With good reason, the people of Rivers State are on edge as they await the ruling of the Court of Appeal in the case that twenty-four lawmakers, including House of Assembly Speaker Martins Amaewhule, challenged the ruling of the state High Court. The ruling would put an end to the protracted political dispute, claims, and counter-claims, bringing peace to the oil-rich state. Head of State Siminialayi Fubara and Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Chief Nyesom Wike, are both running for leadership roles in the Rivers Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), according to The Nation.
The High Court in Port Harcourt granted an interlocutory injunction formally recognising Victor Oko-Jumbo as speaker, which has caused controversy. Justice Charles Wali of the State High Court also got Amaewhule and twenty-four others to step down from their roles as speaker and assembly members. Amaewhule and twenty-four other state parliamentarians, however, petitioned the Court of Appeal to vacate the ruling, allowing them to resume their employment.
The Port Harcourt Court of Appeal chose to hear the matter and issue a verdict even though they declined to stop the order's enforcement. All parties were directed to maintain the status quo by the three-person Appeal panel, which consisted of Justices Jimi Olukayode Bada, Hamma Akawu, and Balkisu Bello Aliyu. However, the governor has been meeting formally with the three-member House of Assembly, presided over by Oko-Jumbo, because he has the interim order. The Oko-Jumbo-led Assembly carefully reviewed and authorized members to serve on caretaker committees for local governments.
Regardless, the elected board chairs of local governments whose mandates ended on June 17 are still not resigning; instead, they are citing the tenure extension bill that Amaewhule's caucus of lawmakers enacted. By claiming their six-month extension under the new local government statute, they gave the governor the authority to hold fresh elections for the post. They made it clear that they would not follow the High Court's ruling to repeal the tenure elongation act since it contradicted previous decisions by the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal, which had upheld the status quo.