Defection: Court ruling prevents INEC from conducting bye-elections to fill the ‘vacant Rivers Assembly seats’

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is not permitted to run fresh elections to fill the seats of Hon. Martins Amaewhule, the ousted speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, and 24 other people, according to the Federal High Court in Abuja.

Judge Donatus Okorowo of the aforementioned court rendered the decision, deferring it until the conclusion of the hearing and the resolution of a move on notice made by the relevant legislators.

The plaintiffs’ seats in the Rivers State House of Assembly are prohibited from being declared empty or from being attempted to be declared vacant by INEC, the People’s Democratic Party, the state assembly, or any of their representatives, according to an interim order imposed by the court.

In addition, they were forbidden from withdrawing the certificates of return belonging to the plaintiffs and applicants and from organising fresh elections to occupy the plaintiffs’ seats while the move on notice was being heard and decided.

A certified accurate copy of the court’s December 15 verdict held the orders.

The exparte motion was filed on December 15 by Amaewhule and 24 other MPs, all of whom are said to be supporters of FCT Minister Nyesom Wike.

The new Speaker, Hon. Edison Ehie, declared the MPs’ seats vacant after they switched from the People’s Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.

The state assembly’s Amaewhule faction filed a motion requesting protection from the court, prohibiting the state assembly and security agencies from preventing them from carrying out their legislative duties, exercising their rights and privileges as legislators, and taking off their security attachments.

However, the state assembly requested that the court reject jurisdiction over the subject and dismiss the petitioners’ lawsuit in a notice motion dated December 15.

Lukman Fagbemi, the attorney for the state assembly, said that the Abuja court “is not imbued with territorial jurisdiction to entertain this suit.”

Fagbemi maintained that the MPs’ alleged disagreement originated in Portharcourt and that the FHC Abuja had no jurisdiction over it.

Judge Okorowo granted an interim injunction against INEC, PDP, the State House of Assembly, the Inspector General of Police, and the State Security Service in his decision on the applicant’s exparte application.

In response to Amaewhule and other legislators’ pleas, the court issued a temporary ruling stating that the applicants’ ability to carry out their legislative duties should not be restricted.

The hearing on the subject was then postponed until December 28.

This occurs just days after Amaewhule and his deputy, Hon. Dumle Maol, were prevented from entering the assembly premises with the use of thugs by the Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt.

The new Speaker, Hon. Edison Ehie, who filed a lawsuit against Amaewhule and Maol with the House of Assembly, was also subject to the restraining order.

The source of the arguments amongst the MPs is thought to be the rivalry between Governor Simi Fubara and his predecessor, Nyesom Wike, who is currently the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.

Remember that on October 29, 2023, a portion of the Rivers State House of Assembly building at Moscow Road, Port Harcourt, caught fire.

The legislators then rescheduled their meeting for a another location.

The petitioners asked the court to issue an order preventing the factions from entering the Moscow Road site and from interfering with the assembly.

After hearing the parties’ legal statements, Justice M.W. Danagogo placed the parties under a temporary restraint while the application on notice was decided.

“An order of interim injunction restraining the Defendants and the 2nd Claimant/Applicant, either acting alone or through their agents, servants, privies, assigns, or any person(s) acting in whatsoever manner and howsoever called or described, from further use of armed thugs accompanied by police personnel in riot gear to gain access to the Rivers State House of Assembly complex at Moscow Road, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, which was burned, destroyed, damaged, and rendered uninhabitable as a result of the fire that engulfed the Assembly Complex on 29th day of October, 2023, contrary to the order of the executive Governor of Rivers State relocating the 1st Claimant’s meeting to a safer and more suitable location to ensure that the Hous