The Federal High Court, Abuja, on Tuesday reserved July 11 for the adoption of addresses in a suit brought before it by erstwhile Chief Judge of the FCT, Justice Lawal Gummi.
Gummi had approached the court to challenge the competence of the National Judicial Council (NJC) to investigate him, having voluntarily retired as judicial officer on May 13.
Giving ruling on whether or not to hear the application challenging the jurisdiction of the case filed by NJC, Justice Adamu Bello held that both preliminary and substantive issues should be consolidated.
“Having listened to the contributions from counsel to the parties, it is the decision of the court to entertain preliminary issues and the substantive suit together.
“For the benefit of the records, it is important to observe that Section 29 of the Rules of the Court allows for the hearing of all the issues together even if there is a pending motion challenging the jurisdiction of the court.
“This court is a place of justice and therefore, parties can still bring forward their preliminary applications at any stage, even after a judgment is delivered,” he said.
The other defendants in the suit are Justice Pius Olayiwola Aderemi (Chairman of the probe panel), Justice V. N. Nebo, Justice Olatokunbo Olapade, Nestello Gateway Group, Mike Mbanefo and Secretary of the NJC.
Earlier, Mr Jimoh Lasisi (SAN), counsel to the NJC, had sought to move his client’s application challenging the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the suit.
However, Mr Okunade Olorundare (SAN), counsel to the plaintiff (Gummi), opposed the move.
He accused the NJC of violating the June 27 order of the court compelling it to provide the minutes of its meeting where the decision to probe the plaintiff was taken.
“My Lord, the order of the court was granted following an application. We filed for the court to subpoena the NJC to produce the record of proceedings concerning the plaintiff.
“It is to my dismay to note that the NJC that is the judge of all judges has failed to obey the order of the court.
“On the application challenging the jurisdiction of the court, my lord, this is against Section 29 of the Rules of the court.
“The rules specify that such an application must be filed within 21 days, and the NJC has not applied the second leg of the rules either.
In his submission, Lasisi said the recent decisions of the Supreme Court had eroded the rules of the court on the limitation placed on challenging the Federal High Court’s jurisdiction.
Lasisi, who made reference to some decided cases, argued that court’s rules were subservient to cases decided by the apex court.
On the failure of the NJC to obey “subpoena” placed on it, he said the notice of the order was received by his client on the evening of June 1.
Lasisi, therefore, explained that the inability of his client to produce the document should not be misinterpreted to mean disobedience of court order.
“My lord, we do not have any problems providing the minutes of the meeting, but our concern is to the effect that the plaintiff is seeking more evidence to prosecute his case.
Mr Amobi Nzelu, counsel to Nestello Gateway Group and Mike Mbanefo said the court must take judicial notice of the fact that the application challenging the jurisdiction should be cleared to pave way for the substantive suit.
Gummi had sought the court to declare that the NJC lacked the jurisdiction to probe him since the subject matter of the case was pending before an Abuja High Court.
He also sought an order of the court, setting aside anything done or purported to have been done by the NJC and the probe panel on the grounds that he was no longer a judicial officer.
