Appeal court reserves ruling on Rivers assembly crisis

The Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, has reserved ruling in the case between Martin Amaewhule and 24 others against Victor Oko-Jumbo and others.

The court, on Thursday, resolved to deliver its ruling on a later date.

The three-man panel of 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.

Amaewhule and 24 others are challenging the interlocutory injunction of Justice Charles Wali of a State High Court in Port Harcourt, which validated the declaration of their seats in the state House of Assembly vacant, pending the determination of the suit before it.

The High Court had also ordered Amaewhule and others to stop parading themselves as members of the Peoples Democratic Party and Rivers State House of Assembly until the conclusion of the matter before it

However, Amaewhule and others who were disturbed by the decision of the high court approached the Court of Appeal sitting in the state for a stay and subsequent invalidation of the ruling.

When the court sat on June 14, it urged the parties in the appeal to maintain status quo and advised the appellant to serve all the processes on the defendant.

Amaewhule, in the suit, is seeking a stay of the interlocutory orders of the High Court and challenging the jurisdiction of the lower court to entertain the matter.

But the court resolved to deliver its decision on the subject matter on a later date to be communicated to the parties

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