Petitions trail judgement on 27 Rivers decampee lawmakers

A flurry of petitions has trailed the jugement of the Rivers Srate High Court which stated that the 27 decapee lawmakers remain valid members of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, and consequently, the state House of Assembly.

In the same vein, a group, under the aegis of Coalition for Justice and Accountability, (CJA), has asked the National Judicial Council (NJC) to review the judgement regarding the decampee lawmakers.

The PDP House of Representatives lawmakers, known as the G60, said the sack of 27 former Rivers State Assembly lawmakers is still valid and backed by subsisting court order.

The group spokesman, Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere, said the sacked lawmakers have lost their seats by their so-called defection to tbe All Progressives Congress, APC.

Consequently, the lawmaker said the seats remain vacant and only a by-election can bring them back.

According to the G60 lawmakers, “We receive with great concerns the. misleading, false news of the judgment from a Rivers State High Court today declaring that the seats of the 27 defected law makers of the State House of Assembly in Rivers State are not vacant and they still remain members of the PDP.

“Let the general public not take the press release making rounds today serious as it does not reflect the true facts of what transpired in the court today.

“The NJC should not relent in its efforts in purging the judiciary of any recklessness and rascality by some of its officers bent on continuously disparaging the integrity of the Judiciary by delving into the muddy waters of Politics by judgments emanating from their courts.

“It’s widely known that these 27 Law makers publicly decamped to APC and have at various times deposed to Affidavits even in a suit at the Federal High Court in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/1681/CS/2023 that they’re now members of the APC owing to the crisis in PDP.

“The position of the law in this respect is very clear that once a member of a political party in the parliament defects to another political party when no crisis exists in the his political party, such a seat is declared vacant.

“Their acts of defection is a completed act and the leadership of the House of Assembly of Rivers State has done the needful and it’s no longer an issue that their seats have since been declared vacant.

“Let it be known that presently there’s a subsisting court pronouncement in Suit No PHC/512/CS/2024 restraining the 27 Law Makers from parading themselves.”

The opposition House of Representatives members, therefore, “call on the NJC to once again take note as some of its judicial officers are not backing down in their quest to satisfy the test buds of their political cronies and keeping a blind eyes to already existing legal pronouncements on issues submitted before them thereby sitting on appeal on judgments of Courts of coordinate jurisdiction.

“It’s our firm belief that the 27 seats are vacant and the good people of Rivers State should not shift their grounds on the issue.”

Also, a statement by the CJA signed by its President, Dada Segun Akin, faulted the judgement of the state High Court that ordered the 27 lawmakers to return to the Rivers State House of Assembly.

Consequently, the CJA called on the NJC to immediately begin a probe of the judgment that reinstated the sacked lawmakers in the state House of Assembly.

The statement said, “The Coalition condemns in strong terms the judgment delivered by a Rivers State High Court, which ruled that, the 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who moved from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress are still members of the PDP and Rivers State House of Assembly.”

Indeed, members of the Rivers State House of Assembly loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, led by Martin Amawhule, as Speaker, had in December 2023, and 26 others had defected from the PDP to the APC.

Thus, the lawmakers loyal to Governor Sim Fubara, stated that in line with the constitutional provision that a legislator who defects should vacate his seat, filed a suit at the Rivers State High Court to restrain the defected lawmakers from parading as members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

With the restraining order, Victor Oko-Jumbo was elected as Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

In a judgement delivered by a Rivers State High Court, the judge after striking out the suit based on the preliminary objection went into the merit and held that the defected members were still members of the PDP.

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