Court declines jurisdiction in El-Rufai’s suit

The Federal High Court in Kaduna has dismissed a lawsuit filed by former Governor Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, which sought to invalidate the ad-hoc committee report of the Kaduna State House of Assembly, among other reliefs.

According to PUNCH, in a ruling delivered on July 30, 2024, and confirmed by a Certified True Copy obtained by our correspondent on Friday, Justice R. M. Aikawa determined that El-Rufai failed to establish any grounds for overturning the court’s proceedings.

El-Rufai had requested the court to annul the proceedings of July 18, 2024, citing lack of jurisdiction and non-compliance with applicable laws and rules. He also sought a new hearing date for pending applications.

The court, however, found El-Rufai's reasons for seeking an adjournment unsubstantiated and dismissed the application as lacking merit. Additionally, the request for the judge to recuse himself was rejected due to insufficient grounds, as established by previous case law.

Ultimately, the court ruled that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction and, under Section 22(2) of the Federal High Court Act, transferred the case to the Chief Judge of Kaduna State for adjudication by the High Court of Kaduna State.

“In the present case, the applicant hinges his application on the decision of the court to proceed with the hearing of the matter even though he was absent and despite his letter to the registrar of the court requesting for adjournment. Counsel thinks that he was denied a fair hearing.

“The reasons why the matter proceeded even with the absence of counsel are available in the records of the court. In summary, the court was not satisfied with the reasons given in the request for adjournment and instead deemed the applicant’s processes as adopted as allowed by order 12 rule 3 of the FREPR.

“Adjournment is not for the asking. It has to be justified, and it is entirely at the discretion of the judge to grant or refuse. In the present case, the court exercised its discretion to refuse because there was no justifiable reason why it should be allowed.

“It is my view that the applicant has not been able to prove any of the circumstances listed in Bello’s case, supra as well as other cases. The application is therefore lacking in merit. It is accordingly dismissed,” the presiding judge held.

The suit, with number FHC/KD/CS/55/2024, was filed against the Kaduna State House of Assembly and the Attorney-General of Kaduna State.

Femi Falana, SAN, and Sani Katu, SAN, represented the first respondent, while Sule Shuaibu, SAN, AG Kaduna State, and Jummai Danazumi represented the second respondent.

The court had adjourned for hearing in a suit instituted by the former governor against the state House of Assembly and the Attorney General of the State to July 17.

El-Rufai had in June 2024 urged the court to quash the report of the state House of Assembly indicting him of N423bn theft.

In a suit filed by his lawyer, Abdulhakeem Mustapha, the former governor had said the Assembly breached his right to a fair hearing by not inviting him in the course of the probe.