Nyako’s bid to return to office suffers setback

By Tobias Lengnan Dapam with agency report

A vacation judge at a Federal High Court in Lagos, Justice Okon Abang, on Tuesday adjourned till September 5, 2014 to entertain a suit seeking the reinstatement of the unseated Governor of Adamawa State, Murtala Nyako.The suit, which was filed by a Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Olukoya Ogungbeje, was said to be seeking fundamental rights enforcement.

Before adjourning the suit, Abang had said, in a bench ruling, that he was convinced that the matter was urgent and deserved the attention of the vacation court.

The judge, who said his jurisdiction as a vacation judge was limited to the South-West zone, however added that the parties would still need to convince him that he had territorial jurisdiction to entertain the suit on the adjourned date.

Joined as the first to sixth respondents in the suit are the Adamawa state Acting Governor, Umaru Fintiri, the Adamawa State House of Assembly, the outgone Chief Judge of Adamawa State, Justice Ambros Mammadi, Chairman of the impeachment panel, Buba Kajama, the Independent National Electoral Commission and the Inspector General of Police.

While the applicant was represented in court on Tuesday by his lawyer, Mr. Nelson Okedinachi, there was however no legal representations for the all the six defendants.

When the matter was called, Okedinachi told the court that he brought an application seeking the leave of the court to be heard during vacation pursuant to Order 46 Rule 5(2) of the Federal High Court Rules.

While urging the court to grant the leave for hearing, the applicant’s counsel said that the suit had a lifespan and that it would die a natural death if it was not given speedy hearing.