The Honorable Justice Ademola Adeniyi sitting at the Federal High
Court 7, Abuja on Thursday 26th, May 2016 dismissed the Preliminary
Objections filed by President Muhammadu Buhari in the case instituted
against
him, the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in
Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/110/2015 by an Abuja based Legal Practitioner, Barr.
Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe challenging his competence to stand election
into the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria when he
lacks the basic educational qualifications set out in the Constitution,
SIGNAL reports.
The development has reportedly thrown the Nigerian presidency into
disquiet as President Buhari and his handlers greeted the ruling with
shock, as very few Nigerians including members of Buhari’s government
realized the case was still in court.
According to an informed source on the development, the ruling has
caught the Buhari presidency unawares and has posed a big distraction
for government activities at the Villa. “Nobody even knew the case was
still on.
The story was not even reported in the mainstream media. No
paper carried the Thursday ruling. But I can tell you the Presidency is
rattled and
seriously hoping that the case does not resurface again in the public
domain because of the huge embarrassment it could cause the President.
But more importantly, there are concerns about the safety of the judge
and the plaintiff”, the source disclosed.
Recall that in February 2015, Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe, Esq. filed an
Originating Summons at the Federal High Court, Abuja praying the Court
to among others declare that Buhari is unqualified to aspire to the
position of President not having sat for the Secondary School
Certificate and also deposing to a false affidavit about his educational
qualifications contrary to the Electoral Act.
Buhari and the APC instead of entering a defence on the merits and
exhibiting any educational certificates obtained by Buhari, tried to
frustrate the hearing of the case by filing several objections to the
competence of the action.
President Buhari reportedly retained over twenty SANs led by Chief
Wole Olanipekun, Chief Akin Olujinmi, Femi Falana, etc., who for over
one year now have failed to file any defence for Buhari or APC but
instead used every trick in the book to delay the case.
But on Thursday, the Hon. Justice Ademola Adeniyi in his ruling on
the case, dismissed all applications by the defendant as totally lacking
in merit. He held that the suit filed by Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe was
competent and
the service on Buhari and APC was also competent.
He thereafter adjourned the case to the 16th day of June 2016 for
hearing of the substantive Originating Summons to determine whether
Buhari’s educational qualifications meets the minimum standards required
by the Constitution.
According to reports made available to SIGNAL, only the counsel to
INEC was in Court, the plaintiff was absent but wrote to the Court
explaining that he received notice of the date for the ruling the
previous night and was out of town and could not make it. APC (2nd
Respondent) and Buhari (3rd Respondent) were absent, were not
represented and did not write to Court.
It will be recalled that there were claims by online handlers of the
All Progressives Congress (APC) that the Nigerian Army located
President Buhari’s “missing certificate” after the elections. The
missing certificate saga raised contention as to the eligibility of
Buhari to contest the presidential election. However, it is on record
that there was no official statement by the Nigerian Army up till this
day corroborating claims that the certificate has been found.
uzobocity blog shall update you as the news breaks.
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