A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State and presided over by Justice Stephen Dalyop Pam, has thrown out a petition by Martins Amaewhule seeking to reassign a suit no. FHC/PHC/269/2024, filed against him and 24 others for defecting from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Ruling on the issue on Monday, Justice Pam, dismissed the petition, observing that Amaewhule’s petition had not been served on the plaintiffs and that he had no motion or counter affidavit before the court.
Amaewhule’s petition, addressed to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, sought to stop the hearing process and reassign the case to another court, claiming that the court had refused to allow other interested parties to join the suit.
The plaintiffs’ counsel, Reuben Wanogho, had argued that the petition was an attempt to arrest the proceedings and urged the court to discountenance it.
“I urge your Lordship to totally discountenance the petition as it is targeted to arrest the proceeding.
“If your Lordship bows to this letter, then you have allowed the litigants to determine pending applications before the court even before they are heard.
“It is not part of our jurisprudence that the determination of motions for the joinder will form the bases for the transfer of cases. The application is a slap to the temple of justice and all of us who are workers in that temple,” he argued.
In his presentation,the PDP’s National Legal Adviser, Adeyemi Ajibade (SAN), had described the petition as ill-intentioned and noted that there was no intention to shut out anyone from joining the suit.
However, Counsel for the 1st to 25th Defendants in the suit, Ferdinand Orbi (SAN), denied knowledge of the petition by his client, but prayed the court to adhere to the petition and stop further proceeding if the letter was addressed to the CJ of the court.
The Court adjourned the case until June 28 for the hearing of pending motions.
