From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
The Federal High Court in Kaduna has reserved judgment in the suit filed by the immediate past governor, Nasir el-Rufai, seeking the nullification of the report of the Ad-Hoc Committee of the House of Assembly, which indicted him and his administration in an alleged N423 billion fraud.
At the court sitting, yesterday, the counsel to the respondents adopted their respective processes and prayed the court to dismiss the suit.
Counsel to the Kaduna State House of Assembly, who are the first respondents, Femi Falana, argued that the court lacks jurisdiction to adjudicate on the fundamental rights case filed by El-Rufai or dismiss the report of the Assembly based on its constitutional mandate.
On his part, the Commissioner for Justice, Sule Shuaibu, and a respondent in the suit, filed his preliminary and substantive objections, that the court should dismiss the case on the premise that the court lacks jurisdiction to adjudicate on the matter. He also asks the court to dismiss the substantial suit for lack of cause of action against the Attorney General and for being speculative.
Both respondents further argued that the applicants did not bring the report of the assembly before the court, which they sought the court to declare as unconstitutional, null and void. They, therefore, prayed the court to dismiss the suit in its entirety for lacking in merit. However, counsel to Nasir el-Rufai, Abdulhakeem Mustapha, was not present in court.
The Presiding Judge, Justice Rilwan M. Aikawa, after listening to the lawyers, said a date for judgment would be communicated to the parties involved.
Nasir El-Rufai had, in June, 2024, filed a fundamental rights case challenging the report by the assembly on grounds that it did not give him a fair hearing during its sitting. In the suit, el-Rufai is asking the court to declare the assembly’s report as null and void. The respondents to the case are the Kaduna State House of Assembly and the state Attorney General.