Benue High Court vacates order stopping Speaker, House members from sitting

Court order that restrained Benue State House of Assembly Speaker, Titus Uba, and 21 other members from sitting at the Assembly complex has been vacated.

This came as the State High Court sitting in Makurdi on Monday, and presided over by the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Aondover Kaa’kan, described the order as an “academic exercise” and vacated it.

Hon and Ashiekaa had urged the court to set aside the interim order of August 13, 2018 which restricted the Speaker, Uba, and 21 others from conducting business activities in the Assembly complex.

The interim order was a ruling of Justice Theresa Igoche on a motion brought before her by Mike Osman (SAN), counsel to the impeached Speaker, Terkibir Ikyange, last August.

But Kaa’kan, ruling on a motion brought to it by counsels to the Speaker, Mr. Sebastine Hon (SAN) and Edward Ashiekaa (SAN), vacated the restraining order.

He said in his ruling that by law, the judicial arm of government cannot restrain the Benue State House of Assembly from performing its legislative functions.

He further held that the role of the judiciary was not to overheat the polity with orders capable of destabilising same, maintaining that the court should not encourage impunity in any way.

Justice Kaa’kan described the argument against the granting of the motion by counsel to the former Speaker, Terkibir Ikyange , and seven others, Mr . Sunday Okpale , as an academic exercise .
He held that the interim order of August 13 , 2018 , which restrained the use of the Assembly complex, played on the intelligence of an earlier order and the entire legal system and was a dent on the image of the judiciary.

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Accoring to Justice Kaa’kan injunctive orders were not at the beck and call of the court to be shared and that claimant must earn them.

The Chief Judge who adjourned the case to November 28, however, transferred the substantive case to Justice Augustine Ityonyiman of High Court 9 for hearing and determination on November 26th, 2018.

Speaking on the ruling, the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Micheal Gusa, said by virtue of the ruling that the Benue State House of Assembly under the leadership of Uba can now conduct legislative business at the Assembly Complex.

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