President Muhammadu Buhari has enlisted the services of 13 Senior Advocates of Nigeria and 10 other legal counsels to appeal the May 26 ruling of a Federal High Court in Abuja against an objection to a suit filed by an Abuja-based legal practitioner, Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe against the president.
Nnamdi is contesting that President Buhari did not meet the educational requirement to contest in the 2015 presidential election because he failed to present an authentic WAEC certificate.
Nnamdi alleged that Buhari lied about sitting for the Cambridge West African School Certificate (WASC) in 1961 in the build up to the presidential election which he eventually won.
At the hearing of the suit on May 26, the president’s defence team had raised an objection to the suit stating that the mode of service of the originatin summons on the president was wrong and therefore sought the case to be struck out.
The defense argued that the summons should have been served at an address in Kaduna instead of by substituted means at the national secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja.
Presiding judge, Justice Ademola however, described the objection as incompetent stating that nothing was wrong with the mode of service because even though it was served at the secretariat of the APC, the summons would still get to the president.
President Buhari, not sattisfied with the ruling of the High Court filed a notice of appeal at the Court of Appeal, Abuja Judicial Division on seven grounds of appeal.
The lawyers who signed the President’s notice of appeal are Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Mr. Lateef O. Fagbemi (SAN), Chief Akin Olujinmi (SAN), Oluwarotimi O. Akeredolu (SAN), Kola Awodein (SAN), Prof. Taiwo Osipitan (SAN), Charles Edosomwan (SAN), Emeka Ngige (SAN), Femi Atoyebi (SAN), Femi Falana (SAN), Funke Aboyade (SAN), H.O. Afolabi (SAN), Muiz Banire (SAN), and 10 others.
Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe however, said the President was right to exercise his constitutional right to appeal especially since he has not submitted any defence to the suit or filed any evidence in defence of the merits of the case.
