*Abuja court orders police to stop convention
*Rivers Court Orders Police to Provide Security at convention
Tobi Soniyi and Alex Enumah in Abuja
The show of shame going on at the Federal High Court continued on Tuesday as the Abuja Division of the court issued an order directing the police to stop the Peoples Democratic Party’s convention billed to take place this Wednesday.
But the Port Harcourt division of the court had earlier made an order directing the convention to go on and also ordered the police to provide security at the convention.
Under the 1998 constitution, the Federal High Court is one court.
Sitting in Abuja, Justice Okon Abang, while stopping the convention, went ahead to threaten to deal with the organisers of the convention should they refuse to comply with his orders stopping the convention.
He particularly understood that his decision and that of his colleague in Port Harcourt were capable of ridiculing the judiciary and laboured in vain to extricate himself by blaming his colleague sitting in Port Harcourt.
The judge contended that the orders made by his colleagues in Port Harcourt were not capable of neutralising orders made by him, just as he also lacked the powers to neutralise the orders made by the Port Harcourt court because they are courts of coordinate jurisdiction. None is superior to the other.
Ruling on a motion of interlocutory injunction brought by the Ali Modou Sheriff faction to stop the convention by the Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee, Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja, berated the defendants, particularly Senator Ben Obi, for what he considered as flagrant disregard for the court.
Abang in the restraining order stopped the PDP from conducting the convention and restrained the Independent National Electoral Convention from supervising or monitoring the convention slated for today 17 August 16, 2016 or any other planned date pending the determination of the substantive matter before him.
He also restrained the party from presenting or sponsoring any person or holding any convention that would produce a new chairman of the party.
Last Monday, the judge had issued an order suspending the convention.
