A Port Harcourt High Court presided over by Justice Chuku has refused to grant an interlocutory injunction sought by associates of Senator Magnus Abe against the All Progressives Congress, APC.
The judge who rejected pleas by lawyers of the splinter group to persuade the court to entertain a motion or grant the order said the matter before him would be returned to the State Chief Judge for reassignment.
He said that as a vaction Judge he was aware that the vacation period is about to come to an end, and insisted that there was nothing he could do to entertain the matter.
The refusal of the learned judge to go along with the request is being hailed in some quarters as an attempt by the Judiciary in Rivers State to play strictly in accordance with the rules.
Henry Bello, lawyer to the party of litigants who had approached the court prayed the judge to issue a restraining order.
Apparently, Bello may have reckoned that if the court did not restrain the APC and its officials, the party would be left in a position to go ahead with its planned registration exercise in Rivers State.
The court however insisted that the Plaintiffs should properly place the Defendants who had not been served with the summons on notice.
The Court also granted permission for lawyers representing the Plaintiffs to serve Governor Mai Mala Buni and Barrister Isaac Ogbobula who are Chairmen of the Caretaker Committees of the party at the national and state levels through substituted service.
The suit which was heard Wednesday was filed by five members of the Abe group against the All Progressives Congress, APC.
The Plaintiffs include Rt. Hon Emmanuel Deeyah, Hon. Golden Ben China, Queen Enyi, Ogundu Mini and Nkesi Chindah
Among other things, they are seeking to invalidate the right of the National Secretariat of the APC to conduct a new registration of party members in Rivers State.
Brought pursuant to order 39 Rule 1 (1) – (3) of the High Court of Rivers State (Civil Procedure) Rules 2010, the litigants asked for an order of interlocutory injunction “restraining the 1st Defendant’s National Executives, Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) and the Defendants acting by themselves or through their proxies or agents howsoever described, from scheduling, sanctioning or conducting any membership exercise of the 1st Defendant in Rivers State in the absence of validly elected Ward Executives of the Party in Rivers State pending the final determination of this suit.’
The litigants also asked the court to issue an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the 3rd Defendant from ‘purporting to act as the Caretaker Committee Chairman of the 1st Defendant in Rivers State pending the final determination of this suit.”
Said one politician in Port Harcourt who did not want his name in print, “Monkey smart; monkey smart; na because tree near tree.”
“It is no longer business as usual”, the politician remarked, “The Judiciary appears determined to see things from the eyes of the law, meaning they are not ready to be bamboozled by anyone.”
Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Deeyah and his associates may have suffered a set back, but they will have to wait for the Chief Judge to reassign the case when the courts resume.
Technically, this process is expected to take some time and time is not what Abe and his followers have in excess in their bid to frustrate the APC in Rivers State.