Plaintiff joins Kutigi, Akinyemi as defendants in confab suit- An Abuja Federal High Court on Tuesday joined the leadership of the national conference as defendants in a suit challenging the constitutionality of the programme. The presiding judge, Justice Abdul Kafarati, joined the chairman, Justice Idris Kutigi (rtd), the deputy chairman, Prof Bolaji Akinyemi, and the secretary, Dr. Mrs. Valerie Azinge as the 5th, 6th and 7th defendants in the suit after the plaintiff, Dr. Tunji Abayomi, informed the court of his wish to sue them alongside President Jonathan and the other defendants. Jonathan, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, SAN, Senate President David Mark and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aliyu Tambuwal were initially named as the 1st to 4th defendants in the suit before the plaintiff amended the originating summons. Abayomi, who is representing himself in the case, had asked the “court to join the three personalities that are leading the constitutionally contested conference – Justice Kutigi, Prof. Akinyemi and Dr. Mrs. Azinge as the 5th, 6th and 7th defendants respectively.” With the conference already in progress, Abayomi also applied to withdraw a motion for interlocutory injunction, filed on March 3, in which he asked the court to stop the conference President pending the determination of the suit. The plaintiff explained that he withdrew the interlocutory motion to enable the court determine the substantive issue in the case – the constitutionality of the conference. Chief Femi Falana, SAN, who is representing the President and the AGF in the case, did not oppose Abayomi’s bid to join the leadership of the national conference in the suit. Falana, who is also among the delegates representing civil society organisations in the conference, did not object to the withdrawal of the motion for interlocutory injunction. The Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives were not represented by any lawyer in the case, even though Abayomi noted that they have been served with the court process. Justice Kafarati ordered further service of the hearing notice on the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and subsequently adjourned the suit to March 31 for mention. Speaking to journalists after the court session, Abayomi explained why he had to join Kutigi, Akinyemi and Azinge in the suit. “In order to prevent the argument that they (national conference) are an independent body, we had to join them to complete the action,” he said. Abayomi, a member of the All Progressives Congress, denied insinuations that the suit was motivated by his political party’s opposition to Jonathan. He also dismissed insinuations that he would not have gone to court to challenge the conference if he was nominated as a delegate. He said, “My interest is as a citizen of Nigeria who is concerned about the rule of law. “I am not representing any interest apart from the interest of the constitution and the rule of law – my interest is that the President cannot take up legislative powers. “In convening this conference, he set the time frame, set the agenda and appropriated funds, which are all legislative actions. “If the President convenes a national conference without a law and without the approval of the national assembly, is he acting according to law or as an outlaw? “Does he have the power to authorise a referendum? “If we are not careful, the President will become a dictator. “The constitutional powers given to the President is like a river, we should ensure that it does not overflood its banks. “He should not be the executive and still exercise legislative powers.” Abayomi added that the Presidential Advisory Committee on National Conference, led by Senator Femi Okorounmu, had advised Jonathan to get a legislative approval before convening the conference. “If I wanted to be a member of the conference I would have been there. “I appeared before the Okorounmu panel and told them that the President cannot convene a national conference without a law. “That was one of the recommendations of the panel, they told him (Jonathan) to get a law first but he chose to disregard the recommendation,” he said. Abayomi argued that instead of spending about N8bn on an illegal national conference, the money should have been used to create jobs for Nigerian youths. Referring to the loss of lives during the National Immigration Service r
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 15:24:37 +0000
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