The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court has adjourned ruling for the motion to void the arrest warrant issued for Edison Ehie, chief of staff to Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers state, over allegations of conspiracy, arson, attempted murder and murder.

Justice Emeka Nwite adjourned the matter until March 25 after hearing compelling arguments from complainants and respondent counsels.

Mr Ehie’s lawyer, Oluwole Aladedoye, and five other defendants represented by Femi Falana asked the court to set aside its earlier order issuing an arrest warrant for their clients on the grounds that they were never invited for questioning and also that the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the matter.

Messrs Aladedoye and Falana argued that it did not make sense to declare citizens who were never invited for interrogation wanted. 

“He was never invited by the police for anything,” Mr Aladedoye stressed in his argument Monday morning. “All what he saw was that they filed a charge; they mentioned his name in four out of seven charges for murder, arson.”

Mr Ehie’s lawyer also argued that it was strange that the IGP left all the courts in Rivers state — where the alleged offences were committed— to file complaints before the Federal High Court in Abuja, which he said had no jurisdiction to treat the matter.

“Your Lordship has no jurisdiction to entertain the matter here. What business do they have here?” Mr Aladedoye queried, facing the counsel representing the Inspector General of Police in the courtroom.

Mr Falana, the lawyer for Jinjiri Bala, Happy Benneth, Progress Joseph, Adokiye Oyagiri, and Chibuike Peter, whose arrest warrants were also sought, argued that there was no point buttressing the terrorism allegation raised against his clients.

“In the entire written address in support of the application, there is no reference to terrorism, none.” Mr Falana contended. 

He explained that the allegations raised amounted to state offences that could not be entertained at the federal court in Abuja without the legal say-so of the Rivers State attorney-general.

“What is disclosed are state offences; it is our submission that this court cannot exercise any jurisdiction in state offences without the fiat of the Attorney General of Rivers State,” Mr Falana submitted in his oral argument.

The IGP’s lawyer, Simon Loughe, countered Mr Falana’s claim that the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court was within its right to entertain the matter based on “special and extraordinary circumstances.” He stressed that an arrest warrant issued by the Federal High Court can be executed anywhere in Nigeria.

Mr Falana further argued that his five clients had not been invited by the police and had no pending charge, meaning “nothing” formed the basis for their arrest warrant.

“Without a valid and pending charge, a warrant of arrest cannot be released. I, therefore, urge your lordship to set aside the ex parte order standing on nothing,” the senior lawyer prayed to the judge.

But Mr Loughe rebuffed him, asserting that the law did not explicitly stipulate that there must be a pending charge before a warrant of arrest could be issued. He said a complainant and material witness were the major requirements for an arrest warrant.

Mr Nwite asked the parties to reconvene on March 25 for a ruling.