Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has petitioned the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, complaining of having no confidence in Justice E.S.J. Chukwu of Court 8 in a fresh suit filed against him by a member of the House, Abidun Akinlade.
The suit, No. FHC/ABJ/CS/871/2014, has Tambuwal, the Independent National Electoral Commission and the Federal Government as respondents.
In the suit, Akinlade, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP in Ogun State is seeking a “judicial interpretation” of an earlier judgment of the same court, where it held that there was no division in the PDP.
The aim of the fresh suit is to justify the PDP’s stance that the defection of Tambuwal from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on October 28 was “illegal” and in breach of Section 68(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
But, in Tambuwal’s petition, dated November 30, he said he had no confidence in Chukwu to treat the case without “bias,” having given a judgment in 2013 that there was no division in the PDP.
He observed that Chukwu’s judgment had been relied upon for subsequent decisions on defections, such as the one by Justice A.F.A. Ademola of the same Federal High Court, who also declared the December 2013 defection of 37 PDP lawmakers to the APC as illegal.
The speaker appealed to the chief judge to re-assign Akinlade’s case to another judge in the spirit of fairness.
Tambuwal, who is a lawyer by training, noted that the new case was like asking Chukwu to “sit on appeal over his own judgment.”
Part of the petition reads: “Sometime in 2013, the said Presiding Judge, Justice ESJ Chukwu, presided over the case of PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY & 12 ORS VS. INEC & 4 ORS, wherein he made a judicial pronouncement, which has been interpreted by some , to the effect that there was no division in PDP.
“The above decision of Justice Chukwu was heavily relied upon and cited severally in the case of PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY VS. (1) HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES; (2) THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES & 52 ORS, Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/4/2014.
“Consequently, Justice A. F. A Ademola, relying on the said judgement of his brother Justice Chukwu, even though, the said suit before him, had nothing to do with defection, ruled that there was no division within the PDP. “And as such, the defendants in that case, who are members of the House of Representatives, who have similar cases as mine, currently pending in the Federal High Court Abuja, were not protected by proviso to Section 68(1)(g) of the 1999 Constitution.
“He rested his decision on that earlier judgement of Justice Chukwu aforementioned.”
The speaker added that Ademola ‘s judgment too had elicited “four” appeals that are still pending at the Court of Appeal, Abuja division.
Similarly, the speaker said five other cases filed by “various parties” relating to the same issue of defection were before the Federal High Court in Abuja awaiting disposal.
“My Lord, my apprehension is particularly in respect of the presiding Judge, Justice Chukwu,ESJ, having made a pronouncement on similar issues, in similar cases, decided by him, clearly shows that he has an iron-cast judicial position or opinion in respect of Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/871/2014, concerning me sir, which has just been assigned to him.”
Meanwhile, there were doubts whether the December 3 scheduled resumption of the House would be a reality.
Findings showed that both PDP and the main opposition APC members of the House would be preoccupied with the primaries of their respective parties, taking place between December 6 and 8.
“You don’t expect members to come and sit in Abuja on December 3, just days to their primaries, do you?
“Why does anybody want us to come and sit here when we should be contesting for our return tickets?, ” a member asked.
[myad]
