The Rivers State House of Assembly just concluded its sitting on Friday, July 5, 2024 wherein it took a decision on the decision of the Appeal Court which passed its judgment on Thursday, July 4, 2024 on some of the issues before it which relate to the State Assembly.

Rising from the sitting, the Speaker, Victor Oko-Jumbo declared that the seats of the erstwhile Speaker of the Assembly, Martins Amaewhule and 24 others remain vacant.

He asserted that, so far, no competent court of law has vacated the declaration of the seats of Amaewhule and the 24 other former lawmakers vacant by its then Speaker, Ehie Edison, on Wednesday, December 13, 2023.

He informed that the judgment of the Appeal Court on Thursday, July 4, 2024 has also been appealed to the Supreme Court.

Recall that Amaewhule and 24 other of his colleagues had on Monday, December 11, 2023 defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that sponsored them in the 2023 election to their seats in the Assembly to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

They were subsequently received into the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Saturday, December 16, 2023 at an elaborate rally organized by a faction of the Rivers State Chapter of the APC led by Tony Okocha.

These moves effectively sealed their fate as no longer being members of the State Assembly based on Section 109 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Curiously, in a surprising about-face, the lawmakers ahev resorted to deploying all sorts of tactics to make a comeback to the Assembly.