The Port Harcourt Division of the Federal High Court has fixed December 5, 2023, to commence hearing on the case of the speakership of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
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 presiding judge, Justice Phoebe Ayua, adjourned the case to enable all parties in the matter to serve processes on each other. This was after the parties informed the court of difficulties in 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.
