Senate rules: Ekweremadu urges court to convert suit to writ of summons

The Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has challenged the competence of the suit filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja by five aggrieved senators challenging the legality of the election of Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki as Senate President and himself as Deputy Senate President.

Controversy generated by the suit had earlier led to the transfer of the suit from Justice Adeniyi Ademola to Justice Evoh Chukwu of same court.

At the resumed hearing on Thursday Ekweremadu’s lawyer Patrick Ikwuato (SAN) told the court he had filed an application praying the court to convert the originating summons filed by the five aggrieved senators to writ of summons.

He disclosed that since the case of the aggrieved All Progressive Congress (APC) senators was predicated on alleged forgery of the Senate Standing Order, they ought to have brought the action to court through the writ of summons instead of originating summons.

In the fresh application Ikwueto is asking that the suit of the aggrieved senators be declared as inappropriate for determination vide the originating summons procedure.

The Deputy Senate President also asked the Judge to order that the case be transferred for hearing under the general cause list and that the parties in the suit be directed to file and exchange pleadings and witness statements on oath for hearing and determination of the suit.

The grounds of Ekweremadu’s motion was that when a case is transferred to another court to be commenced de novo (afresh), it was trite law that the suit be heard anew and that all findings of the previous court cannot be adopted or built upon by the new court.

He argued that the suit filed by originating summons of July 27, 2015, was anchored on alleged falsification of the standing order of the Senate.

In an 18-paragraph affidavit in support of the motion, Ekweremadu claimed that the allegation of contriving or concocting the Senate Standing Orders 2015 amounted to falsification, forgery or fraud and that by its nature, the suit cannot be decided by originating summon but by the writ of summon, where evidence could be adduced orally.

He averred that it was necessary to call for oral evidence in order to resolve the material conflicts in the affidavit and counter-affidavit of the parties, and that unless oral evidence tested under cross examination was produced, the conflicting affidavit would be incapable of resolution in the suit

“I have vehemently asserted in my counter affidavit to the originating summons that the Senate Standing Order 2015 (as amended) is valid and the 8th National Assembly on being convened was entitled to conduct its affairs independent of the rules enacted by the 7th National Assembly”.

Counsel to the plaintiffs Mr. Mamman Mike Osuman (SAN) who addressed the court through Mr. Dele Adesina (SAN) said that Ekweremadu took him by surprise with the new motion served on him in the open court.

He complained that the action of the Deputy Senate President was a ploy to scuttle hearing of the case filed since last year.

The plaintiffs’ counsel, therefore, asked for an adjournment to enable him react to the motion.

Counsel to Saraki, Mr. Kayode Eleja (SAN) did not oppose the application for adjournment but claimed that both parties had been serving each other with court process in the open court.

Justice Evoh Stephen Chukwu then adjourned the case till April 27 and directed that, henceforth, serving of court papers should be through chambers to chambers and no longer in the open court

Plaintiffs in the suit are Senators Abu Ibrahim, Kabiru Garba Marafa, Robert Ajayi Boroffice, Bareehu Olugbenga Ashafa and Suleiman Othman Hunkuyu.

They had sued Saraki, Ekweremadu and four others praying the court to set aside the election of Saraki and Ekweremadu as Senate President and Deputy, respectively, as, according to them, the Senate Standing Order used for the election was forged.

Saraki had in his preliminary objection to the suit asked the court to throw it out on the ground that he was elected Senate President unopposed by his colleagues

He also claimed that the five senators had no basis to complain against the election, because they never aspired to the office or had the mandate of other 104 senators to institute the suit.

Justice Adeniyi Ademola, who first heard the case, was petitioned by Ekweremadu at the verge of delivering judgment on the ground that the Judge was biased against him due to external influence from Lagos APC state government that made wife of the judge, Mrs Tolulope Adeniyi Ademola, the Head of Service of Lagos to do their alleged bidding.

‪The case file was withdrawn from Justice Ademola on the strength of the petition by the Chief Judge, Justice Ibrahim Auta and re-assigned to Justice Chukwu to start afresh.