Rita Odafe
Update on Rivers State Legal Proceedings
The Rivers State Government has confirmed that its lawsuit concerning the State House of Assembly leadership and the status of lawmakers who switched parties in December 2023 is still active in the Supreme Court.
This update was shared by Edison Ehie, the Chief of Staff to Governor Siminalayi Fubara, through a Facebook statement, addressing rumors sparked by a recent Supreme Court decision.
Ehie clarified that the ruling issued on February 10, 2025, focused solely on the Appeal Court’s previous ruling, which required Governor Fubara to present the 2024 budget to the Assembly led by Martins Amaewhule.
He mentioned that since the 2024 budget has already been executed, Governor Fubara chose to abandon his appeal related to that matter, stating that further litigation would be unnecessary.
Ehie noted: “This appeal, SC/CV/1071/2024: GOV of Rivers State v Rivers State House of Assembly & Ors, has become purely academic.”
Furthermore, he detailed that this case originated from SUIT NO. FHC/ABJ/CS/1613/2023, which was initiated on November 29, 2023, presided over by Justice James Omotosho at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The lawsuit concerned the 2024 budget, fully expended by December 31, 2024, thus concluding the fiscal year.
“The appeal provides no practical benefit in 2025, given that the budget for this year is in place. Therefore, the only logical step was to withdraw the appeal and have it dismissed,” he remarked.
Ehie further stressed that the withdrawn appeal does not influence the ongoing issue regarding the 27 lawmakers who defected from the PDP to the APC, including Martins Amaewhule.
He explained that their defection on December 11, 2023, resulted in the vacating of their seats in the State Assembly as per constitutional guidelines.
“The appeal that was withdrawn does not affect the status of Martin Chike Amaewhule and the 26 others in the Rivers State House of Assembly,” he emphasized.
Ehie urged the community to disregard misleading information spread by the lawmakers, reassuring that the matter of their defection remains unresolved in the Supreme Court.
