A judge of the Federal High Court
in Abuja, Justice Taiwo Taiwo has withdrawn from a suit filed by Imo Governor
Rochas Okorocha with which he sought to compel the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue him with a certificate of return.
INEC has failed to issue Okorocha
a certificate of return weeks after declaring him winner of Imo West Senatorial
District with the returning officer claiming to have acted under duress.
The decision by Justice Taiwo to
withdraw from the case was informed by allegation of bias raised against him by
the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressive
Grand Alliance (APGA) in the February 23 National Assembly election – Jones Onyeriri
and Senator Osita Izunaso.
Onyeriri wrote petition to the
court’s Chief Judge, querying the judge’s neutrality while Izunaso filed a
motion, asking the judge to disqualify himself from further hearing the case on
grounds of likelihood of being bias.
Justice Taiwo, while announcing
his withdrawal on Wednesday, said he would return the case file to the court’s
Chief Judge for re-assignment to a new judge.
Onyeriri , in his petition,
accused the judge of making utterances in which he “clearly prejudged the
substantive issues that will be resolved in this matter and clearly showed he
has taken sides with the plaintiff (Okorocha).”
In an affidavit deposed to by a
lawyer, Chijioke Nzekwe, on his behalf, Onyeriri claimed the judge told INEC’s
lawyer, Wendy Kuku that the electoral body was responsible for the problems
associated with the election.
He added: “’The honourable judge
went further to say that he has read through the provisions of the Electoral
Act, 2010 (as amended) and found nothing therein that robs him of the
jurisdiction to hear his suit.’
“This pronouncement shocked all
the counsel who were present in court and even members of the public and press
men, who were in the gallery because 2nd and 3rd defendant (INEC and Onyeriri)
have notices of preliminary objection, challenging the jurisdiction of the
court to hear this matter.”
Izunaso, in his motion on notice
dated April 8, 2019, asked for an order transferring the suit to the Chief
Judge of the Federal High Court for re-assignment to any other judge of the
court.
In the motion, filed by his
lawyer, Prince Orji Nwafor- Orizu, Isunso urged the judge to desist from
further hearing the suit, on the grounds that “there is likelihood of bias on
the part of this honourable court to continue to hear the suit as the
honourable presiding Judge has expressed an opinion favourable to the plaintiff
even without the hearing of the substantive suit.
“The said utterances were made on
April 5, 2019 which utterances clearly pre-judged the substantive issues that
will be resolved in this matter and clearly showed that the Honourable
presiding judge has taken sides with the plaintiff.”
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com