The Rivers state government has clarified that the state High Court did not declare that 27 former state lawmakers are still members of the House of Assembly or Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Mr Dagogo Iboroma, the State Attorney-General and Commissioner of Justice, presented the certified true copy of the court judgment during a news conference in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.
Factional Speaker, Martin Amaewhule, and 26 other lawmakers announced their defection to the All Progressives Party (APC) in December but later denied it.
The Rivers government later took the lawmakers to court seeking an order to prevent them from parading themselves as members of the Rivers State House of Assembly (RSHA) and the PDP.
Iboroma clarified that the trending report about the court ruling in favour of the 27 assemblymen was false and intended to mislead the public.
He confirmed that the court indeed struck out the case due to a lack of merit.
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“The reports in social, print and electronic media was a misrepresentation of the judgement of the High Court of Rivers state in suite number DHC/20/CS/2024.
“Our position on the case has been confirmed and vindicated by the certified true copy of the court containing the legally binding pronouncement of the court.
“In this case, the court dismissed the case citing a lack of jurisdiction and merit while joining the PDP as the fourth defendant,” Iboroma read the judgement to the hearing of journalists.
The attorney-general described the circulated report as fake news that intended to tarnish the court’s reputation and cause confusion and misinformation among the public.
“The court did not rule that Amaewhule remained speaker of the RSHA, neither did it declare the other 26 former lawmakers as members of the RSHA and the PDP.
“Whatever finding of fact not included in the court order is an obiter dicta, which has no binding force.
“Therefore, I urge the media to desist from interpreting court judgements without reading them first and seeking legal advice before publication,” he cautioned.
