members of the PDP.
Rivers crisis: Analyst warned Gov Fubara
Legit.ng earlier reported that Nyesom Wike, the former governor of Rivers state and current minister of the FCT, has been described as a sleeping tiger.
Okanlawon Gaffar, an analyst who commented on the political crisis in Rivers, said the former governor could be silent, but that did not mean Governor Fubara had defeated him.
Gaffar maintained that it was a stage that Wike had passed through, and there were chances that he would know how to be defeated as a godfather and how to win as well.
Source: Legit.ng
