Federal High Court Abuja has warned that a suit challenging the conduct of the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, John Tsoho, and Justice Peter Lifu may be struck out if the plaintiff fails to appear at the next hearing.
Justice Salim Ibrahim issued the warning after neither the plaintiff, ADC chieftain Nkemakolam Ukandu, nor his legal representative appeared in court during proceedings.
Ukandu had sued the National Judicial Council, NJC, Justice Tsoho and Justice Lifu, asking the court to compel the NJC to investigate allegations of judicial bias, abuse of power and misconduct.
Counsel to the two judges urged the court to strike out the case, arguing that the plaintiff had repeatedly failed to show commitment to prosecuting the matter.
The defence also informed the court of difficulties in serving legal documents on the plaintiff, claiming the address provided by his counsel could not be located.
Following an ex-parte application, the court approved substituted service by allowing court processes to be pasted at the address provided by the plaintiff’s lawyer.
Justice Ibrahim also directed that hearing notices be served on both Ukandu and the NJC.
The matter was adjourned to July 6 for hearing.
The dispute is connected to the internal leadership crisis within the African Democratic Congress, ADC, particularly a separate case challenging the leadership led by David Mark.
Ukandu had accused the Chief Judge of improperly reassigning the leadership suit to Justice Lifu after it was earlier removed from another judge, alleging the move violated existing court directives.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
