Certificate: Court Adjourns Hearing Of Buhari’s Impeachment Suit Till Nov 26

Justice Maurine Onyetenu of a Federal High Court, sitting in Osogbo, Osun State, has fixed November 26 for the hearing of a suit seeking to compel the National Assembly to begin impeachment proceedings against President Muhammadu Buhari.

A human right lawyer, Kanmi Ajibola, and an activist, Sulaiman Adeniyi, had instituted a suit against the president, seeking an order of the court, compelling the National Assembly, to initiate impeachment proceedings against the president for failure to meet basic requirement to occupy the presidency seat.

The duo of the applicants had written the upper and the lower chambers, alleging constitutional breaches by the president and urged them to begin impeachment of the president.

In the motion ex-parte, the duo are contending that in flagrant violation of the 1999 constitution, President Buhari contested the election, won and was sworn in as the president on May 29, 2015 without possessing the basic constitutional requirement, which would have made him qualified for the contest of the election.

They further alleged that President Buhari in flagrant violation of section 137 (1) (j) of the 1999 constitution presented a forged certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the purpose of the 2015 presidential election that brought him to the office of the president.

The applications in the suit, are further contending that “In the light of the 4th respondent’s placement to continue in the office as the president, he has no certificate and basic requirement upon which this placement to continue in the office can be placed.”

They accused the president of treating the orders of the court with a great disdain and abuses the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria at will, particularly from the angle of the observance of the federal character as contained in section 14 of the constitution.

When the case came up on Tuesday, Counsel to the applicants, Samuel Echeonwu, told the court that counsel to the respondents have not served him the process for their objections.

The presidency, represented by Solomon Ogunlowo, appealed to the court for his failure to serve the applicants notice of preliminary objections, promising that he would ensure the service so that the matter can go on the next adjournment.

Justice Onyetenu however adjourned the matter till November 26, 2018 for hearing of the suit.