*Lawmakers no longer PDP members, Rivers govt insists
The 25 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, led by the honourable Martin Amaewhule, have been ruled by a Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt to remain Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members.
The court dismissed a lawsuit on Monday that was submitted by Wosa Amadi and three other people, requesting that the 27 MPs’ seats be declared vacant as a result of their defection to the All Progressives Congress in December.
In the ruling, Justice Okogbule Gbasam determined that Martin Amaewhule and the other twenty-six parliamentarians remain PDP members.
Additionally, Gbasam declared that the claimants had not shown the court that the 27 MPs had actually switched to the APC, pointing out that there is no way to verify this claim based on newspaper articles, radio spots, or internet postings.
The court ruled that the only ways to prove a defection are through the party membership registry, a membership card, and the fulfilment of all party membership requirements by the involved individuals.
*Rivers govt reacts
The Rivers State Government has reacted to the ruling of the court on the status of the 27 lawmakers in the state Assembly.
The Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Dagogo Iboroma, SAN, speaking for the government, Monday, maintained that Martins Amaewhule and 26 other lawmakers, who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), are no longer PDP members.
Addressing the press, Iboroma emphasized that the recent judgment in SUIT NO DHC/20/CS/2024 did not declare the seats of these lawmakers vacant.
He said, instead, the court struck out the suit for lack of locus standi and jurisdiction, and for being an abuse of court process. This outcome has been misrepresented in various media reports.
Iboroma pointed out that Amaewhule and his colleagues’ defection to the APC on December 11, 2023, is well-documented in affidavit evidence submitted in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/1681/CS/2023, currently pending before the Federal High Court, Abuja Division.
”By section 272(3) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, it is only the Federal High Court that can determine whether Martins Amaewhule and 26 others are still members of Peoples Democratic Party and also members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
”This much was held by the trial court. However, you will recall that this is a subsisting order of interlocutory injunction in Suit No. PHC/512/CS/2024 restraining Martins Amaewhule and his co-travellers from further parading or presenting themselves as lawmakers in Rivers State pending the determination of the substantive suit, which has not been appealed against to date,” he said.
The Attorney-General urged the public to disregard misleading reports suggesting that Amaewhule and the other lawmakers remain members of the PDP and the House of Assembly.
