Jonathan, AGF pray court to dimiss lawyer’s motion seeking judge’s recusal

Former President Goodluck Jonathan and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, on Monday urged the Federal High Court to dismiss a lawyer’s motion seeking his withdrawal from the case.

Jonathan and Fagbemi, through their lawyers, prayed Justice Peter Lifu to dismiss the motion with substantial cost.

Our correspondent reports that the lawyer, Johnmary Jideobi, who is the plaintiff in the suit seeking to stop Jonathan from vying in the 2027 presidential election, had filed the motion.

In the motion on notice deposed to by his lawyer, Ndubuisi Ukpai, he is asking the judge to withdraw from the case, citing alleged bias.

Responding, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, who appeared for the ex-president, vehemently opposed Jideobi’s motion

The senior lawyer described application as frivolous, baseless and founded on gross misrepresentation.

“In opposition, we filed a counter affidavit of five paragraphs on May 12.

“We want my lord to rely on the record of this honourable court which has entirely dismissed the plaintiff’s entire claims as false and perjury,” he said.

Uche, who urged the court to discountenance the application as constituting a gross abuse of the court process, prayed the court to dismiss same with substantial cost and proceed with the case.

In the same vein, Fagbemi, who was represented in court by Mrs Maimuna Lami-Shiru, the Director of Civil Litigation and Public Law, Federal Ministry of Justice, also prayed the judge to dismissed the motion.

Lami-Shiru submitted that a judge may recuse himself from a case if he feels that his involvement will affect the impartiality of the suit

The lawyer, however, argued that that the instant motion was an abuse of court process.

She urged the court to dismiss the plaintiiff’s motion as being baseless, unmeritirious and unfounded on proper provisions of the law.

According to the lawyer, he who comes to equity must come with clean hands.

Lami-Shiru, who urged the court to dimiss the suit with substantial cost, sought N2 million cost in favour of the ministry.

In the main suit filed by the plaintiff, Jonathan and Fagbemi equally asked the court to dimiss same with substantial cost.

After taking arguments from lawyers to the plaintiff and the defendants, Justice Life fixed May 26 for judgment .