Rivers crisis: Amaewhule, others admitted to defecting from PDP, Clark insists

Elder statesman and prominent Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, has affirmed the existence of evidence confirming that Martins Amaewhule, the disputed Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, along with 27 other lawmakers, have admitted to defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In a comprehensive critique of the political turbulence in the state on Monday, he laid blame on former Governor Nyesom Wike, who is now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and the defected lawmakers, asserting that the defected assembly members elected under the PDP attempted to justify their defection through a series of court actions, filing multiple conflicting affidavits.

Clark accused them of lying under oath in different courts, an act he labelled as perjury.

He highlighted their failure to disclose their departure in their initial case before Justice James Omotosho’s court and criticised their subsequent attempts to secure favourable rulings in Justice Donatus Okorowo’s court.

Clark stated that the defected lawmakers admitted in one affidavit to having left the PDP due to disagreements but failed to acknowledge their public defection during earlier legal proceedings.

This omission, he argued, invalidated their claims and revealed their intention to… Read full article.