Rivers APC Applauds Suit On Pro-Wike Lawmakers As APP Seeks Appeal

The caretaker committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State has applauded the decision of the Federal High Court, Abuja, dismissing a suit filed by the Action Peoples Party (APP) seeking the sack of members of the Martins Amaewhule-led House of Assembly.

The APP i had approached the court presided over by Justice Peter Lifu, urging it to mandate the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a by-election to fill the vacant elective positions in the Rivers State House of Assembly.

The APC caretaker committee, in a statement issued in Port Harcourt yesterday by its publicity secretary, Chibuike Ikenga, called on Governor Siminalayi Fubara to jettison the chase for favourable court ruling to nullify the election of the legally elected members of the House.

The statement read, “The chairman and members of the caretaker committee of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Rivers State, as critical stakeholders in the Rivers Project calls on Governor Fubara to jettison the chase for favourable court pronouncements to nullify the election of the legally elected members of the Rivers State House of Assembly led by Martins Chike Amaewhule and 25 others, rather, seek an amicable resolution of the disagreement between the executive and the legislature.

“This became necessary in view of a plethora of judicial pronouncements/decisions in favour of the Assembly members in a bid to declare their seats vacant as a result of the alleged defection from their party, the PDP to the APC.”

Meanwhile, the leadership of the Action Peoples Party (APP) in Rivers State has vowed to go to the Court of Appeal to challenge the decision of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which dismissed its suit against members of the state assembly.

Addressing journalists in Port Harcourt yesterday, APP legal adviser in the state, Barrister Henry Ekine, said instead of looking at the merit of the suit, the judge threw it away on other considerations.

Ekine stated that APP never requested the removal or sacking of Amaewhule and the others from the State House of Assembly.

He argued that the party rather relied on the provisions of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to request the court, as a responsible political party that wants the grundnorm of the country respected at all times, to look at the law, and ensure that no vacuum was allowed to exist in line with existing laws.