Court Fixes March 19 To Hear 7 Suits Seeking To Disqualify Buhari

by Deji Abiodun

The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, yesterday, fixed March 19 to commence hearing on seven separate suits seeking to disqualify the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), from contesting the forthcoming general elections.

All the seven cases have been assigned to Justice Ademola Adeniyi who presided over two of the suits yesterday. Both Buhari and the APC, who are defendants in the matter alongside the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, yesterday, maintained that they would not accept the service of the court processes which they said were not validly served on them.

They challenged the propriety of orders of Justice Adeniyi which had permitted the plaintiffs to serve the originating summons on them through substituted means.

Justice Adeniyi had on February 2, directed that the court processes be served on the defendants by publishing same in three national dailies.
The court also granted an order of abridgement of time within which the defendants must respond to the suits.

However, both Buhari and his party, contended that there was no urgency in the matter to warrant the court to hear the suits in a hurry.
Thus, in separate preliminary objections filed by counsel to Buhari, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, and that of the APC, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, they asked the court to set-aside all the orders it has made in the matter so far.