A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed the suit seeking to compel Anti-graft agencies in Nigeria to arrest and prosecute the 2023 Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
The court on Monday in a judgement delivered by Justice James Omotosho, held that the suit, which was filed before it by the immediate past Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr Festus Keyamo, lacked merit.
Justice Omotosho held that Keyamo was unable to disclose any reasonable cause of action in the suit to warrant the court to exercise its discretion in his favour.
The court also held that, the suit was premature, stressing that Keyamo failed to allow the relevant law enforcement agencies to investigate the allegation he raised against the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar before he rushed to the court.
The court dismissed the suit for want of competence.
It would be recalled that Keyamo had in the Writ of Summons he filed before the court, maintained that the former Vice President, Atiku, had a case to answer, following a disclosure that he colluded with others to fleece the country of public funds, using what was termed as “Special Purpose Vehicles”, SPVs.
The plaintiff instituted the court action on January 20, after a 72-hour ultimatum he handed to relevant anti-graft agencies to investigate the allegation, expired.
Keyamo contended that the PDP candidate ought to have been invited and quizzed by relevant security agencies, based on indicting revelations and evidence that were released by a whistleblower, Mr. Michael Achimugu.
Meanwhile, in a swift reaction, Keyamo, through a statement by the Assistant Head of his Chambers in Abuja, Mr. John Ainetor, vowed to appeal against the judgement.
Keyamo said he disagreed with the decision of the court, insisting that “the law-enforcement agencies did not indicate their willingness to commence investigations, even if they were given more time.”
“We want to establish a legal principle that the society cannot wait as infinitum for law-enforcement agencies to do their statutory duties.
“The suit was designed to prompt the agencies to show their readiness to investigate,” Keyamo explained.
He said, “we are immediately filing an appeal against the said decision to the Court of Appeal as the struggle on this issue continues.”
N.O
