The Court of Appeal, Abuja division, on Thursday, dismissed the ex parte order issued on May 10, 2024, by the Rivers State High Court, Port Harcourt, which barred Martin Amaewhule from parading himself as the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
The court also dismissed the decision of the state high court stopping the 24 members of the Assembly loyal to ex-Rivers governor, Nyesom Wike, from accessing the complex or carrying out any legislative assignment in the name of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
A three-man panel led by Justice Jimi Olukayode-Bada, in its judgment, upheld the appeal filed by a factional Speaker of the River State House of Assembly, Amaewhule, and 24 others against the Speaker, Victor Oko-Jumbo, and two others.
The state high court had barred the pro-Wike lawmakers from the Assembly based on a suit seeking to declare their seats vacant on the basis that they defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.
The Amaewhule-led lawmakers had in December 2023 announced their defection from the PDP to the APC amid the political rift between Wike and the incumbent Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara.
On Thursday, the APC in Rivers State was divided over the appellate court’s verdict reinstating the pro-Wike lawmakers to the Assembly.
