The Federal High Court Abuja, has fixed May 17 to deliver
judgment in a suit seeking the removal of Senate President, Bukola Saraki,
Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara and 52 other lawmakers.
Justice Okon Abang fixed the date on Monday after taking
arguments from all parties involved in the matter.
An advocacy group, Legal Defence and Assistance Project,
(LEDAP) dragged the lawmakers to court seeking a declaration that they were no
longer members of the National Assembly having defected to other political
parties before the expiration of their tenure.
The defendants comprise 17 Senators, 37 members of the House
of Representatives, the Independent National Electoral Commission, the
Attorney-General of the Federation and the clerks to both houses.
At the resumed hearing, Mr Mahmud Magaji, SAN, counsel to
Saraki and the other senators insisted that the plaintiff had no locus standi
to institute the suit since it was not a political party, politician,
constituent of the lawmakers or an executive member of either of the political
parties.
He concluded that they were meddlesome interlopers who
instituted the suit to annoy the defendants, Nigerians and their constituents
who voted them to represent them.
“Allowing this suit will amount to slapping Nigerians and I
urge the court to resist the temptation and dismiss the suit.”
Mr Josh Amupitan, SAN, counsel to Dogara and the other
members of the House of Representatives, for his part, urged the court to
discountenance the argument of the plaintiff that it had locus standi because
it was a registered organization.
“They claim that they are a registered NGO and that since
this is an issue of public interest litigation, they have the locus.
“We have referred the court to our address where we said
that public interest litigations in Nigeria are limited to statutory cases.
“The Supreme Court only allows the expansion of locus standi
because of the provisions of criminal procedure act which recognises the rights
of a private prosecutor.
“Public interest litigation is limited to cases of
fundamental rights especially where the exercise of such rights has been vested
on public officers or public institutions like INEC, the Senate president or
the speaker.”
Amupitan added that the plaintiff had failed to provide any
document before the court to back its claim that there was a defection.
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