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Rivers: Pro-Wike Lawmakers Triumph As Appeal Court Delivers Fresh Verdict
The court of appeal in Abuja has returned Martin Amaewhule as the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
Eko Hot Blog reports that, in the judgement delivered on Thursday, the court dismissed the ex parte order issued on May 10, 2024, by the Rivers State High Court, Port Harcourt.
Similarly, the appellate court also dismissed the decision of the state high court stopping the 24 members of the Assembly loyal to ex-Rivers governor, Nyesom Wike, from accessing the complex or carrying out any legislative assignment in the name of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
A three-man panel led by Justice Jimi Olukayode-Bada, in its judgment, upheld the appeal filed by a factional Speaker of the River State House of Assembly, Amaewhule, and 24 others against the Speaker, Victor Oko-Jumbo, and two others.
The state high court had barred the pro-Wike lawmakers from the Assembly based on a suit seeking to declare their seats vacant on the basis that they defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.
The Amaewhule-led lawmakers had in December 2023 announced their defection from the PDP to the APC amid the political rift between Wike and the incumbent Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara.
File Image of Pro-Wike Lawmakers
Reacting to the Thursday’s judgement, APC Caretaker Committee Chairman, Chief Tony Okocha, said the appeal court verdict meant that the pro-Wike lawmakers are still in charge.
In a short message sent to PUNCH correspondent, Okocha, who is an ally of Wike, welcome the judgment, saying justice had been served in the matter.
“The grey areas that have led Rivers into a litany of litigation have been sorted out. Justice was served. The reasoning adduced by the venerated Justice of the Court of Appeal, under which stood the bedrock of their unanimous decision, is very sound and unimpeachable.” he said
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