By CASMIR NWANKWO

A Chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, has warned purveyors of falsehood to stop misinterpreting courts verdicts in the ongoing political crisis in Rivers State.

Eze, admonished media practitioners to always do proper assessment of information and be more professional in their reportage of events.

He stated that Rivers State has been liberated and no amount of scheming by Nyesom Wike and other misguided followers can reverse it.

Eze assured that Rivers State has been liberated and no amount of scheming by Wike and those acting for and on his behalf can reverse an orchestration of the Divine and cautioned the outgoing Chairman of Emohua Local Government Council, Chidi Lloyd and others in his cadre to desist from making inflammatory comments as their exit date of June 18 remains sacrosanct and unchanged regardless of whatever contrary opinion they hold.

This was contained in a statement he issued and made available to NewsExpress on Friday.

The erstwhile National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New People’s Democratic Party (nPDP), frowned at the bizarre falsehood deliberately concocted and peddled in social, print and electronic media by a band of conflict entrepreneurs and political tradesmen known for leaping from one solipsistic script to another, in their failed attempt to corrupt very plain and unequivocal judgements of a State High Court sitting in Degema which dismissed suit No.

DHC/20/CS/2034 for lacking in merit and the later ruling of the Court of Appeal in Appeal No. CA/PH/198/2024 brought by Martin Chike Amaewhule & 24 Ors (as Appellants) v. Rt. Hon. Victor Oko Jumbo & 5 Ors (Respondents).

The first suit brought by Hyacinth Wosa Amadi & 3 Ors v Rt. Hon. Martin Amaewhule and 3 Ors. Was part of efforts by stranded 27 former Rivers Lawmakers to shop for respite against the backdrop of their lost seats as state lawmakers after they voluntarily exited the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) on which mandate they rode to power, and pitched tent with the All Progressives Congress on the orders of their overlord and FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, around December 2023.

The judgment of the said suit, coram Dr. O David Gbasam delivered June 10, 2024, ordered as follows: “That this suit be and is hereby dismissed/struck out for want of jurisdiction. ⁠That the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) be and is hereby joined as 4^th Defendant. That the Claimants’ Case be and is hereby dismissed for lacking in merit.

Despite the unambiguous wordings of the ruling/judgement of the court delivered June 10, 2024 – as reproduced above, the stranded former lawmakers alongside political merchants and purveyors of falsehood manufactured a self-infatuated addendum or better still, a self-serving interpretation to the said judgment pathologically different in text and texture and in fact, antithetical to the meaning the verdict conveys, thus painting the judge in bad light and reducing his worth in the estimation of right thinking members of the public.

On the Appeal which came up today Friday June 14, 2024, for hearing by virtual means via zoom, their Lordships – Jimi Olukayode Bada, Hamma Akawu Barka and Balkisu Bello Aliyu, on their ruling on two motions filed by Martins Amaewhule and others challenging the order of injunction granted by the Rivers State High Court restraining them from parading as lawmakers, granted their first prayer for leave to compile and transmit the Record of Appeal, accelerated hearing and stay of further proceeding at the High Court.

The court in its wisdom refused their second prayer for stay of execution and setting aside the interim order of the Lower Court stopping them from acting as members of the Rivers State House of Assembly as granting same would amount to prematurely touching the res (subject matter of the suit) still pending at the State High Court and ordered that status quo be maintained.

By the Order that Status quo be maintained the Court of Appeal is simply saying that all parties should remain where they were before the Appeal was brought. And before the Appeal was initiated, Martin Amaewhule and his stranded colleagues were no longer members of the Rivers State House of Assembly on the strength of the Order of the Rivers State High Court against which the present Appeal was lodged.

But Like Mark Twain noted in his quote — ‘A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes’, the distorted versions of the judgement of the Degema High Court and ruling of the Court of Appeal paraded by the disgruntled politicians currently commands wider circulation, undermining the factual underpinning of the decisions conveyed in the judgement and ruling.

The cocktail of lies sold to the media to sway the unsuspecting public on the Degema High Court judgement of June 10, is to the effect that the court declared that the 27 stranded former Lawmakers never left the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and on that footing they have been reinstated as members of the Rivers State House of Assembly. And on the other hand, the Order to maintain status quo issued by the Court of Appeal today, is being misinterpreted to mean that again, Martins Amaewhule and co have been reinstated as Speaker and members of the Rivers State House of Assembly even when the said order and the meaning it conveys is glaringly clear to those unlettered in law.

Admonishing media practitioners to rise to its responsibility of doing proper assessment of information shared to them before dishing same out to readers and listeners in order that citizens are not misled but constantly kept abreast on every update and unfolding events, Chief Eze said it falls below minimum standard for practitioners to hurriedly dispense unverified information as such practice smacks of manifest unprofessionalism.

He said the mendacity of the paid sycophants on the verdicts of the courts particularly the judgement of the Degema High court have severely lowered the rating of the Judge in the estimation of right thinking members of the public who were fed with a direct contrast of the judgement of court by desperate politicians inclined to foment trouble in pursuit of private vendettas, stressing that the Wike gang owe the Rivers Judiciary particularly, Justice Okogbule Gbasam an apology for so battering his image.

The APC Chief restated that the order to maintain status quo does not in any way affect the status of Victor Jumbo as Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly and urged the public to disregard the falsehood paraded by mischief makers.

Eze assured that Rivers State has been liberated and no amount of scheming by Wike and those acting for and, on his behalf, can reverse an orchestration of the Divine and cautioned the outgoing Chairman of Emohua Local Government Council, Chidi Lloyd and others in his cadre to desist from making inflammatory comments as their exit date of June 18 remain sacrosanct and unchanged regardless of whatever contrary opinion they hold.

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