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Court Dismisses Suit Against Appointment Of FCT High Court Judges
In a significant ruling on Friday, the Federal High Court in Abuja threw out a lawsuit challenging the appointment of 12 judges for the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Presiding Judge Inyang Ekwo delivered the judgment, asserting that the plaintiff, Azubuike Oko, identified as a lawyer from Ebonyi, lacked the necessary legal standing to pursue the matter.
The court also upheld objections raised by Akinlolu Kehinde, SAN, legal counsel representing key judicial figures, including the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, the National Judicial Council (NJC), and the Chief Judge of the FCT High Court, Hussein Baba-Yusuf.
According to a report, Oko, in the suit identified as FHC/ABJ/CS/205/2024, contested the absence of lawyers from his state among the recently appointed judges of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
He alleged systematic exclusion and marginalization of Ebonyi lawyers in the appointment process by figures including Baba-Yusuf, the NJC, and the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC).
Oko asserted that the FCT chief judge was responsible for compiling the list of eligible lawyers from certain states, which was then forwarded to the FJSC for recommendation to the NJC for presidential appointment as judges of the court.
According to Oko, the states from which the recent appointments were drawn include Bauchi, Bayelsa, Enugu, Imo, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Taraba, and Zamfara.
He contended that Oyo and Kogi, which already had two serving judges in the FCT High Court, were granted additional slots to now have three judges each despite the absence of any serving judge from Ebonyi State in the High Court of the FCT.
In Friday’s judgment, Justice Ekwo emphasized that the plaintiff did not claim personal injury caused by the CJN, NJC, or the Chief Judge of the FCT, nor did he seek redress for any such injury.
He said that “the plaintiff only claimed that he is from Ebonyi, which had been routinely excluded and marginalised with respect to the appointment of judges of the High Court of FCT by the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd defendants (the CJN, NJC, and the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC).
“What the plaintiff needed to establish to demonstrate his locus standi is how the appointment being considered by the defendants has affected him as a person.
“This, he would have done, by showing that he applied to be considered by the defendants for appointment, but he was ‘routinely excluded and marginalised.’
“On the other hand, he would have established that he is acting for any person or persons from Ebonyi State who are qualified to be appointed and who have indeed applied to be considered for the said appointment but had been ‘routinely marginalised.’
“In other words, there is no averment that the plaintiff ever applied to be considered for the appointment in issue. Without this, I find that the plaintiff has failed to establish his locus standi to initiate this action.”
The judge also criticized Oko’s reliance on his ethnicity as a basis to establish his legal standing to bring forth the lawsuit.
“The fact that the plaintiff is from Ebonyi State does not still avail him of the locus to initiate this case because, in his view, Ebonyi State of Nigeria has been routinely excluded and marginalised with respect to the appointment of judges of the High Court of FCT by the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd defendants.
“Ebonyi State, for whose cause the plaintiff claims to undertake, is a legal entity established by the constitution with requisite corporate characteristics, including the capacity to sue and be sued for any wrong done to it by any person.
“Assuming that the plaintiff can sue on behalf of Ebonyi State of Nigeria, which according to him, has been routinely excluded and marginalised with respect to the appointment of judges of the High Court of FCT by the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd defendants, the averment that would have established his locus beyond any conjecture would be that the case is in a representative capacity and that he has the consent and authority of Ebonyi State of Nigeria to file the case.
“It must be understood, at this point, that public interest litigation does not extend to suit purportedly filed on behalf of any person who has the capacity and wherewithal to seek remedy for any wrong done to his/her person, but does not deem it necessary to do so.
“I find that Ebonyi State has the requisite capacity to seek remedy for any wrong done to it.
“By this reason, the plaintiff is obviously meddling in the affairs of 1st, 2nd, and 4th defendants by taking up a cause of a state, who has not authorised him to do so.
“It is the law that the court, in ascertaining whether the plaintiff in an action has locus standi, pleadings, that is, the statement of caim, or the affidavit in support of the originating process, must disclose a cause of action vested in the plaintiff and the rights and obligations or interests of the plaintiff that have been violated.
“Now, as the law is, where a plaintiff has been adjudged to lack locus stand, it does not matter whether that action is premature, speculative, and academic, or discloses no reasonable cause of action against the defendant, or the originating process is defective and incompetent, or suit is not justiciable, or the suit is an abuse of court process.
“Lack of focus stand ordinarily means the plaintiff has no legal right or authority to cross the threshold of the court for the matter at hand.
“Once the court finds that the plaintiff lacks focus, then the case ends there. The court ceases to have jurisdiction to consider or decide any other issue in the suit, and this is the case here.
“It is the law that the claims must be struck out, and I am bound to follow the law. I therefore make an order striking out this action for lack of locus standi of the applicant,” Justice Ekwo declared
A military aircraft has crashed during an airshow at a base outside Athens, Greece, killing the two pilots onboard.
The incident occurred on Saturday during the annual “Athens Flying Week” airshow, according to the Greek news agency ANA.
The aircraft, identified as an F-4 Phantom, had reportedly just taken off when it suddenly lost altitude and crashed.
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The crash happened in front of thousands of visitors attending the airshow and was followed by an explosion.
The two pilots aboard the aircraft died in the crash, while the circumstances that led to the aircraft losing altitude remained unclear.
A fire service helicopter was dispatched to the scene to extinguish the blaze caused by the crash, according to Greece’s public broadcaster, ERT.
Following the incident, Greek Defence Minister Nikos Dendias cancelled a planned trip to Thessaloniki’s International Fair and travelled to the crash site.
Authorities are expected to investigate the crash to determine what caused the military aircraft to lose altitude shortly after take-off.
See video below
Former Vice President and presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, Atiku Abubakar, has vowed to constitute an independent team of experts to investigate ₦33.75 billion reportedly paid to 3.29 million vulnerable Nigerian households under the Federal Government’s cash-transfer programme.
Atiku made the declaration in a statement issued on Saturday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, following an audit report that raised questions over whether the funds actually reached the intended beneficiaries.
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According to Atiku, the figures expose serious concerns about the government’s intervention programme, noting that ₦33.75 billion divided among 3.29 million households amounts to approximately ₦10,258 per household.
He criticised the Bola Tinubu administration for removing the fuel subsidy and increasing taxes, tariffs, transportation and electricity costs, while the intervention meant to cushion the impact of those policies was now facing serious accountability questions.
“This is beyond a bookkeeping scandal. The intervention is insultingly small, yet even that small amount cannot be cleanly accounted for,” Atiku said.
He also questioned the varying figures released by the government regarding the number of households that benefited from its intervention programme.
Atiku noted that the administration had claimed that more than ₦600 billion had been disbursed to over 10 million households, after Nigerians were earlier told that about 15 million households were beneficiaries.
“It now appears that the Tinubu administration cannot give Nigerians a coherent account of how many households actually benefited from its intervention programme, while significant portions of the expenditure have failed to withstand independent audit scrutiny,” he said.
The former vice president said the Auditor-General for the Federation, Shaakaa Chira, was reportedly questioning ₦33.75 billion allegedly paid to 3.29 million beneficiaries.
He added that the audit also raised questions over ₦36.74 billion in payments reportedly made without pre-payment audit and another ₦4.62 billion for which payment vouchers were not produced.
Atiku commended Chira for what he described as putting his constitutional responsibility above political convenience.
“That is what institutions are supposed to do — protect the public purse, not the political comfort of those in power,” he said.
Explaining his decision to launch an independent probe, Atiku said Nigerians could not reasonably be expected to trust the same government whose expenditure was under scrutiny to investigate itself.
“My team will constitute an independent group of financial, audit, technology and public-accounting experts to interrogate the available records surrounding these cash-transfer payments,” he said.
He said the team would examine beneficiary figures, payment channels, reconciliation records, audit queries and other inconsistencies surrounding the payments.
Atiku also said the investigation would establish whether the beneficiaries actually received the funds and determine whether access to relevant records had been obstructed.
“If Remita processed these transactions, the relevant records should be available for scrutiny. If beneficiaries received the money, there should be evidence. If access to records was obstructed, Nigerians deserve to know by whom and why,” he said.
He demanded that the government publish a verifiable payment trail if the beneficiaries were genuine, while insisting that funds should be recovered if they did not reach the intended recipients.
Atiku further called for prosecution of any official found to have diverted, misapplied or misappropriated funds meant for vulnerable Nigerians.
He argued that Nigerians needed more than repeated palliative announcements, saying the government should pursue economic policies capable of improving purchasing power and reducing the daily cost of transportation, food and energy.
“Our intervention will follow production. It will support domestic refining, increase local supply, reduce the cost of energy and ensure that the benefit reaches Nigerians through lower prices,” he said.
Atiku maintained that Nigerians who had already endured higher fuel prices, food costs, electricity bills, transportation fares and taxes should not also lose funds appropriated in their names.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s lobbyist, Karl Von Batten, has deleted a social media post in which he announced that United States President Donald Trump had appointed him as a commissioner to a White House presidential commission.
The post was published on the verified X account of Von Batten’s firm, Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C., where checks now show that the post is no longer available.
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Von Batten’s firm had earlier announced that Trump appointed its managing partner as a commissioner, attracting attention in Nigeria because of Von Batten’s political activities and his links to Atiku.
However, Sunday Dare, one of President Bola Tinubu’s media aides, subsequently downplayed the significance of the appointment.
Dare said the appointment was to the Commission on Presidential Scholars, an education panel administered by the United States Department of Education.
According to the presidential aide, the commission has no responsibility for American foreign policy, national security, diplomacy or relations with Nigeria.
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The clarification came amid attention surrounding Von Batten, a Washington-based lobbyist and managing partner of Von Batten-Montague-York, L.C.
The firm was hired by Atiku to strengthen his reputational standing in the United States.
Von Batten has also been actively pushing for the release of US law-enforcement records concerning alleged links between President Tinubu and drug trafficking.
The development has now taken a fresh turn following the deletion of the social media post announcing the reported Trump commission appointment.
The reason for the deletion has not been stated publicly in the information available.
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