Rivers Court Bans Amaewhule and Twenty-four Others from Acting as Legislators
An interim order prohibiting pro-Wike speaker of the state House of Assembly Martin Amaewhule and 24 other members from posing as lawmakers has been issued by the Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt.
They are forbidden by court order from holding or attending any formal meetings on Assembly property.
The ruling of the court resulted from an exparte order brought by pro-Siminialayi Fubara speaker Victor Oko Jumbo and three others against the pro-Wike legislators.
For the time being, the temporary injunction leaves the seats of defendants 1 through 25 empty.
The court further imposed a restraining order, forbidding Governor Fubara and the chief judge—the 26th and 28th defendants in the lawsuit—from interacting with Amaewhule and his 25 supporters.
This case is a result of the defendants’ December 13, 2023, departure from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progress Congress (APC).
The court further ordered Amaewhule and the others to turn over all official paperwork in seven days. The matter is postponed by the court till May 29 in order to consider a notice motion.
Since last year, there has been a crisis engulfing the Rivers State House of Assembly, which has split into two factions, some supporting Governor Fubara and others the Minister of Federal Capital Territory Nyesom.
The crisis took an intriguing turn in December when 27 members—led by Amaewhule—decamped from the PDP to the APC.
Leads of the Wike-loyal members were Amaewhule and the Fubara-loyal members were Edison Ehie. Ehie resigned when the governor later named him chief of staff.
But on Wednesday, things took a further turn when the governor Fubara-aligned members chose Victor Oko-Jumbo, a member of the Bonny constituency, to be their speaker.
Oko-Jumbo thanked the membership in his acceptance address for choosing him to take over as speaker after Ehie resigned.
He described every legislation allegedly passed by the Amaewhule-led Assembly as an exercise in futility and urged the people, the executive, and the judiciary to ignore it.