Appeal Court puts on hold arrest warrant on Amaechi, others

An Appeal Court sitting in Port Harcourt has warned against further action from the order of a Rivers State High Court, in a criminal suit by the Rivers State Government against former Governor of the state, Rotimi Amaechi and five others.

The State High Court presided over by Justice Chiwendu Nwogu, issued a warrant of arrest on May 17, 2023, against former Governor of Rivers State, Amaechi, the Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Patrick Tonye-Cole, former state Commissioner for Energy, Augustine Wokocha and three others.

When the matter resumed at the Appeal Court on Friday, Counsel to Amaechi, Akin Olujimi, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, informed the court about the ruling of Justice Nwogu of the state High Court on the criminal suit, which he said is in disregard of the stay of proceedings pending before the Appeal Court.

Olujimi also drew the attention of the court to an application to set aside the proceedings of the Rivers State High Court, pending before the appellate court, which was also disregarded by the state High Court.

Track news reports that a three man panel led by Justice Joseph Ikyegh reserved ruling on the applications after the parties argued and adopted their final written addresses.

Justice Ikyegh warned that every action must cease, pending the outcome of the ruling of the Appeal Court