The Federal High Court’s Port Harcourt Division has scheduled a hearing on the subject of the speakership of the Rivers State House of Assembly for December 5, 2023.
The member representing Ahoada East State Constituency II, Edison Ehie, is praying for the court to restrain Martins Amaewhule from parading himself as the Speaker and presiding over the activities of the House.
The case was adjourned by the sitting judge, Justice Phoebe Ayua, to allow the parties to serve processes on each other. This came after the parties informed the court that they were having difficulty serving the processes on each other.
There was some mild drama in court when the matter came up as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Ken Njemanze, informed the court that Edison had retained his services to replace the counsel already representing him.
This oral application was objected to by the lead counsel to the applicant, Nathaniel Akporuvweku, who argued that he had yet to be served any notice of a change in counsel by his client while insisting that he remained the authentic counsel until informed otherwise by his client.
Meanwhile, counsel to the first and second defendants, Ferdinand Oshoke, prayed for the court to consolidate and accelerate the hearing on all applications filed in the matter since the matter bordered on the legislative arm of government.