Rivers State House of Assembly Leadership Crisis: Court of Appeal Adjourns Hearing to June 20
The Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has adjourned the hearing on the Rivers State House of Assembly leadership dispute to June 20.
The court ordered the parties involved to maintain the status quo pending the determination of the court on the matter.
The 3-man appeal panel, consisting of Justices Jimi Olukayode Bada, Hamma Akawu, and Balkisu Bello Aliyu, gave the order via Zoom on Friday.
The panel advised the parties not to take any steps that would affect the merit of the matter and directed that notice of appeal be served on the defendants before the adjourned date.
Hon. Martin Chike Amaewhule and 24 other lawmakers had approached the Appeal Court seeking to vacate the interlocutory injunction of a High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, which empowered Rt. Hon. Victor Oko-Jumbo to continue leading the state assembly.
Justice Charles Wali of the State High Court had also ordered Amaewhule and 24 others to stop parading as speaker and lawmakers in the legislative arm of the state, holding that all laws made by them were in nullity until the determination of the matter.
In a related development, the hearing on a suit filed by civil society organizations challenging the eligibility of Martin Amaewhule and 26 others as members of the State House of Assembly faced another setback on Friday at the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt.
The trial judge, Justice Stephen Pam, adjourned the case to June 24 following the absence of the defendants in court. The lawyer to the 27 lawmakers, Ferdinand Orbih (SAN), had written to the court requesting more time to attend another case at the Appeal Court involving his clients on the same day.
The CSOs are seeking the court's interpretation of the action of the lawmakers who were elected under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
They want the court to determine if the lawmakers have automatically lost their seats and ceased to be lawmakers by their defection from the platform on which they were elected into office.
