A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP ) in Zamfara state, Umar Aminu has petitioned the Chief Judge of Federal High Court, Honorable Justice John Tsoho over long and inordinate adjournments of a suit against the defection of Zamfara Governor, Bello Mohammed Matawalle by a Federal High Court Judge.
In a statement on Sunday and signed by Umar Aminu, Principal Personal Assistant to former Deputy Governor of Zamfara State, Mahadi Aliyu said despite the urgency of the issues in the suit, the court has been very lukewarm in hearing the substantive suit.
He explained that a suit No. FHC/ABJ /CS /H89/2021 PDP & 2 Others VS Bello Matawalle was instituted via an originating summons sometime in August 2021, and promptly assigned to Hon. Justice Inyang Ekwo for determination.
The statement read in parts: For emphasis, the peculiarity of the suit, which calls for an urgent determination is that the PDP’s claim to the seat of the Governor of Zamfara state upon the defection of the incumbent governor to another party derives from the supreme court decision which held that the APC, to which the Governor defected to, has no candidate in the 2019 election, and ordered that the PDP inherits the seat”.
“Also in the issue, is the purported impeachment of the Deputy Governor of the state. However, it is pertinent to note that both issues call for an urgent determination within the life of the current administration of his Excellency Bello Matawale which would lapse in May 2023”.
The statement further read, “Rather, the court has permitted all sorts of delays by counsel in the matter, and has on its own subjected the suit to long and inordinate adjournments. There had been not less than ten (10) adjournments in the suit despite the fact that parties have filled their processes. Some of the adjournments are as long as six months”.
He revealed that the details of the adjournments of the said case included Adjourned from August to 15th October, 2021, 15th October to 2nd November, 2021, 2nd November to 18th January, 2022,18th January to 10th February, 2022, 10th February to 14th February, 2022 and 14th February to 24th February, 2022.
Other adjourned dates were 24th February to 10th March, 2022,10th March to 7th April, 2022, 7th April to 29th April, 2022, 29th April to 27th October, 2022 and 27th October, 2022 to 20th March, 2023.
“Lastly the court adjourned the suit from 27th October, 2022 to 28th March, 2023 pending the hearing and determination of the appeal filed in the case involving the defection of Governor of Cross River State”.
“This decision to our minds, is curious as the appeal involving the Cross River State Governor has nothing to do with the instant case.Therefore, adjourning the suit to 28th March, 2023 to await the decision of the Court of Appeal in an unrelated case is a sheer ploy to delay and frustrate the hearing of the substantive suit within the life span of the current dispensation in Zamfara state, which is May, 2023.
“Perhaps, delay in the dispensation of justice is injustice because justice delayed is justice denied. Delay also exhausts the finances and patience of parties. Thus we wrote a petition seeking for the transfer of the suit from Hon. Justice Inyang’s court to another court for the prompt determination of the issue in dispute, especially as the suit is time-bound”.
