IPoB | High Court orders accelerated hearing of case against Buhari, others

A the case in­stituted against President Muhammadu Buhari, the Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Yusuf Buratai and the Ni­gerian Army by Ala Igbo Development Foundation

Justice A.M Liman, who presided, granted leave to the plaintiff to serve the defend­ants by substituted means – and also ordered accelerated hearing of the case.

It is expected that when the plaintiff has complied with the order of the court for substituted service, the court will then fix a definite date for hearing.

Recall that the ADF had, on September 14, 2017, sued the President of the Federal Republic of Nige­ria, the Nigerian army, and the chief of army staff.

In the originating sum­mons, the ADF, through its team of lawyers, were basical­ly asking the court to deter­mine four questions, and to grant four reliefs.

They asked the court to first of all, determine if it was not illegal for the first defend­ant (the president) to call out, operationally engage, use and or deploy the Armed Forces of the Federation in circum­stances not envisaged in the constitution.

The ADF made reference to the provisions of Sections 217 and 218 of the Constitu­tion of the Federal Republic of Nigeria of 1999 as amend­ed, wondering if it is not il­legal and unconstitutional to engage the army in such cir­cumstances.

In its second plea, it also asked the court to determine the clear and unambiguous meaning of the provisions above, for the 2nd defendant, which is the Armed Forces to engage in a military operation it termed ‘Operation Egwu Eke’(Python Dance) in the five states of the South East, including Abia, Anambra, Eb­onyi, Enugu, and Imo States.

The suit also wanted the court to determine “if the first defendant can unilateral­ly make a proclamation call­ing out, operationally engag­ing, using and or deploying the armed forces of the Federation to the south eastern part of the country without recourse to the National Assembly as en­visaged under Section 217 of the Constitution of the Feder­al Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended”.

The fourth prayer was to determine whether “there is a situation of external aggres­sion, threat to territorial integ­rity or violation of the borders of Nigeria and or insurrection in the south eastern part of the country, as contemplated un­der section 217 of the consti­tution, to warrant the deploy­ment of armed forces in the military operation, Egwu Eke”.

In seeking reliefs, the plaintiff requested that the court declare that the action of the defendants, especially the first(the president of Nigeria), in engaging the army in south east is illegal, unconstitution­al, null and void and of no ef­fect whatsoever.

It also sought an order of the court to restrain the de­fendants especially the 1st de­fendant from deploying and or further engaging the army against the south eastern Nige­ria with its ‘Operation Python Dance or Egwu Eke.

It equally asked for an or­der compelling the defend­ants to “recall forthwith all sol­diers, men and officers of the armed forces already deployed to south east in furtherance of operation Egwu Eke.

 Prominent Traditional Rulers meet Buhari

In the proceedings today, the plaintiff obtained a leave of court to serve the defendants by substituted means, by pub­lishing the summons in a na­tionally circulating newspaper.

The ADF was represent­ed at the court yesterday by Barristers Max Ozoaka, and Chinedu Okeke.

Others who represent­ed ADF President, Prof T.U. Nwala, included its finan­cial secretary, Dr Jerry Chuk­wuokolo, and Dr Arinze Nwo­su, Council member of the organization.