A bench warrant of arrest issued against the former Governor of Rivers state, Rotimi Amaechi, Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 elections, Tonye Cole and the Commissioner for Power in Amaechi’s administration, Austine Wokocha, has been set aside by an appeal Court in Port Harcourt, the state’s capital. 

This came after the defendants filed an appeal against the arrest warrant issued in a case involving the sell of public assets including the state’s gas turbines by the Amaechi administration to Sahara Energy, a company that is owned by Cole, a businessman turned politician.

The appeal considered by a panel of three judges, of which two of them agreed that the order be set aside.

Justice Abdul-azeez Waziri who read the ruling that was prepared by the presiding Judge of the Court, Joseph Ikyegh, said the order by the lower court was made in defiance of the Court of Appeal.

He read that the order of arrest was given when there was already an application before the Appeal Court by Amaechi challenging the service of information on him pursuant to Section 313 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law in the state.