Court strikes out suit challenging Buhari's certificate
(Nigeria) A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, has struck out the suit challenging the academic credentials of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Trial judge, Justice Adeniyi Ademola struck out the suit
following a notice of discontinuance filed by the plaintiff, Mr Nnamdi
Nwokocha-Ahaiwe.
Ademola had reserved ruling for Thursday on an application
asking the court to stay execution of a judgment it earlier granted against the
defendants.
When the matter was mentioned, Mr Chikordi Okeorji, counsel
to Nwokocha-Ahaiwe, informed the court that the plaintiff had filed a notice of
discontinuance.
Okeorji said the notice was pursuant to order 50 rule 2 (1)
of the Federal High Court Rules, adding that the notice of discontinuance was
filed on June 27.
Defendant’s counsel Paul Ajiboye did not oppose the
application, but complained that he was not served.
Ademola then struck out the suit.
Nwokocha-Ahaiwe, an Abuja-based lawyer, had filed an
application asking the court to nullify the election of Buhari as president.
He said that Buhari did not possess the minimum academic
requirements needed to contest for the position of president.
The plaintiff also alleged that Buhari did not sat for the
Cambridge West African School Certificate, WASC, in 1961 as he had earlier
claimed.
But, Buhari raised a preliminary objection that he was not
properly served.
In his preliminary objection, the president challenged the
mode of service of the originating summons on him.
He insisted that he ought to have been served at an address
in Kaduna instead of by substituted means at the national secretariat of the
All Progressives Congress, APC, in Abuja.
Ademola had dismissed the preliminary objection on the
grounds that it was incompetent and upheld the service of the originating court
processes on Buhari.
The judge said that the service of the court’s processes on
the president through the secretariat of the APC was proper.
Buhari, who was not satisfied with the court’s ruling, took
the matter to the Court of Appeal.
He prayed the appellate court to set aside or discharge the
ex parte order granted in favour of Nwokocha-Ahaiwe on Feb. 16, 2015, to serve
him with the originating summons by substituted means.
The president also sought the court to make an order setting
aside Ahaiwe’s originating summons for being incompetent.
Following the appeal, Ademola had adjourned the matter sine
die.
The judge, however, announced on Wednesday that he would
deliver judgment on Thursday on the application to stay execution on his
earlier ruling.
Comments
Post a Comment