…As Federal High Court announces annual vacation dates***
Members of the All Progressives Congress and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party in the House of Representatives have disagreed over the alarm raised by former President Olusegun Obasanjo that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration planned to frame him up.
While the APC lawmakers dismissed Obasanjo’s allegation, their PDP counterparts said it should be taken seriously.
The Chief Whip of the House, Mr Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, in an interview with The PUNCH, alleged that the former President was guilty, hence his fears.
He stated, “Indeed, the guilty are always afraid. Obasanjo’s claims are no more than a mere expression of guilt. Nigerians must not forget the huge financial scandals perpetrated under Obasanjo’s administration.
“The $16bn claimed to have been spent on power, the misappropriation involved in the so-called privatisation of government assets and the unprecedented abuse of our foreign reserves in his tenure to mention but a few, cannot be swept under the carpet.”
Speaking further, Ado-Doguwa, an APC member from Kano State, added, “It is only my hope that the Buhari anti-graft crusade will not be distracted by such a baseless outcry by Chief Obasanjo, trying to divert public attention.
“It’s my candid opinion that nobody is above the law. The government must, therefore, be ready to bring Obasanjo to book by compelling him to provide answers to some of the weighty allegations against him and his government.”
But a member of the PDP from Kogi State, Mr Karimi Sunday, asked the Buhari administration to come clean of fears being expressed by persons with opposition views that it planned to frame them up over crimes they did not commit.
He noted that Obasanjo, a former President, had access to privileged information and was not likely to be flippant.
In the meantime, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, Justice Abdullahi Abdu-Kafarati, Monday released the timetable for the annual vacation for the Federal High Court nationwide.
Justice Abdu-Kafarati announced that the Federal High Court would proceed on its annual vacation for the year 2018 from Monday, July 9 to Friday, September 14, 2018.
He explained that the announcement was pursuant to the Provisions of order 46, rule 4(d) of the Federal High Court (civil) Procedure rules 2009.
The court is to resume on Monday, September 17, 2018.
During the vacation, only core stations will usually remain functional and the litigating public will be at liberty to approach any of the functional courts.
The Abuja division would cater for cases from the Federal Capital Territory, north-central, north-west, and north-eastern parts of the country.
The Lagos Division, on the other hand, would cater for the western part of the country; while Port Harcourt would cater for the south-south and south-eastern parts of the country.
Justice Abdu-Kafarati, however, stressed that during the vacation, only extreme urgent cases, arrest of ship, and fundamental rights cases would be entertained.
The Vacation judges are Justice Babatunde Quadri and Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Abuja Division, as well as Justice Chuka Obiozor and Justice Muslim Hassan of the Lagos Division.
The Port Harcourt Division also has Justice Hillary Oshomah and Justice Adamu Mohammed.
Punch with additional report from Citizen
