In suit number PHC/797/2024, the High Court of Rivers State, presided over by Hon. Justice E. Thompson and located in the Port Harcourt Division, dismissed a case brought by a group of individuals wishing to occupy several premises owned by a religious organization.
The request was deemed incompetent by the court.
The organization is now contesting the power and direction of the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star, which was established by its spiritual leader, Olumba Olumba Obu, and has its headquarters in Calabar.
Through an originating summons, the group had petitioned the High Court to have Olumba Obu uphold their fundamental rights.
Sometime around June 2023, the applicants filed the case, requesting that their basic rights to worship at and own Brotherhood of the Cross and Star worship centers in Rivers State—Ogunabali Bethel, Ekwe Street Bethel, 175 Ikwere Road Bethel, and Akpajo Bethel—be enforced.
Bishop Rowland Olumba Obu, Bishop Emmanuel Ogwutum, the Inspector General of Police, and the Commissioner of Police, Rivers State, were named as the first, second, third, and fourth respondents, respectively, in the action filed by the applicants’ attorney, E. E. Obomanu Esq.
In his Tuesday ruling, Justice Thompson concluded that the applicants’ lawsuit was without merit and incompetent.
The court clarified that E. Obomanu, the applicants’ lead attorney, had tried to deceive the court into thinking that the applicants’ human rights had been violated by starting the action with an originating summons rather than a writ of summons.
The court declared that the ownership of the different places of worship, not the violation of fundamental human rights, was the point of contention.
Both the deputy legal lead for the respondents, Justice Ahiakwo, and the lead counsel for the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star, C. U. Amadike Esq., thanked God Almighty for the ruling, which confirmed that the organization’s leadership is legal.
According to Ahiakwo, the renegades’ attempts to damage the organization’s divine reputation would remain fruitless.
The judiciary should always be the last chance, according to Archbishop Emmanuel Ogwutum, the administrator of the spiritual organization in Rivers State.
Following Justice Thompson’s ruling, Obomanu, the applicant’s attorney, commended the judge for not imposing punitive costs on his clients.
“We want to thank the court for not awarding any costs against the applicants,” he said.
As you may remember, the court had previously rejected a case that was identical to this one that Obomanu handled since it was deemed incompetent and not in accordance with the court’s procedures.
