The High Court of Bayelsa State, sitting in Yenagoa, has issued an order restraining associates of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, from holding a mega rally in the state, pending the hearing and resolution of a Motion on Notice.
Despite the court order, George Turnah, the South-South zonal Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has vowed that the rally will proceed as planned. The rally, organized by Turnah and key loyalists of Wike, is scheduled to take place in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, on April 12, 2025.
The court order was granted on Thursday following the filing of a Motion Ex-Parte in Suit No. BYHC/YHC/CV/133/2025 by the state’s Attorney General, Mr. Biriyai Dambo (SAN). The first and second defendants/respondents in the suit are the lead convener of the rally, Turnah, and Wike. Other defendants include the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), the Inspector-General of Police, and the Commissioner of Police, Bayelsa State Police Command.
The court order states: “An order of the interim injunction is hereby made or granted restraining the 1st and 2nd Defendants, whether by themselves, their agents, associates, privies, representatives (or any person whatsoever acting at their behest), from conducting, convening, coordinating, engaging in, organising, participating in, holding, hosting, or facilitating any political assembly, rally meeting, or gathering within Bayelsa State, for the purpose of solidarity, hosting, and celebrating the 2nd Defendant in Bayelsa State, pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice for Interlocutory Injunction.”
The matter is adjourned to April 11, 2025, for hearing. However, Turnah, speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Friday, argued that the rally’s purpose does not fall within the scope of the court order.
He stated: “Our rally, as we have said, is for the purpose of inaugurating a group called the New Associates, Bayelsa State Chapter, and to appreciate President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for appointing notable sons and daughters of Bayelsa State into positions of trust in the country. That is the purpose. It is not for the purpose that the court order captured. In fact, the purpose for which we want to hold our rally is not captured in this order.”
Turnah emphasized, “So, we are going ahead. Any day we see an order of court stopping us from holding a rally for the purpose of appreciating and solidarising with President Tinubu and for the purpose of inaugurating the Bayelsa State chapter of the New Associates, we comply and follow the law.”
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