A Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt on Friday has issued a restraining order against Hon. Martin Chike Amaewhule from continuing as Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, following a motion declaring his seat vacant.

The presiding Judge of High Court 19, Hon. Justice Charles N. Wali, granted the order in response to a motion brought by the new factional Speaker of the House, Hon. Victor Oko Jumbo, and two others. The court also prohibited 24 other members of the Assembly from accessing the complex or engaging in legislative activities on behalf of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

Speaking on the ruling, Justice Wali stated, “The 1st to 25th Defendants are restrained from parading and holding out themselves as members of the Rivers State House of Assembly or conducting legislative business, pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice.”

The motion, brought by Speaker Hon. Jumbo and his colleagues, sought to restrain members who defected from their original party, which sponsored them into the Assembly, to another political party, from acting as members of the Parliament after losing their seats.

The court also barred the 26th to 28th defendants from interacting or transacting with the ousted members in their purported capacities as members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.

The defendants include the factional Speaker, Amaewhule, and his colleagues who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress, along with Governor Siminalayi Fubara, the Attorney-General of the State, and the Chief Judge of Rivers State.

Furthermore, the court ordered that the motion, writ, and other legal documents be served on the defendants within seven days by pasting them at the entrance gate of the Rivers State House of Assembly Legislative Quarters.

The case has been adjourned to May 29, 2024, for further proceedings.

This ruling follows the declaration of the seats of 27 lawmakers vacant by the ruling PDP in December 2023, after they defected to the APC, citing Section 109 (1) (g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).

Hon. Jumbo emerged as the new Speaker on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, following these developments.