Pro-Wike lawmakers not State Assembly members – Rivers Govt insists

The Rivers State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Dagogo Iboroma, has insisted that the 27 members of the state Assembly loyal to ex-governor Nyesom Wike have lost their seats as members of the State House of Assembly.

Iboroma said that the lawmakers, led by the Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, had last year defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC, and are no longer members of the PDP.

Iboroma said this in a statement on Wednesday, stressing that contrary to reports, the Certified True Copy of a Monday judgment by the Rivers State High Court, validated the position that Amaewhule and his colleagues were no longer PDP members and by virtue of that lost their seats as members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

“The court did not make a declaration that Martin Amaewhule is the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, nor did it make a declaration that Martin Amaewhule and 26 others are members of the Rivers State House of Assembly and the Peoples Democratic Party.

“If it were so, it would have been embodied in the court orders, which have been circulated to you all and displayed by me here for the purpose of clarity,” he said.

According to him, the court had been painted in a bad light and the public misled and misinformed, adding that whatever finding of fact that is not included in the court order is an Obiter Dictum, which has no binding force.

“Once again, I respectively urge the media to desist from giving any interpretation to any judgment without first reading the content of the judgment and seeking legal advice,” he added.

Pro-Wike lawmakers not State Assembly members – Rivers Govt insists