APP Vows to Appeal Court Judgment on Defection of 27 Rivers Lawmakers

*Coalition of opposition lawmakers rejects judgment

Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt

The Action Peoples Party (APP) has vowed to appeal the judgment of the Federal High Court Abuja that declared the defection of the 27 Rivers State lawmakers as a pre-election issue.
This is just as the coalition of opposition lawmakers has also rejected the court judgment.
The Federal High Court Abuja had Friday dismissed a defection suit instituted by the APP against the 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
Justice Peter Lifu, in the judgment, held that the suit was not only statute-barred, but also an abuse of court process.

Justice Lifu noted that while the 27 lawmakers believed to be loyal to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, allegedly defected in December last year, the APP filed the suit on July 12, about eight months after the cause of action arose.
The judge held that the suit was statute-barred, having not been filed within 14 days as allowed by law.
But the party in a statement by its National Chairman, Mr. Uche Nnadi, while rejecting the ruling, insisted that the judgment would be challenged at a higher court.

He stated that the court ruling was against the constitution. “If the court says the matter is a pre-election issue, then, how can someone who is yet to win election as a lawmaker defect even when he has not been elected,” he asked.
Nnadi added that the party was already filing an appeal against the judgment. “So, decampment is now a pre-election matter? That’s not what the constitution says.

 “No court has declared that the decampment of the lawmakers is valid. They can’t come through the back door. The matter is being appealed,” he further added.
Meanwhile, a coalition of opposition lawmakers has also rejected the court judgment
They insisted that the judgment was an assault on constitutional democracy and that Hon. Oko Jumbo remains the legitimate Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly based on existing High Court judgments and rulings recognising him as such.

The opposition coalition, through its spokesperson, Hon. Ikenga Imo Ugochinyere,  at a world press conference, stated that the lawmakers’ seats remained vacant because, according to the law, they defected to the APC and are no longer members of the PDP.

Ugochinyere, who represents Ideato Federal Constituency in Imo State, also pointed to several valid High Court rulings that had restrained the 27 lawmakers from illegally presenting themselves as members of the assembly, while declaring Oko Jumbo the legitimate Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
Ikenga reaffirmed that Oko Jumbo remained the Speaker and that the coalition plans to appeal the ruling.

The opposition considered it highly unusual and legally unfounded that issues of defection, which can occur anytime during a lawmaker’s four-year mandate, are now being declared a pre-election matter subject to the 14-day timeframe, as if they were primary election issues.
Ikenga explained that the constitution recognises pre-election issues as primarily related to party primaries, not defection, which must first be ruled on by the court before any by-election can be conducted.

Expressing optimism that the judgment would be overturned on appeal, the lawmakers referenced a High Court judgment from months prior, barring the 27 sacked lawmakers from presenting themselves as assembly members. They added that this ruling remains valid and has not been voided by any higher court.