The Federal High Court in Abuja has rejected a plea to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a by-election for 27 seats in the Rivers State House of Assembly.
These seats belong to lawmakers who allegedly defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC). The judgment was delivered by Justice Peter Lifu on Friday.
The case was brought forward by the Action Peoples Party (APP), which argued that INEC was constitutionally obligated to hold by-elections for the affected seats.
However, the court ruled against the APP, stating that the lawsuit could not proceed since the issue of the lawmakers’ defection is still being contested in other ongoing cases.
Justice Lifu acknowledged that the APP had the legal right to file the case but emphasized that the court could not rule on the matter because it would be interfering with previous court orders that are still valid.
Additionally, the court highlighted that the APP filed the case more than eight months after the lawmakers allegedly defected, making the suit statute-barred, as the time to take legal action had expired.
The court further mentioned that the evidence presented by the APP, which was a flash drive containing images of people with flags, was insufficient to prove the lawmakers’ defection.
In his judgment, Justice Lifu dismissed the case for being a duplication of ongoing legal actions, describing it as an abuse of court processes. He added that several cases related to the lawmakers’ defection were already pending in other courts.
Several key figures were present in the courtroom, including Hon. Martin Amaewhule, the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, and other members who are loyal to former governor and current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mr. Nyesom Wike.
The APP’s lawsuit, identified as FHC/ABJ/CS/978/2024, asked the court to determine whether INEC’s failure to organize a by-election for the 27 vacant seats was unconstitutional.
The party argued that INEC was required by law to schedule elections after the lawmakers switched parties. The APP also requested an injunction to stop the lawmakers from performing any legislative duties.
In response to the court’s ruling, Hon. Amaewhule denied claims that he and his colleagues had defected to the APC. He accused the current governor of Rivers State, Siminialayi Fubara, of attempting to undermine democracy by removing them from office.
“We never defected from the PDP,” Amaewhule said, stressing that the move to declare their seats vacant was politically motivated.
The lawmakers were initially elected under the PDP platform but were reported to have joined the APC following a political conflict between Governor Fubara and his predecessor, Wike.
After their alleged defection, Hon. Edison Ehie, who was aligned with Governor Fubara, declared their seats vacant and took over as Speaker. However, Ehie later resigned, and Hon. Victor Oko-Jumbo succeeded him.
