Speaker Martins Amaewhule of the Rivers State House of Assembly has expressed his dissatisfaction over the conduct of the state governor, Siminialayi Fubara, accusing the governor of deliberately refusing to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law.
Amaewhule’s remarks followed the Federal High Court’s dismissal of a lawsuit filed by the All Peoples Party (APP), which sought to remove him and 26 other lawmakers, labeling the case as an abuse of the court process.
The Speaker alleged that Fubara has a history of disregarding court rulings and orders in his bid to oust lawmakers, accusing the governor of orchestrating multiple frivolous lawsuits through proxies, including the APP, out of fear of the rule of law and the separation of powers.
Fubara said: “We listened to the judge and he made references to previous judgements and court orders that the governor of Rivers has failed to respect. I know he will also not respect this one.
“He has sworn not to respect the Constitution of Nigeria. Fubara has sworn not to respect the judgements of the court even the Supreme Court and he has decided to govern Rivers outside every provision of the law. But we should be rest assured that all of us will continue to push for our democracy. We will remain undeterred”.
Amaewhule said the judgement had further emphasised that his office as a speaker was not vacant and that he remained the leader of the authentic House of Assembly.
He said the court had also dismissed the claim that they defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to their All Progressives Congress (APC).
He said: “We are commending the judiciary. The judge was very clear. All that we hear is pleasing to our ears. It is a further confirmation of previous judgements and injunctions of another court of competent jurisdiction.
“The most important thing is that our adversaries are hell-bent on taking us out of our seats. But what we have heard has clearly shown that the office of the speaker of Rivers State House of Assembly is not vacant.
“It is not in contention. The Rivers State House of Assembly under my leadership is the only House known to law. A lot has been said about the issue of defection.
“27 of us never defected to any other party. We were elected under the platform of the People Democratic Party and we never defected. We never took any steps to defect to another party.
“What you see every time are mere plans by the governor. Siminialayi Fubara is sponsoring everything to remove us from office because he can’t withstand the rule of law. He doesn’t want to govern under the tenets of our democracy and he doesn’t want to obey the principles of separation of power.
“The governor is afraid of democracy and that is why he is hell-bent on removing all of us. He runs to every court looking for how to remove us from the backdoor. What the court has said is clear. No such thing as defection. We have a right to defect but we never defected. The governor is the one sponsoring all the persons going from one court to another”.
Amaewhule said the only way democracy could be sustained in the country was to ensure the rule of law and obedience to the constitution.
He said: “I can tell you, the only way our democracy can be sustained; the only way the dividends of democracy can get to our people is when you have the rule of law in place; when you allow separation of power to have its way; when you allow the legislature to function and when you disallow the arbitrary tendency of the executive particularly from the likes of the governor who doesn’t understand where the boundaries are between the legislature and the executive”.
But the APP vowed at the weekend to appeal the judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja that nullified its case against the 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
The Rivers State Legal Adviser of APP, Henry Ekine, said the judge did not consider the merit of the case explaining that the APP never requested the removal or sacking of the Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, and 26 others from the State House of Assembly.
He argued that the party relied on the provisions of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to request the court to ensure that no vacuum was allowed to exist in line with existing law.
Ekine said the APP had started reviewing the judgment and would take further necessary action soon.
He said: “What we want you to know here is to tell the public: our esteemed members and the general public, that nothing substantial has changed. All of the decisions that have come out from the various high courts; courts of coordinate jurisdiction, I think will be settled when we get to the Supreme Court.
“What is fundamental is that the judgment of Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, Abuja is not final, and then, it has not changed substantially the position of the Rivers State House of Assembly with respect to its leadership as far as APP is concerned.
“That is why we went to court. We feel strongly, up until now, that there are vacant positions in the Rivers House of Assembly, and those positions need to be filled. To our knowledge, there are three members that are left. The Speaker, in that regard, is the person of Rt Hon Victor Oko-Jumbo. This is what the public needs have.”
