The Federal High Court in Port Harcourt has scheduled March 18, 2024, as the hearing date for a lawsuit demanding the removal of 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who defected from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The lawmakers, led by Speaker Martin Amaewhule, remain loyal to former Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike. Their defection occurred during the intense political crisis between Wike and the incumbent governor, Siminalayi Fubara. The lawsuit, filed by the Rivers State Civil Society Organisations, argues that the lawmakers should lose their seats in accordance with Section 109 of the 1999 Constitution, as they abandoned the party under which they were elected into the legislature.
The case was initially scheduled for Monday but was adjourned due to the absence of the presiding Judge, Justice Stephen Dalyop Pam, who was attending a judges’ conference. The matter has now been adjourned to March 18 for further proceedings.
In a related development, the Court of Appeal, Port Harcourt Division, granted a request by a group of Rivers elders, led by Chief Arabs Sara-Igbe and nine others, to serve court papers to the leader of the pro-Wike lawmakers through substituted means. The Rivers elders are seeking to nullify the resolutions reached during a December meeting in Abuja, chaired by President Bola Tinubu, which involved Governor Fubara, Governor Wike, and their legal teams. The elders argue that Tinubu’s intervention in the Wike-Fubara crisis was unconstitutional and are requesting the court to set aside the resolutions made during the meeting. These resolutions included Fubara’s recognition and presentation of the 2024 budget to the pro-Wike lawmakers, as well as the reinstatement of nine pro-Wike commissioners who had resigned during the crisis.
The Rivers elders maintain that the resolutions were biased in favor of Wike over Fubara. They initially approached the Rivers State High Court to nullify the resolutions but their case was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction by Justice Chiwendu Nworgu on January 23, 2024. Dissatisfied with the ruling, the plaintiffs have now appealed the decision. A three-man panel of the Court of Appeal, led by Justice Oluwayemisi Daudu, granted their application for an accelerated hearing and set April 8, 2024, as the next hearing date for the appeal.