President Muhamamdu Buhari
The applicants that instituted a suit before the Federal High Court
sitting in Osogbo, for an order to compel the National Assembly to
impeach President Muhammadu Buhari following some alleged constitutional
breaches have accused the President of attempting to scuttle the court
process.
The applicants: Mr Kanmi Ajibola, who is also the chairman of the
Nigeria Bar Association, Ilesa branch, and a human rights activist, Mr
Suleiman Adeniyi said this in Osogbo on Tuesday following the
adjournment of the case to November 26, 2018.
The case which came up last on July 4 came up on Tuesday before
Justice Maureen Onyetenu but she adjourned it to November 26 following
the non-service of the notice of preliminary objection to the applicants
by counsel for the President.
The President’s counsel, Mr Solomon Ogunlowo, told the court that
he just discovered that the applicants had not been served the notice of
preliminary objection to the reliefs being sought by the applicants.
Ogunlowo said other respondents in the case had been served but
regretted that the applicants had not been served while requesting an
adjournment.
Counsel for the applicants, Mr Samuel Echeonwu and counsel for the
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Felix Ukaegbu, did not
raise any objection to the adjournment which the judge granted in her
ruling.
But speaking with journalists after the court proceedings, the NBA
chairman said the non-service of the applicants might have been an
attempt to scuttle the court process.
Ajibola said, “The matter came up in July this year and they
were served in July. Ordinarily, they have seven days after service to
respond to the processes served on them.
“But what happened in court today showed that they failed to
respond within the required time by the law, maybe they did that in a
way to scuttle the process, but it doesn’t stop at that.
“They ought to have commissioned bailiff to serve us but
instead they offered to serve personally and having undertaken to do
that, they failed to serve us.
“Even the service copy they are supposed to serve us today,
they said it was not in their file. Because of that, we couldn’t make
progress in court today.”
The counsel for the President said the non-service of the
applicants was not intentional but was an omission which he said his
client regretted.
Ogunlowo said, “The reason for non-service was that the
litigation officer that came to file the processes undertook to effect
the service on all parties in the matter. Unfortunately, she served all
other parties but she didn’t serve the applicants.”
Culled from Punch.