Muhuyi Magaji Again Challenges His Suspension By Kano Government

Suspended chairman, Kano State Public Complaint and Anti-Corruption Commission, Muhuyi Rimin-Gado had on Wednesday, challenged his suspension before the National Industrial Court.

Rimin-Gado instituted the suit challenging his suspension against the Kano State government and five others.

Joined as co-dependents in the suit are the Attorney General of Kano, Kano State House of Assembly, Accountant General Kano.

Others are the acting Chairman of the Commission, Mahmud Balarabe, and Kano Commissioner of Police as first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth defendants respectively.

The matter which was slated for mention came up before Justice Oyejoju Oyewumi.

The claimant counsel, Muhammad Tola informed the court that all parties had been served processes, however, they were yet to enter appearance.

He further informed the court that he had two motions that he wanted to withdraw.

He applied for the withdrawal of a motion ex-parte dated and filed December 3, 2021, and also an interlocutory application dated and filed on December 3, 2021.

In response, Abdulsalam Saleh, counsel to the first, second, and fourth defendants said that they had filed a memorandum of conditional appearance.

Saleh in addition stated that they plan to file a motion for the matter to be transferred to the Kano division of the court.

The counsel said that the cause of action and all the parties are in Kano.

The judge on her part asked Tola the reason the suit was not filed in Kano. She said although she drew the attention of the President of the court to this fact, she was directed to handle the matter

Tola submitted that the suit was filed in Abuja because of the security situation in Kano between the claimant’s supporters and the State Government supporters.

He added that although the matter was an employment matter, there was a political undertone to it.

Abdul Adamu, counsel to the third and fifth defendants submitted that they had filed and served a memorandum of conditional appearance on January 17 and that they had filed and served on Wednesday, a counter-affidavit and a motion for summary judgment.

Tola in response clarified that his reason for telling the court that the defendant had not entered appearance was because they filed their processes out of time as they had to file their processes within 14 days.

The judge ruled that first to fifth defendants had reacted to the originating processes and the matter was ripe for hearing

She further stated that concerning the issue of counsel filing processes out of time, she was going to go through the processes.

Oyewumi in addition directed the claimant’s counsel to respond to the processes served by Adamu and reply to same within seven days.

She stated that since the defendants' counsel was not objecting to Tola’s application seeking to withdraw the two motions, she granted the applications by striking them out.

The judge also adjourned the matter until March 7, for the report of the processes served.

The judge in conclusion directed that a hearing notice be served on the sixth defendant, Kano commissioner of police, who was absent in court.