Court Dismisses Labour Party’s Suit Against Rivers Lawmakers Over Alleged Defection

|By Adejumo Adekunle-

Court Rules Out Fresh Hearing Over Lawmakers’ Alleged Defection
 Says Supreme Court Has Already Settled Labour Party’s Case

A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has dismissed a suit filed by the Labour Party challenging the alleged defection of the suspended Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Martin Amaewhule, and 26 other lawmakers.

Delivering judgment on Tuesday, Justice Emmanuel Obile ruled that the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the case, citing a recent Supreme Court decision which, according to him, had already settled the legal question surrounding the lawmakers’ defection.

Obile held that since the apex court had conclusively addressed the matter, revisiting it at the lower court level would amount to judicial overreach.

“The matter has already been determined by the Supreme Court. This court cannot re-open what has been conclusively resolved by a superior court,” the judge declared.

Counsel to the defendants, Ken Njemanze, SAN, had urged the court to dismiss the suit in line with the Supreme Court’s ruling, which upheld the legitimacy and continuity of the lawmakers despite their alleged defection.

In contrast, Clifford Chuku, who represented the Labour Party, argued that the defection issue was a collateral matter in the earlier case decided by the Supreme Court. He pleaded with the court to allow the suit to proceed on its own merits, independent of the Supreme Court judgment.

Despite Chuku’s submission, the court held that it was bound by precedent and could not grant a rehearing of a matter already adjudicated at the highest level.

The ruling delivers another blow to the Labour Party’s legal bid to unseat the embattled legislators, who were earlier suspended amid political tensions in Rivers State.