Saraki, Ekweremadu ignore court in alleged forgery case

The scheduled hearing in a suit filed by some Senators against the Senate President Bukola Saraki, his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, and others over alleged forgery of the Senate Standing Orders used for their elections suffered a setback on Monday as the accused shunned the court hearing.
The suit before the Federal High Court in Abuja was filed by five senators who supported Senator Ahmed Lawan for the position of the Senate President against Saraki, after the inauguration of the Senate in June.
The plaintiffs in the suit marked HC/ABJ/CS/651/2015, are: Senators Abu Ibrahim, Kabir Marafa, Ajayi Boroffice, Olugbenga Ashafa and Suleiman Hunkuni.
The defendants are Saraki, Ekweremadu, the National Assembly and the Clerks of both the National Assembly and the Senate.
When the case came up on Monday before Justice Adeniyi Ademola, none of the defendants was in court, nor were they represented by their lawyers.
Apparently expressing concern about the development, Justice Ademola, while delivering his ruling during the proceedings, stated that the choice of Monday for the hearing was with consents of the counsels to both parties to the suit

Read also: Senators head to court over Saraki

The plaintiffs’ counsel, Chief Mamman Osuman (SAN), however, withdrew the motion on notice during the proceedings, saying the essence of the application had been overtaken by events with some of the committees of Senate already constituted.
Justice Ademola, while striking out the motion on notice in a short ruling, noted that the application contained the same set of prayers that were in the plaintiffs’ ex parte application, which was earlier dismissed by Justice Kolawole.
Justice Kolawole was originally in charge of the case before it was re-assigned to Justice Ademola.
The plaintiffs in the suit had based their argument on the use of alleged illegitimate and unconstitutional Senate Standing ‎Orders 2015 to conduct the election of the current leadership of the Senate on June 9.

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