By Kolawole Ojebisi
Rivers state government has reaffirmed that the factional speaker of the State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Martins Amaewhule and 26 other lawmakers have lost their seats in the legislative chamber.
The state commissioner for Information and Communication, Warisenibo Joe Johnson, made this known in a statement issued on Monday in Port Harcourt.
Johnson also made clarification on the true position regarding the applicability of the judgment of His Lordship, Hon Justice James Omotosho in the case of Rivers State House of Assembly V The National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (suit no: FHC/ABJ/CS/1613/2023), stressing that the judgment did not touch nor alter the status of Rt Hon Martin Amaewhule and his group of 27 as ex-members of the House of Assembly of Rivers State.
The Commissioner called on Amaewhule and 26 others to “stop misleading the public on their status as members of the House because they had since lost their seats.”
He asked the public to ignore lawmakers from the National Assembly who met in Abuja to give their support to the 27 former lawmakers.
Johnson faulted the claim by Amaewhule, and the 26 others that their defection “never took place.”
He said “it is unfortunate that these dishonest characters had in 2023 found themselves into the House of Assembly of Rivers State as lawmakers. Happily, by their own voluntary defection on the floor of the House on 11th December 2023, they got themselves out of the House”.
“Rt. Hon Martin Amaewhule and 26 others had lost their seats in the Rivers State House of Assembly following their voluntary defection/cross-carpeting which happened on the floor of the House of Assembly in the full glare of the public on 11th December 2023”.
Johnson however called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the National Judicial Council and the Inspector general of Police to ignore the deliberate misrepresentation of facts and the effect of the judgment of Justice Omotosho on the matter.
“We therefore call on the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu, the National Judicial Council, the Chief Justice of the Federation, the Inspector General of Police, all institutions in Nigeria, as well as well-meaning Nigerians to ignore the mischievous and deliberate misrepresentation of the facts and the effect of the judgment of Hon Justice Omotosho on the situation in Rivers State by Hon Amaewhule and co”.
