The lawmakers in the Rivers State House of Assembly loyal to Governor Siminalayi Fubara have declared their intention to appeal the recent Court of Appeal judgment regarding the jurisdiction of the Rivers State High Court in suit number PHC/1512/CS/2024, describing the ruling as a miscarriage of justice.
Speaker of the pro-Fubara lawmakers, Victor Oko-Jumbo announced this during a plenary session held on Friday, 5 July, 2024 in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
According to Oko-Jumbo, their legal team has been instructed to urgently appeal to the Supreme Court to challenge the Court of Appeal’s decision.
He clarified that contrary to speculations, the Court of Appeal did not rule that Martins Amaewhule and 24 others did not defect from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the All Progressive Congress, APC.
Oko-Jumbo emphasized that there cannot be two Houses of Assembly in Rivers State or any other state in Nigeria, and asserted that Amaewhule and his team are no longer members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, in line with the earlier declaration by Ehie Edison, (former Speaker, now Chief of Staff to the governor), which has not been overturned by any court of competent jurisdiction.
During the plenary session, the Rivers State Transport Company Reform Bill 2024 and the Rivers State Emergency Management Bill 2024 were passed after their first reading.
