The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has adjourned indefinitely [sine-dine] proceedings in the suit filed before it by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, over attempts by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to declare his seat vacant.
The adjournment was to await the outcome of an appeal challenging the refusal of the High Court to join a group of lawmakers from Sokoto State as interested parties to Tambuwal’s suit.
Specifically, the interested parties that sought to be joined in the substantive suit were Abdussamad Dasuki, representing Tambuwal East, Suleiman Hantsi (Tambuwal West) and Shuaibu Umar (Kebbe Constituency).
The second set of applicants were the people of Kebbe/Tambuwal Federal Constituency of Sokoto State, led by the Chairman of Kebbe Local Government Area, Bala Konkani, and Chairman of Tambuwal Local Government Area, Sambo Modo.
The applicants had through their lawyers Mr. Israel Olorundare (SAN) and Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN) opposed the move to remove Tambuwal as speaker, arguing that such action would deprive them of representation in the House of Representatives.
Interestingly, both Tambuwal and the PDP opposed their request to be joined as interested parties in the suit.
However, in his ruling on the application, Justice Ahmed Mohammed refused the joinder-applications on the grounds that the subject matter of the suit before the court could effectively be decided without the input of the two sets of applicants.
Besides, the court further ruled that the interests of the applicants who sought to be joined as co-defendants in the suit were contrary to those of the original defendants in the case.
In his ruling, Justice Mohammed said once an appeal had been lodged at the Court of Appeal, the lower court ought to cease its jurisdiction on the matter.
“This court will have no option but to bow to the provisions of the constitution. In view of the appeal against the ruling of this court delivered on December 1, 2014, and the motion for stay of proceedings, this matter is hereby adjourned sine-die to await the decision of the Court of Appeal on the appeal filed before it,” Justice Mohammed ruled.
Tambuwa had through an ex-parte motion, praying the court to compel the Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba, to personally appear before it to show cause why he should not be committed to prison for refusing to recognise him as speaker despite a subsisting court order.
