Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
A Makurdi High Court, presided over by Justice Theresa Igoche, has ruled that the order restraining Messrs Terkimbi Ikyange, James Okefe, former Deputy Speaker, and Benjamin Adanyi, former Majority Leader, from parading themselves as principal officers of the Assembly would persist pending the determination of the substantive suit.
The impeached Speaker of the Assembly, Ikyange and two other principal officers, had approached the court to vacate the interim order restraining them from parading as leaders of the House.
When the matter came up, lawyers to the former Speaker led by Mamman Mike Osuman, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) made an oral application praying the court to vacate the interim order restraining the Defendants from parading themselves as leaders of the House, issued on July 27, 2018.
He added that the order was supposed to last for just seven days and should have elapsed on Friday, August 3, 2018, sighting Order 39 rule 3(3)of the Rules of the Court.
But counsel to the new Speaker, Titus Uba and 21 others led by Sebatian Hon (SAN), opposed the application, arguing that the order was specific, depending on the happening of an event and until that event happens, it could not be vacated.
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Ruling on the matter, Justice Theresa Igoche held that the order restraining the impeached Speaker and two others from parading themselves as principal officers of the House would subsist pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.
She stated that the inability to hear and determine the said motion was not due to the fault of the applicant, maintaining that the order was still effective pending the hearing and determination of the motion.
The judge adjourned the case to August 9, 2018 for hearing.