Nyako’s no-case submission, appeal on land case dismissed
A Federal High Court in Abuja has restrained the Zamfara State House of Assembly Speaker and two others from proceeding with their planned impeachment of the Deputy Governor, Mahdi Gusau.
Also restrained are the governor and the chief judge.
Justice Obiora Egwuatu gave the restraining order yesterday after listening to Ogwu Onoja (SAN), who moved a motion ex-parte to that effect, on behalf of the plaintiff, in a suit filed in the name of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Onoja told the court that the House of Assembly and others were planning to impeach the deputy governor, who has refused to defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC), adding that it was of utmost urgency that the court intervened by granting an interim injunction against the fifth to seventh defendants: speaker, governor and chief judge.
According to him, if the impeachment pulls through as planned, no sufficient monetary compensation can assuage the impact, because it relates to a constitutionally recognised position with a stipulated tenure.
In his ruling, Egwuatu said he was convinced it was a matter of extreme urgency, requiring the court’s intervention to preserve the res (subject of dispute).
The judge then ordered parties to maintain status quo ante bellum pending the hearing of a motion filed by the plaintiff.
SIMILARLY, Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has dismissed a no-case submission filed by former Adamawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako, in the N29 billion money laundering charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The EFCC is prosecuting the former governor and his son, Abdul-Aziz, as well as Sebore Farms and Extension Ltd and Pagado Fortunes Ltd, over money laundering offences.
The judge held that the no-case submission lacked merit and he accordingly dismissed it.
He then adjourned the matter till October 4, 2021 for the defendants to open their case.
ALSO, Justice Ebiowei Tobi of the Court of Appeal, Gombe State, has dismissed the appeal of Fette Saidu (appellant) and Christopher Botin (respondent) over ownership of farmland, stating that the appeal lacks merit.
“The lower court in reversing the decisions of the two courts under it that is the Area Court and the Upper Area Court upset the finding of facts of the courts. The Lower Court, correctly, in my view, interfered with the finding of the fact of the Area and Upper Area Courts, as they do not reflect or correspond with the evidence presented before it. I make bold to say that on the strength of the evidence before the Area Court and the Upper Area Court, the courts were wrong in holding that the Appellant had proved its title to the land in dispute above the respondent. I resolve this issue also in favour of the respondent,” he affirmed.
Justice Tobi, in his judgment, said the facts that culminated in the appeal were not complicated, as there are common grounds among the parties. He therefore awarded N100,000 in favour of the respondent.
