According to the report from the Vanguard, The National Legal Adviser of the PDP, Adeyemi Ajibade, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, reiterated that the court had no intention of barring anyone from joining the suit and described the petition as "ill intended."
On the other hand, the Counsel for the 1st to 25th Defendants, Ferdinand Orbi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, stated that he was unaware of the petition filed by his client. He urged the court to take note of the petition and halt further proceedings if the letter was directed to the Chief Judge of the court.
Orbi the petition, even though it was written by the 15th defendant. Be that as it may, my lord, if the letter is addressed to your Lordship, then there may be grounds to consider the submissions."
He added, "If it is not addressed to you, then you have no grounds to discountenance it. It will be wise to await the decision of the Honourable Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to whom the letter was addressed. We don’t know if the CJ will ask you to go on or stop the hearing."
In response to the Judge's observation that the defense had not submitted counter affidavits to the originating summons, Orbi clarified that they had not yet filed any affidavits on the suit and had not been served with motions for joinder.
He said, "We haven’t filed our counter affidavit to the originating summons. However, there is a reason for that, my Lord. Because at the point of filing the counter affidavit, the application for joinder came in. I am not within time to file the counter affidavit. We are not within time to file."
However, Judge Pam pointed out that the petitioner (Amaewhule) had not provided any motion or counter affidavit and was not a known party in the case. Pam ruled that since the petitioner had not shared the petition with other plaintiffs, the court had no choice but to disregard the petition and proceed with the hearing of motions for joinder.
The Judge, based on these grounds, adjourned the proceedings until Friday, 28th June, for the hearing of pending motions.