Court dismisses suit seeking to declare 25 Rivers Assembly seats vacant

Justice Okogbule Gbasam of a Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has dismissed the suit seeking to vacate the seats of the 25 lawmakers, who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In a judgment delivered today June 10, the court held that the lawmakers are still members of the Peoples Democratic Party after the claimants failed to provide proof as required by law that the  defendants are members of the All Progressives Congress.

On May 30, a Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt declared the seats of the 25 lawmakers, who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the All Progressives Congress, APC, vacant pending the determination of a suit before it.

The court, however, ordered the Rt. Hon. Martin Amaewhule, to stop parading as the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly and barred the 24 lawmakers, who are all Anti-Siminalayi Fubara, the governor of the state, from posing as lawmakers in the state.