The Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Mr Ikuinyi Owaji-Ibani, has insisted that he is still the Speaker despite the court ruling that nullified his election and that of 19 other lawmakers on Monday.
According to the Speaker, neither him nor his fellow lawmakers were sacked based on the judgment delivered by the Rivers State Election Petitions Tribunal.
Owaji-Ibani who stated that he had filed an appeal contesting the ruling of the tribunal, maintained that both he and the other lawmakers, whose elections were nullified, were still members of the House.
“All I want to say is that ‘I, Ikuinyi Owaji-Ibani, have appealed against the judgment of the lower court and that if it comes to Andoni where I come, I know my people and my people know me.
“Going by the several judgments given by the different panels at the Rivers State Election Petitions Tribunal, I would say that the Rt. Hon. Ikuinyi Owaji-Ibani, the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, was not sacked by any election petition tribunal.
“What happened was that a tribunal gave a ruling in its opinion against my election that of 19 other members of the legislature and none of the members were also sacked by the tribunal.
“I’m still the Speaker, Rivers State House of Assembly and the other members are still members of the Rivers State House of Assembly,” Owaji-Ibani stressed.
Owaji-Ibani further stressed that the immediate past Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Professor Attahiru Jega, had declared the Rivers election free and fair.
“In the circumstance, I do not believe that the judiciary as one of the key institutions of the state can subsume itself and allow personal interests to override its very essence, the essence of having the judiciary in the polity to make sure that everyone is equal before the law,” the Speaker noted.
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