From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Abuja division of the Federal High Court on Thursday, dismissed applications by the former Chairman of the PDP, Uche Secondus, and two others, seeking to set aside an order restraining them from attending meetings of meetings of the leadership of the party.
Rather, the court extended the lifespan of its interim order restraining them from attending the meeting to April 25, 2024.
Others affected by the decision of the court are the sacked Governor of Rivers, Celestine Omehia, and former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Austin Opara.
Justice Ekwo had, on April 5, issued ex-parte orders, which among others, restrain the three PDP chieftains from attending any meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) and/or Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party.
They were restrained from participating in deliberations or proceedings of the meetings in any manner pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.
The restraining orders were sequel to three substantive suits filed against the three chieftains of the PDP by some members of the party in Rivers State.
The suit against Secondus and seven others, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/440/2024 was filed by Titus Jones.
The second against Omehia and five others, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/436/2024 was filed by Precious Wobisike, while the third, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/438/2024 against Opara and seven others, was filed by Chisa Amadi.
Secondus, Omehia and Opara had applied that the execution of the orders be stayed pending the determination of the appeals they filed, challenging the ex-parte orders.
Justice Inyang Ekwo, in separate rulings on Thursday, dismissed the three separate applications filed by the applicants on the ground that their motions for a stay of execution of the order were wrongly filed and therefore, incompetent.
He held that under Order 26(9)(1) of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules (FHCCPR) 2019, what Secondus, Omehia and Opara ought to do was to apply to the court to either vary or discharge the orders, not to apply for a stay.
The judge said: “By Order 26 (9) (1) of the FHCCPR 2019, it is provided that where an order is made on a motion ex -parte, any person affected by it may, within seven days after service of it, or within such further time as the court shall allow, apply to the court by motion to vary or discharge it.
The first defendant/applicant ought to have familiarised himself with the provisions of the rules of this court before embarking on this course.
“What any person, who is affected by ex-parte order of the Federal High Court has to do is provided for in Order 26(9)(1) of the FHCCPR 2019.
“There is no law which provides for appeal against ex-parte order of the Federal High Court.
It is trite that where there is no law in support of a process or action such process or action is considered as abuse of process of court.
“I find that there is no iota of law in support of this application and I so hold.
“The consequence thereof also has been stated by the court in a very steady manner.
“I therefore make an order dismissing this application for being an abuse of process of this court,” Justice Ekwo said in the ruling on the application by Secondus.
Justice Ekwo equally reached the same conclusions with respect to similar applications by Omehia and Opara.
The matter has now been adjourned until April 25 for hearing of a pending motions on notice for interim injunctions filed by the plaintiffs in the three cases.