Nigeria’s Supreme Court has ordered a lower court to hear a suit by vice-president Atiku Abubakar that seeks to restrain the president from sacking him for joining an opposition party, said court officials on Friday.
Abubakar had approached the Court of Appeal in Abuja to challenge the claims by President Olusegun Obasanjo that he had willingly vacated his office by defecting from the ruling People’s Democratic Party to the opposition Action Congress (AC).
Instead of hearing the matter, the appeals court referred it to the country’s highest court, the supreme court, saying the issues involved may be constitutional.
In a unanimous decision of the seven judges on Thursday, the supreme court said the case should be heard by the appeals court.
“There was no order for reference of the case. The alleged reference of constitutional questions to us does not arise in law,” it said.
Obasanjo and his deputy have for several months been embroiled in a bitter row, publicly trading allegations of corruption.
The Nigerian leader vowed not to support his deputy’s bid to succeed him when he is due to step down in May at the end of two terms.
Abubakar therefore quit the ruling party and defected to the opposition AC, which chose him as its presidential candidate in the April 21 presidential poll.