Supreme Court Orders Amaewhule To Resume Sitting With All Elected Lawmakers
The Supreme Court has mandated that the faction of the Rivers State House of Assembly led by Martins Amaewhule, along with other elected members, must reconvene for sessions.
This faction, aligned with Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), received this directive following a judgment issued on Friday. A five-member panel of the Supreme Court criticized the Abuja Court of Appeal for overturning the decision made by the Federal High Court.
The Federal High Court had previously halted the disbursement of funds to Rivers State after Governor Siminalayi Fubara neglected to reintroduce the 2024 Appropriation Bill to the Amaewhule-led assembly.
Emmanuel Agim, who delivered the lead judgment, asserted that the 27 lawmakers accused of defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) remain valid members of the Rivers Assembly until the final resolution of the legal challenge regarding their status.
The Supreme Court affirmed that “the members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who are alleged to have defected are still legitimate members of the assembly and possess the authority to conduct its business.”
Furthermore, the court declared that “any other group claiming to be members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, led by anyone other than Martins Amaewhule, is invalid, and their actions are null and void.”
Agim emphasized that “by permitting only four out of the 32 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly to function, the governor was operating with merely 12.5% of the assembly, which is unlawful.”
He described this situation as an act of indiscipline that borders on the excessive use of power, stating that it is a farce that has no place in a democratic system. The judge remarked that “the governor’s apprehension of impeachment does not justify the dismantling of a legitimate democratic institution.”
