Court fines ADC and Aregbesola N1 million in leadership case

Judge Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja has fined the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and its interim National Secretary, Rauf Aregbesola, N500,000 each. This fine was imposed after they requested the judge to step down from a case about the party's leadership dispute.

Mr Lifu announced the fine on Tuesday while ruling on a recusal application from the ADC and Aregbesola, who is a former governor of Osun State and ex-minister of interior.

On June 8, the ADC and Aregbesola asked the judge to withdraw from the case, claiming he was biased. They also wanted the case to be reassigned to another judge by the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court.

Nafiu-Bala Gombe, an ADC member, filed the suit claiming to be the rightful chair of the party. He is challenging the leadership of David Mark and Aregbesola, who he claims were wrongly appointed as national chairman and national secretary. Gombe argues that these appointments go against the party's constitution.

Gombe wants the court to declare their appointments invalid and stop them from claiming to be party leaders. He opposed the recusal application and asked the court to continue with the hearing.

This case was initially with Judge Emeka Nwite but was later moved to the Supreme Court and then reassigned back to Judge Lifu at the Federal High Court.

In his ruling on Tuesday, Judge Lifu stated that the motions for recusal lacked merit and did not provide enough evidence of bias. He said the reasons given in the affidavits were not relevant.

"This court has carefully considered all processes filed by the parties. There is no iota of bias," the judge ruled. He pointed out that the recusal motions were submitted before the court had fully taken charge of the case.

"Where then is the element of bias in the motions for recusal?" he asked. He described the applications as an abuse of court process and said they were fundamentally flawed.

"The law is settled that allegations of bias are grave allegations," he noted. "Whoever alleges bias must provide clear evidence." He criticized the applicants for not supporting their claims and called it an attempt to blackmail the court.

"As I said, nobody can intimidate the court," he stated. He emphasized that courts should not accept unfounded recusal requests. This prevents parties from picking judges they prefer.

He called the applications an attempt at forum shopping, suggesting that the applicants wanted to move the case to a judge they believed would support them. "Parties cannot choose the court that hears their case," he said.

He added that assigning cases is the job of court administrators, not the litigants. He warned that allowing such applications without proof could lead to misuse of court processes. Granting the application would also set a bad example.

He dismissed the recusal application and imposed a N500,000 cost on each applicant for the benefit of the plaintiff.

Earlier, Kalu-Kalu Agu, a lawyer for Nkemakolam Ukandu, who is the ADC National Welfare Secretary, tried to challenge the judge from delivering the ruling. Ukandu had filed a joinder application through his lawyer, linked to the judge's prior decision affecting the ADC.

Agu pointed out that the court had not yet approved his joinder application to allow him to join the suit. Judge Lifu had previously ordered the deregistration of the ADC and four other parties for breaching Section 225 of the Constitution. He directed INEC to act on this.

Agu argued that the ruling impacted the party's existence and questioned whether the case should proceed. "In view of your lordship’s ruling and the continued existence of the 1st defendant, which has been declared dead, I do not see why this ruling should continue," he said.

The judge asked Agu if he was a party in the case, to which he replied he was. The judge then questioned his position in the matter and whether he had been formally included.

Gombe’s lawyer, Robert Emukpoeruo, opposed Agu’s claim, saying he was not aware of the ruling Agu mentioned. He explained that the joinder application had not been approved and that Agu remained a non-party until he was properly joined.

When Agu tried to respond, the judge told him to stop interrupting. Lawyers for Aregbesola, Mark, and Nwosu also made their points during the proceedings.

In his ruling, Mr Lifu stated that this matter was separate from the previous case. He then adjourned the case until June 23 for the hearing of all pending applications.