HON. CHARLES OGBONNIA ASOGWA HON. UCHENNA EKETE HON. CHIJIOKE AROH HON. FOSTER AGU HON. FRAEBEN AGWU HON. UCHENNA ANYA HON. JONATHAN CHUKWUMA HON. CALLISTUS NNAMANI HON. KENNETH OGBOZOR HON. OGUEJIOFOR NDU HON. UCHE NOMEH 12. HON. LINUS ALI HON. ETHELBERT OBAYI HON. C. C. ORJI OKPARA HON. NWABUEZE UGWU HON. HYCAINTH NSUDE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF ENUGU STATE V. THE RIGHT HON. ABEL CHUKWU HON. DR. KINSLEY EBENYI

PATS-ACHOLONU, JCA (Delivering the Lead Judgment): In this case, the respondents who were the plaintiffs had taken out summons against the appellants and the Honourable Attorney General of Enugu State who is the 17th defendant and also a respondent in this appeal. The plaintiffs claims as reflected in their pleadings run thus: “3. The 1st plaintiff is the Speaker of the House and was elected as such in 2000. The 2nd plaintiff is the Majority Leader of the House. 4. The 1st to 16th defendants are members of the House representing various constituencies in Enugu State and were elected under the Constitution.

The 1st - 16th defendants relocated to Abuja and on 25th July 2002 came in from Abujawith an uncountable number of official and unofficial security operatives and invaded the premises of the House to attend a sitting of the House summoned by the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th defendants and unleashed violence and terror on the employees and the security workers of the House.

The meeting of …