Yekini Jimoh in Lokoja
Kogi State judiciary yesterday approached the state High Court in Koton-Karfe, seeking the nullification of the April 2 resolution of the state House of Assembly recommending the removal of the state Chief Judge, Justice Nasir Ajanah.
The motion was filed by Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN) leading 11 other lawyers, including five Senior Advocates of Nigeria on behalf of the claimants/applicants, Justice Ajanah, and Chief Registrar of the state High Court, Alhaji Yahaya Adamu.
According to Awomolo, the motion on notice (Motion NO. HC/KK02M/201) was brought pursuant to Order 11, Rules 1 and 2 of Kogi State High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2006 to counter the action of the state assembly in defying the court order in the impasse between the legislature and the executive arms.
The motion has the state House of Assembly; Speaker of the assembly, Hon. Matthew Kolawole; Hon. Bello Hassan Abdullahi, chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee; the state governor and the Attorney-General of the state.
The claimants/applicants in the motion contended that the House of Assembly defied the pendency of suit no: HC/KK/11CV/2018 and the interim injunctive orders of the court to have sat and issued a resolution in respect of the matter.
They prayed for an order of the court nullifying and setting aside the resolution purportedly passed by the assembly at its plenary sitting of April 2, 2019, in defiance of the pendency of the suit.
The action of the state assembly also defied the interim injunctive Orders of Court by acting upon a report submitted to it by its Public Accounts Committee and resolving that: “The Chief Judge of Kogi State (the 1st claimant/applicant herein) be removed for alleged gross misconduct, and (ii) that the Chief Registrar of Kogi State High Court (2nd claimant/applicant herein) should be referred to the state Judicial Service Commission (JSC) for disciplinary action for misconduct.”
The motion was based on the grounds that the purported resolution of the 1stto 3rd defendants was made during the pendency of this suit and a subsisting order of the court restraining the defendants from taking any steps in respect of the substantive matter.
The motion also held that Orders of Court were meant to be obeyed by parties, adding that the said resolution of the 1st to 3rd defendants violated the said Order of the Court and amounted therefore “to self-help which is deprecated by the law.”
It also held that the said resolution having been made during the pendency of the suit and a subsisting Order of the Court was a nullity under the law and ought to be set aside.
The High Court presided over by Justice Alaba Omolaye-Ajileye would therefore on April 12 hear the claimants/applicants through their counsel.
The motion was supported with a 15-paragraph affidavit deposed to by the Chief Registrar, Alhaji Yahaya Adamu, and also one of the claimants/applicants.
