THE Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has affirmed Martin Amaewhule as the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
The Court, in a unanimous judgment on Thursday, October 10, dismissed the appeal filed by the Rivers State governor, Siminalayi Fubara, for lacking in merit.
A three-member panel of the appellate court upheld the Federal High Court’s judgment, delivered by James Omotosho on January 22, affirming that the 2024 Rivers State budget of renewed hope was not presented before members of the State Assembly as required by law.
The court reprimanded the state governor for acting in contravention of the Constitution.
The court ruled that Fubara had committed a flagrant breach of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, by presenting the 2024 Rivers State Appropriation Bill to just four of the Assembly’s 31 members.
In July, the Court of Appeal affirmed Amaewhule and 24 other lawmakers as members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
The court voided the state High Court order restraining the 25 lawmakers, known as G-25, from parading themselves as Assembly members.
A member of the House, Oko-Jumbo, had approached the High Court to seek an interim injunction against Amaewhule and 24 others from further conducting legislative duties, having left the party on which platform they were elected for another party.
Oko-Jumbo also prayed the court to legally declare their seats vacant.
The court granted the prayers and ordered that Amaewhule and his colleagues should stop parading themselves as lawmakers and not conduct legislative business.
Dissatisfied with the order, the 25 lawmakers challenged the jurisdiction of the High Court at the Appeal Court.
Setting aside the order of the High Court restraining the 25 lawmakers who allegedly defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from further parading themselves as members of the Assembly, the Appeal Court said the order was faulty.
In a unanimous judgment, the three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, Port-Harcourt Division, which sat in Abuja, held that the High Court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case.
Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, have been at loggerheads over who controls the PDP structure in the state, with President Bola Tinubu’s efforts to resolve the stalemate yielding no result.
Wike has maintained that he belonged to the PDP and dared the party to suspend him if it could.
On his part, Fubara has insisted on taking over the PDP’s structure in Rivers, as the move exacerbated his rift with Wike.
The crisis resulted in the 27 House of Assembly members loyal to Wike defecting to the APC.
Riled by the defected, Fubara declared their seats vacant.
To further demonstrate that he was the one in charge of the state, Fubara subsequently ordered the LGA chairmen elected under Wike to vacate their seats, stating that they had completed their term.
The ensuing crisis led to police taking over the 23 LGA secretariats in the state for months.
Unfazed, Fubara proceeded to conduct local government election in the state on October 6 against a court order.
The ICIR reported that crisis in the state turned violent on Monday, October 7, when hoodlums set two LGA headquarters ablaze in the oil-rich state.
The headquarters of Ikwerre and Eleme LGAs were set ablaze shortly after the police authorities withdrew their officers from the facilities after months of siege.
Police spokesperson in the state, Grace Iringe-Koko, while announcing the police withdrawal from the state’s 23 LGA secretariats, said the organisation would not hesitate to return the officers should the need arise.
The ICIR reported on Sunday, October 6, that the state governor Fubara swore in all the newly-elected 23 local government chairmen shortly after the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) announced the election results for the last local government.
The ICIR reported how the African People’s Party (APP) won 22 out of the 23 local government chairmanship seats in the state according to results announced by RSEIC.
Fubara’s preferred candidates were victorious in the poll marred by controversies and security challenges.
Fubara also won the election for an opposition party, as he has yet to decamp from his party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
A reporter with the ICIR
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