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The absence of the 11th defence counsel, John Baiyeshea SAN, on Tuesday, stalled the hearing of a suit seeking to halt statutory allocations to the 44 local government areas of Kano State.
Recall that the plaintiffs, Abdullahi Abbas, Aminu Aliyu-Tiga, and the All Progressives Congress, through their counsel, Sunday Olowomoran, filed a motion exparte dated October 28, and November.1, 2024.
The defendants are the Central Bank of Nigeria, Federal Account Allocation Committee, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Accountant-General of the Federation, Minister of Finance, Auditor General of the Federation, and Attorney General of the Federation.
Others are the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Kano State Government, Attorney General Kano, Kano State Independent Electoral Commission and the 44 Kano local governments.
The plaintiffs are seeking the court to restrain the Federal Government, the CBN, and the Accountant-General of the Federation from releasing statutory funds to Kano’s 44 local government areas.
The plaintiffs are seeking a declaration that the 12th to 55th (44 local governments) respondents are not democratically elected and constituted pursuant to Section 7(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended.
At the resumed sitting, on Monday, at the Federal High Court in Kano, the presiding judge, Justice Simon Amobeda, informed the court that counsel for KANSIEC, John Baiyeshea, SAN, was indisposed, citing medical reasons and had sent a letter requesting an adjournment.
He ordered that all applications requiring a response be filed and ready before the next adjourned date and adjourned the matter till March 4, 2025, for hearing.
Counsel for the state Attorney General, Femi Falana, informed the court that the plaintiffs had served them with six processes.
Falana, along with Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, counsel for the Kano State Government; B. D. Uche, counsel for the first, third, and seventh respondents; and H. M. Ma’aruf, did not object to the adjournment.
Responding, Sadiqu Sammani-Lawan, counsel representing parties seeking to be joined in the suit, indicated the interest of his clients.
“The interest of our client is very fundamental. They 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,” he said.
