The Supreme Court on May 27, dismissed the appeal and ordered Amaechi to pay N1million to the respondents.
Rotimi Amaechi, former Minister of Transportation, has said he is eligible to contest for the 2023 presidential election.
Kayode Ajulo, a human rights lawyer had in a letter to the the ruling All Progressives Congress alleged section 137 (1)(i) of the 1999 constitution prohibits Amaechi from running for office owing to the allegation of N96 billion fraud against him.
According to Ajulo, the party would be taking a great risk by handing over its presidential ticket to the former minister.
Nyesom Wike, Rivers state governor, had set up a seven-man panel to probe The APC presidential aspirant over the alleged withdrawal of N96 billion from the state’s treasury during his tenure as governor.
The panel was said to have indicted some persons, including the former governor.
Amaechi then filed a lawsuit against the decision of the panel and the panel itself. The suit went from the high court to the appeal court and to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court on May 27, dismissed the appeal and ordered Amaechi to pay N1million to the respondents.
Reacting in a statement by his spokesperson, David Iyofor, the APC presidential aspirant said the Supreme Court pronounced that the reports of the commission of inquiry is not enforceable in law, with absolutely “no legal force.”
He added that Ajulo do not know and cannot interpret Nigerian laws better than the apex court.
The statement read, “The Supreme Court was unambiguous in its judgment that Governor Nyesom Wike’s Commission report was a mere report that is “not enforceable” in law, with absolutely “no legal force.”
“The Supreme Court went further to rule that Wike’s Commission clearly had “no judicial powers or power to adjudicate”; ruling categorically that the Commission’s probe is “not a civil or criminal trial” of Amaechi, and that “its findings (whatever it is) is not a conviction of Amaechi but a mere investigation.” Kayode Ajulo does not know and cannot interpret our laws better than the Supreme Court.
“Ajulo’s shameful attempt to twist and turn the ruling of our apex court upside down is repulsive and beyond disgusting. His intervention is a crazy, futile attempt to use the report of a clear witchhunt of Amaechi by Wike, to stop Amaechi from participating in the presidential elections.”