Rivers
State House of Assembly has declared as illegal, the local government
election conducted on May 23 by the immediate past administration in the
state.
The state lawmakers therefore, on Monday,
unanimously empowered Governor Nyesom Wike to dissolve the State
Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) and the State Judicial Service
Commission (RSJSC).
This followed the adoption
of a resolution to that effect by 29 lawmakers at the sitting of the
state legislature, following the appearance of officials of the bodies
before the lawmakers.
It would be recalled that the lawmakers
had, at the weekend, summoned chairman of RISIEC, Professor Augustine
Ahiazu and his commissioners to appear before the House on Monday.
The
summon was in connection with the state local government election
conducted on May 23, a few days to the expiration of the last
administration in the state.
Also summoned were the chairman and
all commissioners serving in the Rivers State Judicial Service
Commission (RSJSC) who were to appear before the state House of Assembly
same day (Monday).
At the sitting, on Monday, House Leader,
Martin Amaewhule, called on his colleagues to direct the governor to
dissolve the two commisions, arguing that their activities contradicted
their oath of office and were against the interest of the people of
Rivers State.
He argued that the actions of the members of both
RISIEC and RSJSC contravened Section 207 of the 1999 Constitution (as
amended) and Section 4 subsection 1 of the RSIEC Law and submitted that
members of the two bodies do not deserved to remain in office.
Responding
to questions from lawmakers earlier, Mr Joseph Ikeka, a legal
practitioner and member of RSJSC, said the commission decided to direct
judiciary staff workers not to obey any directive from an administrative
judge because no correspondence was received from the National
Judiciary Commission (NJC) on the subject matter.
He also argued
that the commission was working under prevailing circumstances in the
state as the judiciary was affected by the political crisis, adding that
Section 203 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) empowered the
commission to sit even in the absence of a chief judge.
He
however called on the lawmakers to amend the section of the State High
Court Law that empowered the Chief Registrar to assign cases, blaming
the previous amendment on the lawmakers of the seventh assembly.
Credit: Dapo Falade/Nigerian Tribune
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