A Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt will, on February 27, 2024, deliver a ruling on the preliminary objection filed by the Inspector General of Police and the Rivers State Commissioner of Police challenging the jurisdiction of the State High Court to hear the fundamental rights suit filed by Edison Ehie, the Chief of Staff to the Rivers State Government.
Presiding judge Justice Sika Aprioku, after the argument by counsels representing both parties in the suit, said the outcome of the ruling on the preliminary objection will determine if the court will proceed to hear the substantive suit filed by the applicant.
The court, through an ex parte application by Demain Okoro, the counsel to Ehie, restrained the police from arresting, detaining, and harassing him over his alleged involvement in the explosion that rocked the Rivers State House of Assembly complex on October 29, 2023, based on a petition filed by the Martins Amaewhule-led lawmakers.