The Rivers State Government has asserted that the Supreme Court’s judgment on Monday did not reinstate Martins Amaewhule as the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
Addressing the press at the Government House on Monday night, the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Dagogo Israel Iboroma, SAN, clarified that the court’s ruling had been widely misrepresented across various media platforms.
He stated, “Regrettably, after today’s court proceedings, there has been a widespread misrepresentation in both social and electronic media, distorting the actual events in court. It is crucial to outline the facts leading to SC/CV/1701/2024.”
Iboroma explained that on November 29, 2023, Martins Chike Amaewhule and another individual filed Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/1613/2023 at the Federal High Court in Abuja. The suit sought 11 reliefs, none of which addressed the issue of defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to Iboroma, while the suit was pending, Amaewhule and 26 others defected from the PDP to the APC on December 11, 2023, thereby automatically losing their seats in the Rivers State House of Assembly. However, this defection was never presented before the court for determination, either in the original suit or in the subsequent appeals.
“Furthermore, before judgment was delivered in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/1613/2023, Amaewhule and the 26 others did not inform the court that they had defected from the PDP to the APC,” Iboroma emphasized.
He noted that the core issue in the case was the 2024 Appropriation Law (i.e., the 2024 budget), which has now been overtaken by events, as the state is operating under the 2025 budget.
**“The Appropriation Law 2024 has been fully spent and
