Rivers Assembly: Court Rules On Labour Party’s Suit Against Amaewhule, 26 Others

A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has dismissed a suit filed by the Labour Party (LP) in Rivers State challenging the alleged defection of the suspended Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Martin Amaewhule, and 26 other lawmakers.

Delivering the judgment on Tuesday, Justice Emmanuel Obile ruled that the matter had already been addressed by a recent Supreme Court decision, which resolved the issue of defection raised in the suit.

The judge stated that he lacked the jurisdiction to entertain a matter that had already been conclusively determined by the nation’s highest court.

In his final address, Counsel to the defendants, Ken Njemanze, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), urged the court to dismiss the suit, referencing the Supreme Court ruling that upheld the legitimacy of the lawmakers.

Njemanze emphasized that the issue of defection had been settled at the apex court level and there was no legal basis for the case to proceed in the lower court.

However, Counsel for the Labour Party, Clifford Chuku, argued that the defection issue was a collateral matter in the Supreme Court case and that it should not be used as grounds to dismiss the suit.

Chuku urged the court to continue hearing the case despite the Supreme Court’s ruling, suggesting that the specific aspects of the case involving the defection were not fully addressed at that level.

Justice Obile, however, sided with the defendants’ counsel and dismissed the suit, reiterating that the Supreme Court ruling had definitively resolved the issue.