The Rivers State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Dagogo Israel Iboroma, clarified that a Port Harcourt High Court did not declare Martin Amaewhule and 26 others as members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or the Rivers State House of Assembly (RSHA).
“There is misleading news circulating that Amaewhule and others are members of the PDP and the House of Assembly.
This information is meant to deceive the public,” Iboroma stated in a press release in Port Harcourt.
Iboroma urged the public to disregard such news, emphasizing that it is false and without legal basis.
“As the 3rd defendant in Suit No. DHC/20/CS/2024, I can confirm that the court did not seek to declare the seats of Martin Amaewhule and 26 others vacant,” he said. “The suit was struck out for lack of locus standi and jurisdiction, as well as for being an abuse of the court process.”
Amaewhule and the others defected from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress on December 11, 2023, and this was stated in affidavit evidence in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/1681/CS/2023 before the Federal High Court, Abuja.
“By Section 272(3) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, only the Federal High Court can determine whether Amaewhule and the others are still members of the PDP and the RSHA,” Iboroma explained.
He also noted that there is an existing interlocutory injunction restraining Amaewhule and his colleagues from presenting themselves as lawmakers in Rivers State until the substantive suit is determined.
“The public should disregard the misinformation that Amaewhule and 26 others have been declared as members of the PDP and the RSHA,” he concluded.
