hehehePlaintiffs in two of the three pending
suits challenging the eligibility of the President-elect, Muhammadu
Buhari, to contest in the March 28, 2015, presidential election have
withdrawn the suits.
Consequently, Justice Adeniyi Ademola,
who is presiding over the matters at the Federal High Court in Abuja,
subsequently struck out the two cases after the plaintiffs had indicated
their intention to withdraw the suits on Wednesday.
Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) who represented
the plaintiff, Chukwunweike Okafor, in the suit FHC/ABJ/CS/01/15, told
the judge on Wednesday that his client decided to withdraw his suit to
enable the incoming Buhari-led government to focus on the task of
governance.
Ozekhome said he suggested the idea of
withdrawing the suit to his client on the telephone on Tuesday night
since he (Okafor) could not be seen to be weeping more than the bereaved
as the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan, who lost to Buhari in the
March 28 presidential poll, had conceded defeat.
He said, “We have filed a notice of
discontinuance. I called the plaintiff last night and asked him to
discontinue the matter. I don’t think he should weep more than the
bereaved since the sitting President called to congratulate the General
(Buhari) on his victory.
“In the interest of justice, we will allow the President-elect to do his job without interference.”
Counsel for other parties in the suit,
Chief Akin Olujinmi (SAN) and Mr. Hassan Liman (SAN), representing
Buhari and the Independent National Electoral Commission respectively,
did not oppose the application for discontinuance.
Justice Ademola consequently struck out the case.
The same scenario played out when the second case, FHC/ABJ/CS/14/15, filed by Max Ozoaka was called.
Ozoaka’s lawyer, Dr. Chike Amobi, also
said he had, on behalf of his client, filed a notice of discontinuance
of the suit on the same grounds as that of Ozekhome.
The defendants’ lawyers did not also oppose the application and the judge also struck out the case.
The judge and the defence lawyers
commended the plaintiffs’ counsel for their action which they said was
in the spirit of best practices at the Bar.
With the Wednesday’s development, the
remaining pending eligibility suit against Buhari is the one filed by
Ayakeme Whiskey (FHC/ABJ/CS/68/15).
As of the time of filing this report, no date had been fixed for the hearing in the pending suit.
Earlier, before Wednesday, Justice Ademola had struck three of such cases on the grounds of lack of diligent prosecutions.
One of the cases was filed separately by
Ayakeme Whiskey (FHC/ABJ/CS/68/15), which is a duplication of an earlier
one filed by him. The two others suits, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/20/15 and
FHC/ABJ/CS/3/2015, were filed by Friday Ojelaro.
Buhari, who contested on the platform of
the All Progressives Congress, was on April 1 declared winner of the
election, defeating the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan of the
Peoples Democratic Party.
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