Court dismisses suit seeking to replace 27 pro-Wike lawmakers in Rivers

The 27 lawmakers, led by Martin Amaewhule, were said to have defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on 11 December 2023.

The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Friday, dismissed a suit seeking an order sacking the seats of the 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike.

The judge, Peter Lifu, in a judgment, held that the suit instituted by the Action People’s Party (APP) was statute-barred, having not been filed within 14 days allowed by law.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 27 lawmakers, led by Martin Amaewhule, were said to have defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on 11 December 2023.

However, the APP filed the case on 12 July, a period of eight months after the cause of action arose.

The suit is a sideshow to the brother battle between two factions of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmakers in the House of Assembly loyal to the warring duo of Mr Wike and Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his predecessor.

Delivering the judgment, Mr Lifu held that the case was a gross abuse of court process on the ground that several suits on the alleged defection of the same 27 lawmakers had been adjudicated upon by the Federal High Court.

The judge, who cited the previous judgments of the court delivered by his colleague, James Omotosho, said that the request for replacement of the lawmakers had earlier been rejected due to lack of sufficient evidence to establish the defection of the legislators.

He recalled that in the earlier judgement, Mr Omotosho restrained the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from declaring the seats of the lawmakers vacant and from conducting any fresh election.

Mr Lifu said that since the judgment had not been set aside and not appealed against, it remained binding with force of law as far as the issue of defection is concerned for the 27 legislators.

He said that it would amount to a display of judicial rascality for him to sit as an Appeal Court in the judgment of the same court.

The judge subsequently dismissed the suit.

The superiority battle

The Rivers State House of Assembly is factionalised between 27 members loyal to Mr Wike and three others backed by Governor Fubara. The division stemmed from the superiority battle between Mr Fubara and Mr Wike.

The battle has been in a state of flux, with either camp gaining the upper hand in the House through court decisions at different times.

On 4 July, the Court of Appeal, Abuja, nullified the expulsion of Mr Amaewhule and 24 other pro-Wike lawmakers whose seats were earlier declared vacant by the Mr Fubara-backed lawmakers.

The Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt had, in May, barred the lawmakers from parading themselves as members of the state’s House of Assembly after they defected from the PDP to the APC.

But a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal held that the lower court lacked the jurisdiction to grant the exparte order expelling the pro-Wike lawmakers.

Following the Court of Appeal judgement, Mr Amaewhule-led Rivers Assembly had, on 15 July, suspended all expenditures of Governor Fubara until he re-presents his budget before the house.

The lawmakers gave the governor a seven-day ultimatum to re-present his budget, which they said had expired.

The House Leader, Major Jack, moved the motion to bring up a resolution alerting the house of the governor’s seven-day deadline for presenting the 2024 budget to the house.

Following consideration, the assembly decided to shut down the Rivers State Consolidated Revenue Account, prohibiting any expenditure by Mr Fubara’s administration.

The Mr Amaewhule-led faction of the House then filed an action at the Federal High Court in Abuja to validate its resolution by ordering the shutdown of the state’s consolidated revenue account and expenditure of the governor.

However, on 21 July, the Federal High Court, Abuja, refused to shut down all expenditures of Governor Fubara of Rivers State pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit filed by the Martin Amaewhule-led Rivers Assembly.

The judge, Emeka Nwite, directed the plaintiffs to put the governor and other defendants on notice to enable them to have their say before making a pronouncement on the request.