Rivers Crisis : Sack of 27 Lawmakers Still Valid, Backed By Court Order – G60
KINGSLEY BENNETH, ABUJA
ABUJA : Coalition of opposition lawmakers in the 10th House of Representatives, known as the G60, has said that the sack of 27 former Rivers State Assembly lawmakers is still valid and backed by subsisting court order.
The coalition stated this in reaction to rumours which resurfaced that the former lawmakers have been reinstated.
Speaking on the group’s behalf, Hon. Ikenga Ugochinyere stated that Oko Jumbo is still Rivers Assembly Speaker, reiterating that for the sacked lawmakers their seat remains vacant and only a by-election can bring them back.
The G60 lawmakers said, “We receive with great concerns the. misleading, false news of the judgment from a Rivers State High Court today declaring that the seats of the 27 defected law makers of the State House of Assembly in Rivers State are not vacant and they still remain members of the PDP.
Let the general public not take the press release making rounds today serious as it does not reflect the true facts of what transpired in the court today.
“The NJC should not relent in its efforts in purging the judiciary of any recklessness and rascality by some of its officers bent on continuously disparaging the integrity of the Judiciary by delving into the muddy waters of Politics by judgments emanating from their courts.
It’s widely known that these 27 Law makers publicly decamped to APC and have at various times deposed to Affidavits even in a suit at the Federal High Court in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/1681/CS/2023 that they’re now members of the APC owing to the crisis in PDP.
“The position of the law in this respect is very clear that once a member of a political party in the parliament defects to another political party when no crisis exists in the his political party, such a seat is declared vacant.
Their acts of defection is a completed act and the leadership of the House of Assembly of Rivers State has done the needful and it’s no longer an issue that their seats have since been declared vacant.
Let it be known that presently there’s a subsisting court pronouncement in Suit No PHC/512/CS/2024 restraining the 27 Law Makers from parading themselves.
We however call on the NJC to once again take note as some of its judicial officers are not backing down in their quest to satisfy the test buds of their political cronies and keeping a blind eyes to already existing legal pronouncements on issues submitted before them thereby sitting on appeal on judgments of Courts of coordinate jurisdiction.
It’s our firm belief that the 27 seats are vacant and the good people of Rivers State should not shift their grounds on the issue.”
