A Federal High Court in Abuja has scheduled hearing for September 29 on a motion filed by Osun State Government to challenge the hearing in Abuja of a suit against the state’s withheld local government funds.
Justice Emeka Nwite chose the date yesterday after listening to lawyers to parties in the case.
Addressing the court, plaintiff’s lawyer, Musibau Adetunbi (SAN), argued that since the court’s vacation came to an end on September 16, the case should be transferred to court’s division in Osogbo (capital of Osun State) for hearing and determination.
The motion, challenging the jurisdiction of the court’s Abuja division, was hinged on two grounds.
The first is that the fiat issued by the court’s chief judge for the case to be heard in Abuja division during the court’s annual vacation, has been overtaken by event because the vacation has ended.
The second ground queries the validity of a purported letter from the Office of the Chief Judge of the court, mandating Justice Nwite to hear the case in Abuja.
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The plaintiff noted that the letter was signed by a person who claimed to be the Personal Assistant to the Chief Judge’s Personal Assistant.
It contends that the Personal Assistant to the Chief Judge’s Personal Assistant is a busy body and a person unknown to law, who lacks the legal capacity to sign such a sensitive document.
Defence lawyers, Dr. Muritala Abdulrasheed (SAN) for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and Tajudeen Oladoja (SAN) for the Accountant General of the Federation (AG-F) faulted the plaintiff lawyer’s position.
Abdulrasheed and Oladoja alleged that the motion filed by the plaintiff to challenge the court’s jurisdiction was a ploy to delay the expeditious hearing of the case.
The two defence lawyers told the court that the tenure of the elected APC chairmen and councillors will come to an end on October 22 and as such, their case will become academic if not expeditiously heard.
The judge had struck out the name of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), earlier listed as the third defendant in the suit, following the plaintiff’s decision to discontinue the case against him.
Adetunbi said the case was discontinued against the AGF because another suit against him is pending before the Supreme Court.
The suit, before the Federal High Court, was originally filed at the Osogbo division of the court by the Attorney General of Osun State, Oluwole Jimi-Bada, on behalf of the state government.
The plaintiff is seeking to restrain the CBN and the AG-F from opening accounts for the chairmen elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2022 who, the state government claimed, have been sacked by the same Federal High Court, which sack it further claimed was affirmed by the Court of Appeal.
The plaintiff equally wants an order to restrain the CBN and AG-F “from disbursing allocations to the allegedly sacked APC chairmen and councillors.”