Court Takes Fresh Action on Move to Sack Pro-Wike Lawmakers
- The Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, the Rivers state capital, has announced June 28 to hear several motions seeking to remove Speaker Martins Amaewhule and other House of Assembly members in the state
- Speaker Martins Amaewhule and 24 other members of the house affected in the suit are loyalists of the immediate past governor of the state, Nyesom Wike
- Amaewhule had requested the transfer of the case to another court in a petition to Justice John Tsoho, but the presiding Justice Steven Dalyop Pam proceeded with the hearing
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The Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, has fixed June 28 to hear various motions in a case seeking the removal of Speaker Martins Amaewhule and other House of Assembly members following their widely publicised defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Amaewhule and the 24 other house members affected are loyalists of Nyesom Wike, the former governor and now minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Source: Twitter
According to Vanguard, despite Amaewhule's petition to Chief Judge John Tsoho requesting a case transfer to another court, the presiding judge, Justice Steven Dalyop Pam, decided to proceed with the hearing.
Rivers: Why pro-Wike lawmakers are in court
The BOOT Party and other plaintiffs, in suit number FHC/PHC/269/2024, are asking the court to declare Amaewhule and 24 other legislators' seats vacant due to their defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC.
The suit has been ongoing since December, with the PDP and the APC seeking to join the legal proceedings. This has resulted in prolonged legal battles between the parties involved.
But the court was confronted on Monday with a petition signed by Martin Amaewhule and addressed to Justice John Tsoho, seeking the reassignment of the case to another court.
Justice Pam, who read the petition in the open court, noted that the petitioner, Amaewhule, prayed to the CJ of the High Court to stop the hearing process and transfer the case to another court.
Lawyer speaks on pro-Wike lawmakers' fortune
Legit.ng earlier reported that Okanlawon Gaffar, a lawyer, backed the ruling of the Rivers state high court on the PDP membership status of the pro-Wike-led House of Assembly.
In an interview with Legit.ng, Gaffar said there was no written document stating that the lawmakers left the PDP.
Buttressing his point, the legal practitioner described the situation as over-judicialisation Nigeria's democracy.
Proofreading by James Ojo Adakole, journalist and copy editor at Legit.ng.
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Source: Legit.ng
