…Court adjourns hearing indefinitely
Nafiu-Bala Gombe has asked the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho to transfer his suit filed against Sen. David Mark and others over the leadership dispute in the African Democratic Party (ADC) to another judge of the court.
When the matter came up on Friday for hearing, the plaintiff, through his counsel, Luka Haruna, SAN told the court that, he has, in a letter dated May 5 and transmitted to the Chief Judge, applied that, the matter be transferred to another judge.
He also confirmed to the court that, the said letter has also been transmitted to the registry of the court and prayed the court to wait for the administrative decision of the Chief Judge on the letter.
However, the plaintiff is yet to serve the respondents with the letter, but Haruna said, “Which ever way the Chief Judge decides, either to grant the application or refuse it, the plaintiff is bound by the said decision”.
Responding to plaintiff’s request in his letter to the Chief Judge, counsel to the 1st defendant (ADC), Realwan Okpanachi referenced the judgement of the Supreme Court in an interlocutory appeal marked, SC/CV/180/2026, which dismissed the order of statusco anti-bellum granted by the Court of Appeal on the ground that that the Court of Appeal has no jurisdiction to make such other.
However, Okpanachi said, the apex court upheld and sustain the order of accelerated hearing of the matter made by the Court of Appeal and added that, “Since we have not obtain the Certified True Copy (CTC) of the judgement of the Supreme Court, we are yet to know the total implications of the judgement and what is left for this court to decide”.
He said, it will be fair that this court be availed with the CTC of the judgement, noting that the plaintiff in whose favour the order of accelerated hearing was made by the Court of Appeal and upheld by the Supreme Court has not done anything to activate the same order, rather, chose to apply to the Chief Judge for the transfer of the matter to another judge.
Okpanachi said, the approach of the plaintiff was an ambush and an attempt to frustrate the order of accelerated hearing granted by the Court of Appeal and upheld by the apex court.
He said based on the record of the court, nothing has happened since the sine-die (Indefinite) adjournment of the matter to warrant any suspicion of bias against the trial judge and urged the court to proceed with the hearing of the case.
“We would have insisted that the court should go ahead with the hearing of the matter today if not for the fact that, my Lord has not been availed with a copy of the Supreme Court judgment to be properly guided by it.
“In the circumstances, we pray that the court reiterate its order adjourning the matter sine die for the court to be properly informed about the outcome of the appeal through an affidavit exhibiting the judgement”, he told the court.
In his submission, counsel to the 2nd respondent, Dr. Suleiman Usman said the interlocutory appeal of the 2nd respondent has be put to eternal rest by the Supreme Court, meaning that the apex court granted the appeal partially.
He said, part of the consequential order of the the Supreme Court in its judgment, is an order asking parties to come back to this court for the hearing and determination of the substantive matter before this court.
“For the plaintiff to inform us only today that he filed a private correspondent to the Chief Judge of this court, which we were not served, to request that this court await the outcome of the private correspondent is not only unfortunate but a dangerous trend which must not be allowed to stand.
“We maintain absolute confidence in the integrity, impartiality and sound judicial discretion of those court. The letter, is in our view, a fundamental breech of procedure, amounting to an illegality and not a mere irregularity.
“It is a clear case of forum shopping and judge shopping and attempt to misled the Chief Judge in view of the clear order of both the Appeal Court and the Supreme Court in the interlocutory appeal “, the counsel said and urged the court to proceed with the accelerated hearing of the matter.
After hearing the submissions of all the parties, Justice Nwite adjourned hearing in the matter indefinitely, to be availed of the CTC of the Supreme Court judgment as well as the response of the Chief Judge to the plaintiff’s letter.
Gombe, the former National Deputy Chairman of ADC, had filed the suit, marked, FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025, seeking an order restraining Mark, the embattled National Chairman; Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, the National Secretary, and others from parading themselves as the party’s leaders.
The suit has the, ADC, Mark, Aregbesola, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Ralph Nwosu as 1st to 5th defendants respectively.
Nwosu was the former ADC National Chairman who stepped down for David Mark leadership of the party.
Gombe had argued that the emergence of Mark and Aregbesola as party’s leaders breached the provisions of the party’s constitution and the Electoral Act.
END
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