(JUST IN) Rivers State Crisis: Chief Judge Reassigns Case on Pro-Wike Lawmakers’ Defection

Hon. Justice John Tsoho, Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, has ordered the transfer of cases challenging the defection of 25 state lawmakers from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The cases, originally presided over by Justice Steven Dalyop Pam in Federal High Court 4, Port Harcourt, will now be heard in Court Two, led by Justice E. O. Obele. This decision follows a petition from one of the defendants, Hon. Martins Amaewhule, requesting the reassignment of the case to a different court.

The lawsuits were brought forward by the BOOT Party and other plaintiffs (suit number FHC/PHC/269/2024), as well as various civil society organizations in Rivers State, all opposing the lawmakers’ defection to the APC.

During Monday’s court session, Justice Pam read Amaewhule’s petition, which had been addressed to Chief Judge Tsoho, seeking to halt the proceedings and transfer the case to another court. Counsel for the BOOT Party, Mr. Reuben Wanogho, argued that the petition was an attempt to derail the ongoing case and urged the court to proceed. Conversely, Ferdinand Orbi, representing the 25 defendants, claimed no prior knowledge of the petition and supported its consideration, asking the court to pause proceedings accordingly.

Justice Pam noted that Amaewhule had not formally submitted a motion or counter-affidavit, rendering him technically unrecognized in the ongoing case at that point.