The Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice Rivers State, Mr. Dagogo Iboroma, has said that the ruling of a Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt on Monday did not restore the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) membership of the embattled 25 lawmakers that defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2023.
The attorney general in a statement he personally issued on Monday clarified that the court merely declined jurisdiction as the matter has already been settled by the Federal High Court which has jurisdiction over the matter.
He therefore, “urge[d] the public to disregard the news presently making rounds in social, print and electronic media to the effect that Martins Amaewhule and 26 others have been declared as members of the Peoples Democratic Party and the Rivers State House of Assembly.”
The full statement reads:
As Hon. Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice and 3rd defendant in SUIT NO DHC/20/CS/2024, my attention has been drawn to a recent judgment. This suit did not seek to declare the seat of Martins Amaewhule and 26 others in Rivers State House of Assembly vacant.
The suit of the claimants was struck out for want of locus standi and jurisdiction and also for being an abuse of court process which robbed the trial court of jurisdiction to adjudicate on the matter.
There is misleading news circulating in social media, print and electronic media that Martins Amaewhule & 26 others are members of the Peoples Democratic Party and the Rivers State House of Assembly.
As you all know, Martins Amaewhule and 26 others defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress on the 11th Day of December, 2023 and stated that much in affidavit evidence deposed to by Martins Amaewhule for himself and on behalf of 26 others in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/1681/CS/2023 before Hon. Justice Donatus Okorowo of the Federal High Court, Abuja Division. The Suit is still pending in court.
By section 272(3) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, it is only the Federal High Court that can determine whether Martins Amaewhule and 26 others are still members of Peoples Democratic Party and also members of the Rivers State House of Assembly. This much was held by the trial court.
However, you will recall that these is a subsisting order of interlocutory injunction in Suit No.
PHC/512/CS/2024 restraining Martins Amaewhule and his co-travelers from further parading or presenting themselves as law makers in Rivers State pending the determination of the substantive suit, which has not been appealed against till date.
We urge the public to disregard the news presently making rounds in social, print and electronic media to the effect that Martins Amaewhule and 26 others have been declared as members of the Peoples Democratic Party and the Rivers State House of Assembly.