A bench warrant of arrest issued against former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi and two others has been set aside by an Appeal Court in Port Harcourt, the state capital.
The others are the Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 elections, Tonye Cole and the Commissioner for Power in the Amaechi administration, Austine Wokocha.
The ruling followed an appeal filed by Amaechi and the others seeking the setting side of the order by a lower court.
His appeal was considered by a panel of three judges, of which two of them agreed that the order be set aside, while the other, departed.
Justice Abdul-azeez Waziri, who read the ruling that was prepared by the presiding Judge of the Court, Joseph Ikyegh, said the order by the lower court was made in defiance of the Court of Appeal.
He read that the order of arrest was given when there was already an application before the Appeal Court by Amaechi challenging the service of information on him pursuant to Section 313 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law in the state.
Reacting to the ruling, lawyer to Amaechi, Achinike Wobodo said a lower court was supposed to have respected the hierarchy of court placements in the nation’s judiciary.
On his part, one of the state government lawyers, Alphansus Sibi, accepted the position of the Appeal Court in good fate.
The warrant of arrest was issued last month by a High Court in Port Harcourt in a criminal case instituted by the Rivers State State Government.
The case involved the sell of public assets including the state’s gas turbines by the Amaechi administration to Sahara Energy, a company that is owned by Cole, a businessman turned politician.