The struggle for power in Rivers State continues as the sitting judges of the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, reserve judgment on the pending suit between Martin Amaewhule and 24 others against Victor Oko-Jumbo and others.
On Thursday, the court resolved to deliver judgment at a later date.
The three-man panel comprising Justice Jimi Olukayode Bada, Justice Hama Barka, and Justice Balkisu Aliyu made this decision during its sitting on appeal number CA/PHC/198/2024, monitored virtually on Thursday.
Mr. Amaewhule and 24 others are challenging the High Court’s decision, which declared their seats vacant as members of the State House of Assembly.
The High Court had also ordered Amaewhule and others to stop parading themselves as members of the Peoples Democratic Party and the Rivers State House of Assembly until the conclusion of the matter before it.
Not satisfied with the High Court’s ruling, the appellants approached the Court of Appeal to reverse the judgment and reinstate them as lawmakers of the state. When the Court of Appeal heard the matter on June 14, it ruled that the appellants maintain the status quo until the proper determination of the case and advised the appellants to serve all processes on the defendants.
In today’s hearing, the court resolved to deliver judgment at a later date to be communicated to the parties, a somewhat deliberate effort by the judiciary to delay delivering judgment on the case and a proof of the interplay between the three arms of government.
