The Federal High Court in Port Harcourt has fixed March 18, 2024, to hear a suit seeking to sack the 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who defected from the People’s Democratic Party to the All-Progressives Congress.
The 27 lawmakers, led by the Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, are loyal to immediate-past Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike.
They defected from the PDP to the APC at the height of the political crisis between Wike and the incumbent governor, Siminalayi Fubara.
The suit seeking to sack them was filed by the Rivers State Civil Society Organisations.
The plaintiff is contending that by the provisions of Section 109 of the 1999 Constitution, the lawmakers must lose their seats in the Assembly having abandoned the party on which they were elected to the legislature.
The suit, which was scheduled to come up on Monday, was adjourned as the presiding Judge, Justice Stephen Dalyop Pam, was said to be away for a judges’ conference.
The matter was, therefore, adjourned till March 18.
