Counsel absence stalls hearing in Kano LG allocation suit
Absence of the 11th defence counsel, John Baiyeshea, SAN, on Tuesday, stalled hearing in a suit seeking to stop statutory allocations to the 44 local government councils of Kano State.
The applicants, Abdullahi Abbas, Aminu Aliyu-Tiga, and the All Progressive Congress, through their counsel, Sunday Olowomoran, filed a motion ex parte dated October 28, and filed November 1, 2024.
The respondents in the suit are the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Federal Account Allocation Committee, the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, the accountant-general of the federation, the minister of finance, the auditor general of the federation, and the attorney general of the federation.
Others are the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Kano State Government, attorney general of Kano, the Kano State Independent Electoral Commission and the 44 Kano local government councils.
The applicants are seeking a declaration that the 12th to 55th respondents are not democratically elected and constituted pursuant to Section 7(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended.
They are also asking the court to restrain the federal government, the CBN, and the accountant general from disbursing statutory funds to Kano’s 44 local government councils.
When the case came up for hearing, Justice Simon Amobeda of the Federal High Court, Kano Division, informed the court that counsel to KANSIEC, Mr Baiyeshea, was indisposed, citing medical reasons.
The judge noted that the counsel had sent a letter requesting an adjournment.
Mr Amobeda ordered that applications requiring a response be filed and ready before the next adjourned date.
He adjourned the matter until March 4 for hearing.
Earlier, counsel to the Kano State Attorney General, Femi Falana, SAN, informed the court that the plaintiffs had served them with six processes this morning.
Mr Falana, alongside Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, counsel to the Kano State Government; B. D. Uche, counsel to the first, third, and seventh respondents; and H. M. Ma’aruf, did not object to the adjournment.
Responding, Sadiqu Sammani-Lawan, representing parties seeking to be joined in the suit, said, “The interests of my clients are fundamental. My clients are the National Union of Local Government Employees, the National Union of Teachers, and health workers. The allocation of the federal government goes directly to these employees that are more than 60,000 in the state. If they are not joined in this suit, there will be a problem.’’
The court, on October 23, halted the conduct of the local government councils’ election scheduled for October 26, 2025, until KANSIEC was properly reconstituted, as it had previously been dissolved by the court for partisanship.
(NAN)
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