The Federal High Court in Port Harcourt, Rivers state has fixed April 16 to rule on an application seeking the dismissal of a suit challenging the alleged defection of 27 members of the house of assembly.
The Labour Party (LP) had filed a suit praying the court to declare the seats of the lawmakers vacant for allegedly defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
On March 11, K. Njemanze, the counsel representing the 27 lawmakers, told the court that he had filed a motion on March 10 seeking to strike out the case.
Njemanze argued that the supreme court’s ruling on February 28, had already resolved all issues raised in the suit.
Citing section 287(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the lawyer submitted that the federal high court was bound to comply with the judgment of the apex court.
However, Clifford Chukwu, the counsel for the LP, opposed the motion, arguing that the supreme court’s ruling did not directly address the central issue in the suit, which challenges the legality of the lawmakers’ defection.
Chukwu further stated that under section 272(3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the federal high court has exclusive jurisdiction over matters of defection involving members of the house of assembly.
At the resumed court session on Monday, the defendants through their counsel moved their motion seeking to strike out the case.
Presenting the certified true copy of the verdict, the lawyer said the supreme court had restored the Amaewhule-led leadership of the assembly.
He said Siminalayi Fubara, Rivers governor, who initially raised allegations of defection, had withdrawn the claims at the federal high court in Abuja.
But Chukwu insisted that the defection was a “collateral matter” before the apex court, and urged the court not to answer the prayer to strike out the matter going by evidence already before it.
The judge, E.A. Obile, adjourned the matter to April 16 to hear and rule on the dismissal application.
Recall that the Amaewhule-led faction of the Rivers house of assembly is loyal to Nyesom Wike, the minister of the federal capital territory (FCT) and immediate former governor of the state.
In a judgment on February 28, the supreme court has affirmed the judgment of a federal high court that barred the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the accountant-general of the federation from releasing statutory monthly allocations to Rivers state.
The apex court also ordered the Amaewhule-led faction of the Rivers state house of assembly and other elected members of the house to resume sitting.
In the judgment, a five-member panel of the apex court faulted the Abuja court of appeal for voiding the judgment of the federal high court.
The federal high court had stopped the release of funds to Rivers after Siminalayi Fubara, governor of the state, failed to re-present the 2024 Appropriation Bill before the Amaewhule-led assembly.
Emmanuel Agim, who read the supreme court’s lead judgment, held that the 27 lawmakers alleged to have defected from the PDP to the APC are still valid members of the Rivers assembly, pending the final determination of a suit challenging their status.
