AS hearing in the suit by an All Progressives Congress, APC, governorship aspirant, Dr. Segun Abraham against Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, commences, on Wednesday, at the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, APC members in the camps of Akeredolu and Abraham engaged in a war of words over alleged plans to either delay or truncate the case by resorting to technicalities
While Aderedolu was declared the winner at the primary supervised by Jigawa State Governor Abubakar Babaru, Abraham challenged the governor’s emergence as the APC flag bearer for the 2016 poll, urging the court to declare him the winner of the primary. The notice was served on concerned parties by the court presided over by Justice Nnamdi Dimgba in Abuja.
The commencement of the suit followed the verdict of the Supreme Court that Akeredolu’s appeal was without merit and could not stop the case from being heard at the High Court. Abraham had approached the court to be declared the winner of the APC primary and subsequently sworn in to replace Akeredolu as governor.
Meanwhile, Abraham’s camp has alleged a plot to either challenge the jurisdiction of the court to hear the case or blackmail the judge by requesting that the case is assigned to another judge.
Reacting to the allegation, the APC Publicity Secretary, Abayomi Adesanya and Director of Media and Publicity, Steve Otaloro, described the allegation as a fabrication, saying that Akeredolu cannot manipulate any judgment because the case favours him. Otaloro said: “They are crying wolf where there is none. They should have confidence in the judiciary. They should not be jittery.
“Akeredolu is an activist and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. He upholds the rule of law. It is unfortunate that Nigerians are insulting our judiciary by coming up with this frivolous allegation. Whether anyone believe it or not, our judiciary remains one of the best in the world. The camp of Abraham is jittery because all of them know the matter they took to court is only awaiting official nullification because it lacks substance.”
