President Muhammadu Buhari has told a Federal High Court in Abuja not to interfere in the arraignment of judges accused of corruption as it lacked the powers to stop their trial.
The judges were arrested by the Department of State Services, DSS on allegations of corrupt practices and professional misconduct.
Buhari argued through his lawyer, Chiesonu Okpoko, that the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the suit brought by a Lagos-based lawyer, Olukoya Ogungbeje, praying the court to stop the Federal Government from arraigning the judges.
Justice Gabriel Kolawole, the trial judge, had on the 28 of October summoned President Buhari, DSS Director General, Lawal Daura, the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris and the National Judicial Commission, NJC, to appear before him and show cause why the reliefs sought by the plaintiff should not be granted.
The plaintiff had applied for an order of perpetual injunction restraining the security apparatus from arresting, inviting, intimidating or harassing any of the earlier arrested judges.
The lawyer, who insisted that the arrest and detention of the judges were both unconstitutional and aimed at ridiculing the judiciary, contended that the DSS violated the rights of the judges as enshrined in sections 33, 34, 35, 36, and 41 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
In his preliminary objection to the suit, President Buhari, through Okpoko, argued that the plaintiff has not shown any locus stand enabling him to institute the suit, adding that there was the case between the plaintiff and the Respondents.
“The applicant’s suit as constituted and conceived is a mere academic exercise and raises hypothetical issues,” he said.
By Timothy Enietan-Matthews.
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