Leadnaija
According to an interview with human rights activist and lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) that was broadcast on Symfoni TV, the Supreme Court has upheld the expulsion of Martin Amaewhule and twenty-six other members from the Rivers State House of Assembly. There is no question that their choice to join the All Progressives Congress (APC) was the reason they were expelled from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)....TAP HERE TO READ THE FULL STORY..>>
You may recall that the political instability in Rivers State started in December 2023 when 27 assembly members, including Speaker Martin Amaewhule, switched from the PDP to the APC. Following this major defection, the assembly divided into factions, with some members supporting the departing governor, Nyesom Wike, and others supporting the incumbent governor, Siminialayi Fubara.
On December 13, 2023, the legislature, led by the supporters of Governor Fubara, responded to the members who had left their positions by officially vacating their seats. After this, the Rivers State High Court issued a temporary injunction that prohibited Amaewhule and the other twenty-five legislators from acting as if they were assembly members or participating in any legislative activities. After the MPs who were impacted filed an appeal, the Abuja Court of Appeal overturned the verdict made by the lower court.
It decided that the trial court did not have the authority to deal with the problem and that the case should be considered by a federal high court. Femi Falana continued to discuss the matter, saying, “As you know, we filed an appeal against the judgment of the Court of Appeal regarding the state budget in connection with what happened this morning.” That request was about the 2024 budget, but the budget has already ended. We are now in the process of debating the 2025 budget.
“Secondly, regarding the defection, I am referring to the legislators. They defected after the High Court, Justice Omotosho, and the Court of Appeal made their judgments.” The Federal High Court in Port Harcourt is now hearing the case about their supposed defection. We have chosen to withdraw the appeal because we think that it has been overtaken by events that have happened since then. We have made the decision to withdraw the appeal due to the misleading information that has been circulated among Nigerians.
“We withdrew the appeal, which is the standard procedure for having it dismissed since we have joined issues.” Falana said, “No, no, he has defected; after the judgment of the lower court, he had defected, and that is being challenged now in the Federal High Court,” in response to the question of whether or not Martins Amaewhule will continue to serve as Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
