The High Court in Rivers State has scrapped section three of the Rivers State House of Assembly Service Commission Law amended recently by the speaker Martins Amaewhule-led Assembly.
The Assembly bypassed Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s assent to enact the section, which transferred the power to appoint the chairman and members of the commission to the speaker of the House.
Irked by the development, the Association of Legal Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners (ALLDAP), a non-governmental organisation, filed a suit seeking the court’s interpretation of the new section and its conformity with the Nigerian Constitution.
The NGO prayed the court to determine whether section three of the amended House of Assembly Service Commission Law No. 3 of 2024 was in line with the Constitution.
Justice Kariba Dagogo-Jack, in his judgement, averred that the amendment violated sections 5, 176, 197, and 198 of the Nigerian Constitution.
Dagogo-Jack explained that the Constitution gave the exclusive right to appoint members of boards, commissions, and institutions, including the States Assembly Service Commission, to the executive governors of the states.
But the judge said the appointments must be confirmed by the States Houses of Assembly asserting that the court would not permit such an amendment to stand.
She said the actions of the Martin Amaewhule-led House of Assembly was an attempt by the lawmakers to take over the responsibilities of the executive in violations of the principle of separation of powers.
The judge struck out section three of the law and imposed a perpetual injunction preventing the enforcement of the section.
