The Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN,
Justice Mahmud Mohammed, has okayed an investigation into a petition accusing a
Chief Magistrate in Abuja, Mr. Abubakar Babashani, of deliberately frustrating
moves to commence hearing on the perjury charge entered against the
Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Major-General
Muhammadu Buhari (ret).
Already, the CJN has directed the
magistrate to immediately file his response to the petition entitled “Case of
Abuse of Office and Manifest Bias by His Worship, Abubakar Babashani, in The
Criminal Complaint by Shield Jones Ufot & Ors. Vs. Muhammed Buhari.”
Reacting to the petition, the CJN
via a letter with Ref. No. CJN/MAN/B9/S.1/VOL.VI/389, which was signed by his
Senior Special Assistant, Mrs. Hadiza Sa’eed, said he would give due
consideration to all the allegations that were raised against the magistrate in
the complaint letter dated February 4, 2015.
Specifically, four activists, Shield Jones Ufot, Jimmy David, Ogueri Enwerem and Tochukwu Okorie, had in a direct criminal complaint they filed before the Abuja Chief Magistrate Court, accused Buhari of violating section157 of the Penal Code.
Specifically, four activists, Shield Jones Ufot, Jimmy David, Ogueri Enwerem and Tochukwu Okorie, had in a direct criminal complaint they filed before the Abuja Chief Magistrate Court, accused Buhari of violating section157 of the Penal Code.
In the suit they filed pursuant to
sections 143 (d) and 152 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the plaintiffs alleged
that the APC presidential flag bearer placed reliance on a bogus certificate to
depose an affidavit before a competent court, an action they said amounted to
perjury and punishable under section 158 of the Penal Code Law.
Meantime, the plaintiffs in the
petition they filed through their lawyer, Mr. Ugochukwu Ezekiel, told the CJN
that after filing the criminal complaint and paying all the necessary fees,
they alleged that Chief Magistrate Babashani “refused to give directives as
required of him by law either for the Police to investigate and report back to
the court, assign the matter to another Magistrate or proceed to hear the
matter.”
According to them, “On several
occasions when we enquired at the registry of the court, we were informed that
his worship was not on seat to attend to our file. We approached his worship
earlier today to seek explanation for his refusal to make the necessary
directives.
“At first, his worship informed us
that he got directives from the Honourable Chief Judge of the Federal Capital
Territory not to hear our matter but when we sought to know in what form the
directive cane, his worship further informed us that he will not sit on our
matter because a revenue collector’s receipt was not attached to the file and
he will not accept Aso Bank’s teller as evidence of payment for filing the
suit.
“The FCT High Court has not issued a
revenue receipt to any litigant as evidence of payment for filing any process
in the court but accepted Aso Bank’s teller as evidence of payment for any
process filed in the court both in the High Court and the Magistrate Court and
it is not the fault of the litigant(s) that the court does not have any receipt
to issue to him/them.
“We are equally aware of many cases
filed in the Chief Magistrate Court which were heard and some are still being
heard by his worship, Abubakar Babashani.
“Upon refusal of his worship to
carry out his judicial duties, our clients made further enquiries at the
revenue department both at the Magistrate Court and the FCT High Court and we
were informed that the court is yet to print receipts for cases filed in court
and only use tellers as evidence of payment for filing a suit.
“Considering the above stated facts,
our clients are led to believe that his Worship is intentionally refusing to
hear our clients’ matter in order to frustrate our clients from pursuing
justice, giving flimsy excuses in so doing.
“Our clients are equally convinced
that his Worship is already biased and has shown manifest bias as to the
content of our complaint. We therefore call upon you to use your good offices
to do or cause to be done the following:
(a) Direct the transfer of the case
from his worship, Abubakar Babashani to any other magistrate of the FCT
Magistrate Court competent to hear the matter.
“(b) Investigate the allegations
contained in this petition with a view to meting out adequate punishment to his
Worship if found culpable.
“Our clients strongly believe in the
pursuit of justice and matters filed before a court should be given fair and
unbiased hearing which the actions of his Worship do not depict in this
instance.
“My Lord, we therefore kindly
request that the case file on this matter be withdrawn from his Worship, Chief
Magistrate Babashani and be re-assigned to any other Magistrate of the
Magistrate Court of the FCT for hearing.”
VANGUARD
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