BREAKING: Court Takes Decision on Suit Seeking To Sack 25 Pro-Wike’s Rivers Assembly Lawmakers
- There is a new twist regarding the crisis rocking the Rivers state House of Assembly
- The state's high court, on Monday, thrashed the suit challenging the position of the members of the House who dumped the PDP and defected to the APC following Wike and Fubara's rift
- Justice Okogbule Gbasam ruled that the embattled lawmakers were still members of the PDP as the claimants failed to prove that they were APC members
Legit.ng journalist Esther Odili has over two years of experience covering political parties and movements.
A Rivers state high court, Port Harcourt division, on Monday, June 10, dismissed the suit seeking to declare the seats of the 25 lawmakers, who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) vacant.
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The lawmakers had defected to the opposition APC in the state last year, prompting the legal challenge.
What court said about Rivers PDP lawmakers who defected
Delivering its judgement on Monday, the court presided over by Justice Okogbule Gbasam held that the lawmakers were still members of the PDP, The Nation reported.
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The judge ruled that the claimants failed to provide sufficient evidence to convince the court that Rt. Hon. Martin Amaewhule and the defected lawmakers (the defendants) were members of the APC, The Guardian reported.
This recent development came after the above court on Friday, May 30, declared the seats of the 25 lawmakers vacant pending the determination of the suit before it.
The court, however, ordered Amaewhule, to stop parading as the speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly and barred the 24 lawmakers, who are all anti-Siminalayi Fubara, the governor of the state, from posing as lawmakers in the state.
Legit.ng understands that the defected assembly members are loyal to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister Nyesom Wike, who is at loggerheads with Fubara over the control of Rivers state.
25 defected Rivers lawmakers lost their seats
Legit.ng earlier reported that the PDP has said members of the Rivers state House of Assembly who left their party to the APC "have only themselves to blame".
PDP said the defected Rivers lawmakers 'miscalculated' and they should bear the "inescapable consequences".
Legit.ng reports that the Rivers state house of assembly has been enmeshed in crisis since October 2023, with President Bola Tinubu forced to intervene at a point.
Proofreading by Nkem Ikeke, journalist and copy editor at Legit.ng.
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Source: Legit.ng
