In Suit No. FHC/CA/FHR/87/2026, Hon. Justice Phoebe Ayua granted an interim injunction in favour of the embattled chaplain following a motion ex parte filed by him as Applicant.
The order restrained the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Offiong E. Offiong, the Registrar, Chukwuka Icha, the University of Calabar, Prof. Paul O. Ajah, Rev. Timothy Ebere and the Chairman, Christian Council of Nigeria, Cross River State Chapter, Most Rev. Offiong Mensah, from interfering with his fundamental rights.
The applicant had approached the court after he was evicted from his official quarters, allegedly in breach of the constitution of the church.
He told the court that the respondents went ahead to appoint an interim chaplain and caretaker committee to run the church council, barred him from the university premises, and assaulted him while exercising his right to religion and worship at the “Chapel of Redemption.”
The applicant via his counsel, Mba E. Ukweni, SAN, and V. C. Egboluche, Rev. Ushie asked the court to restrain the respondents from “harassing, intimidating, or disrupting worship” in the chapel and from altering the “structure/order of established practices” while maintaining the “status quo ante bellum.”
Granting the application, Justice Ayua issued an order restraining the respondents and their agents from “entering, trespassing upon, taking over, locking up or in any way interfering with” the premises of the Chapel of Redemption, University of Calabar, and ordered them to maintain the status quo pending determination of the substantive suit, now fixed for August 20, 2026.
