The power conflict rocking the Legislative arm of the troubled Rivers State Government has taken another new twist.
The state House of Assembly is approaching the Supreme Court to determine the status of the 27 pro-Wike lawmakers that dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressives Congress (APC), President Bola Tinubu’s party.
At the same time, the Speaker of the House, Victor Oko-Jumbo, wants the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to begin the process of filling vacant seats in the House.
Clerk of the state House of Assembly, Dr G. M. Gillis-West, said on Friday in a statement that the House is urging INEC to conduct a by-election for vacant seats in the Assembly.
This is coming amid conflicting reports on the ruling of the Court of Appeal on the sacked 27 pro-Wike lawmakers.
Spokesperson for the G60 Federal Opposition Lawmakers Coalition, Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere, a lawyer, is arguing that the seats of the 27 lawmakers remain vacant, pointing out that the appellate court did not decide on the legality of their defection, and declaration of their seats vacant.
According to him, the Appeal Court focused on declaring that the Federal High Court is the only court with jurisdiction to decide on the legality or illegality of decampment thereby ruling against the state High Court proceedings, adding, “the legal fireworks continues.”
On his part, a vocal chieftain of APC in the state, Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, is warning the supporters of the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, to stop sugarcoating a simple court verdict.
Eze says the ongoing celebration in the Wike camp over the appeal court ruling which voided the interlocutory injunction issued by a state High Court in Port Harcourt restraining Martins Amaewhule and others from parading themselves as speaker and members of the state Assembly, is merely a premature ejaculation founded on the ground of misconception of the ‘ratio decidendi’ and deliberate misinterpretation of the verdict.
The APC chief in a statement to The Southern Examiner said the appellate court was right in its reasoning that by virtue of Section 272 of the Nigerian Constitution vesting exclusive jurisdiction on the Federal High Court on matters pertaining to whether the seat of a member of a state House of Assembly has ceased or become vacant, a state High Court is squarely robbed of jurisdiction to entertain same matters of nature.
He is also dispelling rumors that the court reinstated Amaewhule and his 26 other colleagues who defected to APC, noting that the substance of the matter was never brought to the appellate court, same having not been heard by the court below.
For Eze, Oko Jumbo remains the legitimate speaker of the House, and that in effect, the worse the Amaewhule faction could make out of the ruling is to hinge on it to continue to wallow in illegality which does not affect the legitimacy of Oko-Jumbo as speaker.
“Former Speaker, Edison Ehie, in line with due process of law, declared the seats of Amaewhule and others vacant upon their defection from PDP to APC for no verifiable, cogent reason and till date no court has voided this stand.
“The constitution is clear and unambiguous and needs no interpretation to the effect that upon their defection, the former speaker, Amaewhule and his colleagues automatically lost their seats, and the verdict of the appeal court did not invalidate the action of Ehie in declaring their seats vacant or void their exit from PDP – as they have turned around to claim they never left the party”, Eze says.
and determine the case.
“Accordingly, the court of appeal struck out Suit No. PHC/1512/CS/2024 and nothing more. The court did not make any declaration that Amaewhule and others did not defect from PDP to APC.
“The court of appeal also did not make any declaration that Amaewhule and others are still members of the House. We strongly believe that the court was in error when it held that the state High Court lacked the jurisdiction to hear and determine Suit No PHC/1512/CS/2024.
“Accordingly, we have instructed our lawyers and they have filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of Nigeria challenging the judgment of the court of appeal delivered on July 4,, 2024.
Accordingly, we have instructed our lawyers and they have filed an appeal to the Supreme Court of Nigeria challenging the judgment of the court of appeal delivered on July 4,, 2024.
“Amaewhule and others, in spite of all their pretenses, are no longer members of the state House of Assembly, and they remain so until a court of competent jurisdiction says otherwise.
“Once again, we the legitimate members of the House hereby call on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to promptly conduct a bye-election to fill the vacant seats in the House.
“We strongly urge the general public to ignore Amaewhule and others in their pretense that they are members of the House”, he adds.
However, during the plenary, the House considered two bills, opened debate, and moved them through first reading.
The bills included the state Emergency Management Agency Bill, 2024 that was presented by the Leader of the House, Sokari Goodboy. The second bill is the state Transport Company Reform Bill, 2024, which is sponsored by the Deputy Speaker of the House, Adolphus Orubienimigha.
