Rivers Government has signified its readiness to appeal against the ruling of a Port Harcourt High Court, restraining it from going ahead with the Judicial Commission of Inquiry on the House of Assembly crisis.
Justice Iyaye Lamikanra of a Port Harcourt High Court had on Friday declared the Commission of Inquiry illegal and unconstitutional and consequently restrained the commission from sitting.
But, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, the state Commissioner for Information and Communications, in a statement posited that Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, is empowered under the law to set up such commission of inquiry when the need arises.
According to her, exercising such powers does not in any way make Governor Amaechi a judge, noting that the High Court judgment did not take cognizance of this principle hence, the need to appeal it.
The statement reads, “For the avoidance of doubt and for purposes of clarification, Amaechi, as governor of Rivers has powers under the law to commission an inquiry into any matter or issue.
“However, such matters arose as the enabling law does not state the categories or circumstances in which the governor can be prevented from constituting such inquiries”.
