The presidential candidate from the opposition All Progressives
Congress (APC), General Muhammadu Buhari, may be banned from contesting
the forthcoming presidential poll.
According to Vanguard, the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, yesterday, fixed March 19 to commence hearing on seven separate suits.
However, both Buhari and his party, who are respondents in the matter together with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), maintained that they would not agree to accept the service of the court procedures which they said were not authentically served on them.
They questioned the propriety of Justice Adeniyi’s orders which had enabled the accusers to serve the original summons on them indirectly.
Justice Adeniyi had on February 2, directed that the court processes be served on the defendants by publishing them in three national daily newspapers.
The court also granted an order of synopsis of time within which the defendants must respond to the suits, although both Buhari and his party contended that there was no urgency for the court to hear the suits.
Thus, in separate preliminary objections filed by counsel to Buhari, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, and that of the APC, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, they called on the court to set-aside all the instructions it has made in the matter so far.
They further argued that the subject matter of the suit affects pre-election issues which they said are not time bound, adding that it can be determined even after the March 28 presidential poll.
But Chief Mike Ozehkome, SAN, who represented the accusers yesterday, advised the court to advance hearing on the matter so as to determine Buhari’s fate before the presidential election.
His proposal enraged Buhari’s lawyer, Olanipekun, SAN, who contended that the suit challenging the certificate his client submitted to the INEC, has nothing to do with the election itself.
According to Vanguard, the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, yesterday, fixed March 19 to commence hearing on seven separate suits.
However, both Buhari and his party, who are respondents in the matter together with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), maintained that they would not agree to accept the service of the court procedures which they said were not authentically served on them.
They questioned the propriety of Justice Adeniyi’s orders which had enabled the accusers to serve the original summons on them indirectly.
Justice Adeniyi had on February 2, directed that the court processes be served on the defendants by publishing them in three national daily newspapers.
The court also granted an order of synopsis of time within which the defendants must respond to the suits, although both Buhari and his party contended that there was no urgency for the court to hear the suits.
Thus, in separate preliminary objections filed by counsel to Buhari, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, and that of the APC, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, they called on the court to set-aside all the instructions it has made in the matter so far.
They further argued that the subject matter of the suit affects pre-election issues which they said are not time bound, adding that it can be determined even after the March 28 presidential poll.
But Chief Mike Ozehkome, SAN, who represented the accusers yesterday, advised the court to advance hearing on the matter so as to determine Buhari’s fate before the presidential election.
His proposal enraged Buhari’s lawyer, Olanipekun, SAN, who contended that the suit challenging the certificate his client submitted to the INEC, has nothing to do with the election itself.
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