Again, court adjourns Atiku�s suit till April 2

Atiku sued INEC following its decision not to include his name on the list of presidential candidates cleared by the commission for the polls, with the commission praying the court to dismiss the suit on the ground that it was an abuse of court process.

INEC�s counsel, Joe Kyari Gadzama (SAN), had argued that the appeal before the Court of Appeal had taken care of the reliefs being sought by Atiku, saying that parties, issues and reliefs were the same in both the fresh suit and the one on appeal.

Atiku, however, wanted the court to make a definite order as it affected his own disqualification.

The judge fixed the judgment date after counsel to parties in the suit had exhausted themselves while adopting their written briefs. The court had earlier ordered an accelerated hearing in the suit.

Justice Abubakar also abridged the time allowed by law for the defendant (INEC) to enter appearance and file its defence in the case.

The new judge reduced the duration from eight to two days. Justice Abubakar also okayed another request by Atiku to serve all the court processes in the case including the originating summons on INEC through the commission�s Legal Department.

Apart from acceding to all the requests of the vice president, the court also held that such service would be deemed proper.

Atiku sued INEC and its Chairman, Professor Maurice Iwu, following the decision of the commission to exclude him from the presidential election scheduled for next month on the grounds that he was indicted by an administrative panel of enquiry which report had already been accepted by the Federal Government.

Atiku is challenging the legality of the final presidential list and/or his disqualification, urging the court to issue an order directing the electoral body to include his name on the list of candidates to contest the election.

He also prayed the court to issue a declaratory order to the effect that INEC lacked the legal powers to disqualify him from contesting the April presidential election.

He is also asking the court to hold that it is only the court of law that has powers, under the laws, to exclude, prevent or and disqualify him from contesting the forthcoming election, assuming there was a valid reason to so move.

In the originating summons lodged at the registry of the court, he formulated only constitutional questions for the court to determine.

Whether the provisions of Section 137 (1) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 is selfexecutory and confers a right or powers on the defendants without recourse to a court of law to exclude the 1st Plaintiff from being presented and/or contesting as the presidential candidate of the 2nd plaintiff (Action Congress) for election to the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Whether by the combined provisions of Sections 32 (4) and 245 (1) of the Electoral Act, 2006 and Sections 36 (1); 239 (1) and 285 (1) of the 1999 Constitution, the 1st Defendant has the powers to disqualify the 1st Plaintiff from contesting the office of the president in the forthcoming general election without a pronouncement of a court of law.

In a related development, Vice President Abubakar will know today whether his criminal indictment over the mismanagement of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) would stay or not as a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja enters judgement in a suit he filed challenging the indictment.

Justice Abimbola Ogie fixed the judgement date yesterday after submissions had been made by parties in the matter. Parties also called witnesses with the vice president�s Deputy Chief of Staff, Olusola Akanmode, testifying on behalf of his boss.

It will be recalled that Vice President Abubakar had, last year, initiated a lawsuit before the court, praying it to stop the National Assembly from considering a report by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) which indicted him of abuse of office and diversion of public funds.

He also prayed the court to void the two separate indictments (reports) entered against him by the EFCC and the Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN)-led Administrative Panel of Inquiry over allegation of corruption levelled against him.

According to him, he was not given fair hearing. Besides, Vice President Atiku also requested the court to set aside the adoption of the indictments against him by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

Defendants in the suit include,the Attorney General of the Federation; Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN); Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili; Mallam Nasir Ahmed el-Rufai; Otunba Bamidele Dada and Major-General Abdullahi S. Mukhtar.