The Honorable Justice Ademola Adeniyi sitting at the Federal High Court 7,<\/p>\n
Abuja on Thursday 26th, May 2016 dismissed the Preliminary Objections
\nfiled by President Muhammadu Buhari in the case instituted against him,
\nthe Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the All
\nProgressives Congress (APC) in Suit No. FHC\/ABJ\/CS\/110\/2015 by an Abuja
\nbased Legal Practitioner, Barr. Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe challenging his
\ncompetence to stand election into the office of President of the Federal
\nRepublic of Nigeria when he lacks the basic educational qualifications set
\nout in the Constitution.<\/p>\n
The development has reportedly thrown the Nigerian presidency into
\ndisquiet as President Buhari and his handlers greeted the ruling with
\nshock, as very few Nigerians including members of Buhari\u2019s government
\nrealized the case was still in court.<\/p>\n
According to an informed source on the development, the ruling has caught
\nthe Buhari presidency unawares and has posed a big distraction for
\ngovernment activities at the Villa. \u201cNobody even knew the case was still
\non. The story was not even reported in the mainstream media. No paper
\ncarried the Thursday ruling. But I can tell you the Presidency is rattled
\nand seriously hoping that the case does not resurface again in the public
\ndomain because of the huge embarrassment it could cause the President. But
\nmore importantly, there are concerns about the safety of the judge and the
\nplaintiff\u201d, the source disclosed.<\/p>\n
Recall that in February 2015, Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe, Esq. filed an
\nOriginating Summons at the Federal High Court, Abuja praying the Court to
\namong others declare that Buhari is unqualified to aspire to the position
\nof President not having sat for the Secondary School Certificate and also
\ndeposing to a false affidavit about his educational qualifications
\ncontrary to the Electoral Act.<\/p>\n
Buhari and the APC instead of entering a defence on the merits and
\nexhibiting any educational certificates obtained by Buhari, tried to
\nfrustrate the hearing of the case by filing several objections to the
\ncompetence of the action.<\/p>\n
President Buhari reportedly retained over twenty SANs led by Chief Wole
\nOlanipekun, Chief Akin Olujinmi, Femi Falana, etc., who for over one year
\nnow have failed to file any defence for Buhari or APC but instead used
\nevery trick in the book to delay the case.<\/p>\n
But on Thursday, the Hon. Justice Ademola Adeniyi in his ruling on the
\ncase, dismissed all applications by the defendant as totally lacking in
\nmerit. He held that the suit filed by Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe was
\ncompetent and the service on Buhari and APC was also competent.<\/p>\n
He thereafter adjourned the case to the 16th day of June 2016 for hearing
\nof the substantive Originating Summons to determine whether Buhari\u2019s
\neducational qualifications meets the minimum standards required by the
\nConstitution.<\/p>\n
According to reports made available to SIGNAL, only the counsel to INEC
\nwas in Court, the plaintiff was absent but wrote to the Court explaining
\nthat he received notice of the date for the ruling the previous night and
\nwas out of town and could not make it. APC (2nd Respondent) and Buhari
\n(3rd Respondent) were absent, were not represented and did not write to
\nCourt.<\/p>\n
It will be recalled that there were claims by online handlers of the All
\nProgressives Congress (APC) that the Nigerian Army\u00a0 located President
\nBuhari\u2019s \u201cmissing certificate\u201d after the elections. The missing
\ncertificate saga raised contention as to the eligibility of Buhari to
\ncontest the presidential election. However, it is on record that there was
\nno official statement by the Nigerian Army up till this day corroborating
\nclaims that the certificate has been found.<\/p>\n
Courtesy SIGNAL<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Honorable Justice Ademola Adeniyi sitting at the Federal High Court 7, Abuja on Thursday 26th, May 2016 dismissed the Preliminary Objections filed by President Muhammadu Buhari in the case…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n