July 20, (THEWILL) – Former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has filed a petition against Justice Rilwanu Aikawa of the Kaduna Federal High Court, accusing him of gross bias, injustice, and denial of fair hearing in his ongoing N423bn legal battle.
The petition, dated July 18, 2024, was submitted to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Justice John Tsoho.
El-Rufai, represented by his counsel, Adetayo Adeyemo, requested that his fundamental human rights suit, marked FHC/KD/CS/55/2024, be transferred to another judge to ensure justice is served.
El-Rufai, in the petition, said after the suit was filed on June 26, 2024, the court proceeded to fix July 8, for a hearing of the matter.
He said at the commencement of the hearing, his counsel, S.S. Umoru, informed the court that all parties had been served and were within the time frame to file their responses.
El-Rufai said the 1st respondent’s counsel, Sule Shaibu (SAN), however, indicated they were one day late in filing their response.
He said the matter was subsequently adjourned till July 17, and his principal counsel, A.U Mustapha (SAN), who had travelled from Lagos to Kaduna to represent him in the matter, was told the court would not be sitting and as a result, proceeded back to Lagos.
“On the night of July 17, we got the information in the news that the matter was fixed for July 18,” he said, adding that due to the short notice, his team filed for an adjournment and served the notice to all parties involved.
Despite this, El-Rufai alleged that the court proceeded with the hearing on July 18, without notifying him or his counsel.
He claimed that the respondents were allowed to adopt their processes and participate in the proceedings in his absence, which he viewed as a clear indication of bias and a denial of his right to a fair hearing.
El-Rufai, therefore, called for the transfer of his case to another Judge to ensure impartiality and justice in the proceedings.
He said, “The applicant was not put on notice for the proceedings of July 18, 2024, as expressly explained in the letter of adjournment. We only got a whiff of the hearing on the night of July 17, which is an extremely short time for us to appear in court. Service of hearing in a matter is sacrosanct and our courts have held severally that every party must be put on notice before his case can be heard.
Amos Okioma is a Correspondent at THEWILL
