The Court of Appeal on Monday dismissed two appeals filed by former Rivers local government chairmen aligned with ex-governor Nyesom Wike.
The appeals, marked CA/PH/137M/2024 and CA/PH/145M/2024, were submitted by Hon. Enyiada Cookey-Gam and six others, but were found to lack merit.
These ex-chairmen had contested the high court’s ruling on the extension of their tenure. On May 21, a Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt nullified the six-month tenure extension for the chairmen of the state’s 23 local government areas.
Justice D.G. Kio declared the Local Government Law No. 2 of 2024, which extended their tenure, as invalid, citing inconsistency with the 1999 constitution and Section 9(1) of Rivers State Law No. 5 of 2018, which set a three-year term for local government chairmen and councillors.
Following this, on June 19, Governor Siminalayi Fubara appointed caretaker committee chairmen for the 23 local government areas.
