Nasir El-Rufai, the former Governor of Kaduna State, has requested that Justice Rilwan Aikawa recuse himself from the case El-Rufai filed to contest the Kaduna State House of Assembly’s report, which accused him of stealing N423 billion.
El-Rufai’s request comes after the judge heard the case on Thursday and deferred the judgment to a later date, which will be announced to all parties involved.
Through his counsel, Abdulhakeem Mustapha (SAN), El-Rufai penned a letter to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, alleging that Justice Aikawa harbors a bias against him and requesting his recusal from the case.
He alleged that the judge went on to hear the suit when his lawyer was not in court, thus denying a fair hearing.
He demanded that his suit be withdrawn from Justice Aikawa and re-assigned to another judge, saying Justice Aikawa was denying him a fair hearing.
In the suit he filed in June, El-Rufai is praying the court to quash the Assembly’s probe report indicting him of N423bn theft.
His petition to the CJ seeking a change of judge read in part: “The applicant herein filed this captioned suit to enforce his fundamental human rights to fair hearing against the respondents on the 26th day of June 2024 at the Federal High Court, Kaduna Division.
“Upon filing the same, the matter was assigned to Honourable Justice R.M. Aikawa, who fixed the same for hearing on the 8th day of July 2024.
“When this matter was called on the 8th of July 2024, S.S. Umoru Esq appeared for the applicant while Sani Katu, SAN, appeared for the 1st respondent. Sule Shuaibu, SAN, the Honourable Attorney-General of Kaduna State, appeared in person for the 2nd respondent.
“While our Umoru Esq. informed the court that they had been served with the processes from the 2nd respondent and were still within time to respond to the same, the learned silk for the 1st respondent informed the court that they had not filed any processes and that they were out of time to do so by one day. He said their processes were being filed. By the agreement of all counsel on record, the honourable court adjourned the matter till the 17th day of July 2024.
“On the said 17th of July, 2024, our principal, A.U. Mustapha, SAN, appeared in court with S.S. Umoru Esq. and Habib Dauda, Esq, having arrived from Lagos a day earlier, but we were informed that the court would not sit. As a result, he proceeded back to Lagos.
“On the night of the 17th of July 2024, we got the information in the news that the matter was fixed for the 18th of July 2024. In view of this extremely short time, we caused a letter of adjournment to be written and filed in court. The said letter was filed and served on the court and all the counsel in the matter. We also copied Your Lordship. The said letter is hereby annexed.
“The letter of adjournment notwithstanding, the honourable court went ahead and proceeded to hear the matter wherein the respondents adopted their processes and adumbrated further on the same.
“On the night of the 17th of July 2024, we got the information in the news that the matter was fixed for the 18th of July 2024. In view of this extremely short time, we caused a letter of adjournment to be written and filed in court. The said letter was filed and served on the court and all the counsel in the matter. We also copied Your Lordship. The said letter is hereby annexed.
“The letter of adjournment notwithstanding, the honourable court went ahead and proceeded to hear the matter wherein the respondents adopted their processes and adumbrated further on the same.
El-Rufai said he no longer had confidence in the judge to do justice in the matter and prayed that the case be assigned to another judge.
Meanwhile, the respondents in the suit, including the Kaduna State government and the state House of Assembly, vehemently opposed the suit and asked that it be dismissed.
Counsel for the Kaduna State House of Assembly, Femi Falana (SAN), argued that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter.
On his part, the Kaduna State Commissioner of Justice, Sule Shuaibu (SAN), and also a respondent in the suit, filed a preliminary objection, similarly challenging the jurisdiction of the court.
El-Rufai’s lawyer, Mustapha, was not present in court.
Following arguments from the legal counsel, Justice Aikawa announced that the court would notify the parties of a judgment delivery date.
As previously reported, a special committee established by the Kaduna State House of Assembly to investigate financial transactions, loans, and contracts during El-Rufai’s tenure as governor found him and several of his appointees responsible for the alleged misappropriation of N423 billion in state funds.
