The court, presided over by Justice Ahmed Mohammed, granted an injunction restraining the National Assembly from assuming the law-making functions of the state assembly.
The court equally ruled that the National Assembly has no powers to order the Inspector General of Police to redeploy the Commissioner of Police in Rivers State, Joseph Mbu.
Two indigenes of Rivers State – Tamunoteim Asobari and John Kpakol – had approached the court to challenge the decision of the National Assembly to take over the functions of the state assembly after a bloody clash between loyalists of Governor Rotimi Amaechi and his opponents.
The National Assembly had also directed the IGP to redeploy the Commissioner of Police, who was accused of playing a partisan role in the crisis in the state.
The Senate, the Senate President, the House of Representatives and its Speaker, the IGP, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on States and Local Government, the Attorney General of Rivers State, the Rivers State House of Assembly and its Speaker were listed as the defendants in the suit.
Justice Mohammed, in his ruling on Wednesday held that the Abuja FHC had the jurisdiction to hear and determine the suit.
He equally held that the plaintiffs, who contended that they were indigenes of Rivers State, who voted for members of the state assembly, had the locus standi to file the suit.
Source: Punch
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