A
Federal High Court in Abuja has rejected a prayer by five senators opposed to
the emergence of Bukola Saraki as the Senate
President to stop the upper
legislative chamber from constituting it’s standing and ad hoc committees.
The
five plaintiffs in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/651/2015 – Senators Abu Ibrahim,
Kabir Marafa, Ajayi Boroffice, Olugbenga Ashafa and Suleiman Hunkuni – made the
request in an ex parte application which was moved by their lawyer, Mamman
Osuman (SAN), on Tuesday.
They
had anchored their ex parte application on the use of alleged illegitimate
Senate Standing Orders 2015 to conduct the election of the current leadership
of the Senate on June 9.
In
their ex parte application, supported by an affidavit of urgency, the plaintiffs
had urged the court to stop the constitution of the Senate committees pending
the hearing and determination of their separate application for interim
injunction.
But
Justice Gabriel Kolawole, in his ruling, dismissed the ex parte application, holding
that the urgency attached to it was self-induced.
This,
the judge held, was because the plaintiffs had been aware of the alleged use
of the illegitimate standing orders since June 8 or 9, 2015, but only chose to
file the ex parte application on July 27, which was barely 24 hours to
resumption of the Senate from its about one month recess.
The
judge also held that the court would hardly intervene in a matter of
application of the internal rules of the Senate or the legislature when such
action did not amount to “substantial infraction” of the provisions of the
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The
senators are seeking, among other prayers, the declaration of the Senate
Standing Orders 2015 as null and void for being a product of an alleged
illegitimate amendment of the 2011 version standing orders.
They
also want the court to nullify the amended order as well as the election of
Saraki as the Senate President and that of Ike Ekweremadu as the Deputy Senate
President, for being products of the alleged illegal orders.
Joined
as six defendants to the suit are Saraki, Deputy Senate President, Ike
Ekweremadu; the Clerks of the National Assembly, the Senate and the National
Assembly.
The
five plaintiffs are members of the the pro-Ahmed Lawan group in the Senate who
are backed by the All Progressives Congress-backed Unity Forum that supported
Lawan for the position of the Senate President but lost to Saraki on June 9,
2015 during the first session of the 8th Senate.
Five
members of the the pro-Ahmed Lawan group in the Senate have asked a Federal
High Court in Abuja to stop any move to constitute any standing or ad hoc
committees of the Senate on the strength of the allegedly forged rules of the
upper legislative chamber.
Justice
Gabriel Kolawole has reserved ruling on the ex parte application till 2pm today
(Tuesday).
The
plaintiffs in the suit, FHC/ABJ/CS/651/2015, are Senators Abu Ibrahim, Kabir
Marafa, Ajayi Boroffice, Olugbenga Ashafa and Suleiman Hunkuni.
They
are all members of the All Progressives Congress-backed Unity Forum which
supported Lawan for the position of the Senate President but lost to Bukola
Saraki on June 9, 2015 during the first session of the 8th Senate.
Joined
as six defendants to the suit are Saraki, Deputy Senate President, Ike
Ekweremadu; the Clerks of the National Assembly, Senate and the National
Assembly.
The
five senators, through their ex parte application moved by their lead counsel,
Chief Mamman (SAN), on Tuesday urged Justice Kolawole to restrain the
defendants in the suit from constituting the various committees pending the
hearing and determination of a separate motion on notice for an interim
injunction.
The
singular prayer in the ex parte application reads, “An interim order of
injunction restraining the 1st, 2nd and 5th defendants/respondents (Saraki,
Ekweremadu and the Senate) from constituting the Chairman and Deputy Chairmen
of committees, or sub-committee whether Standing and ad hoc committees on the
basis of the provisions of the Senate Standing Orders 2015 (as amended) or any
other order and any other set of rules pending the hearing and determination of
the motion on notice.”
Source: Punch Newspaper
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