An Abuja based legal practitioner, Festus Onifade, has dragged President Muhammadu Buhari before a Federal High Court, Abuja over an alleged gross breach of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended.
The president was sued alongside the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), Federal Character Commission (FCC), Mueeba Farida Dankaka and Mohammed Bello Tukur, as 1st to 5th respondents respectively.
The plaintiff, in his suit, accused the president of violating some provisions of the 1999 Constitution in the ways and manners he has been making political appointments.
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/709/2021 and filed on his behalf by his counsel, Moses Owuru, the plaintiff accused President Buhari of violating sections 7and 8 of the Constitution in the appointments of Mueeba Farida Dankaka and Mohammed Bello Tukur as Executive Chairman and Executive Secretary of the Federal Character Commission (FCC) respectively.
The plaintiff who claimed to be an indigene of Osun State in the South Western Region of the country alleged that the two appointments were in clear breach of Section 4 of the Federal Character Commission Act having been made from the Northern part of the country.
He, therefore, prayed the court for an order compelling President Buhari to immediately dissolve the board of the commission and to reconstitute it to reflect the principle and letters of the Federal Character Commission as enshrined in the 1999 constitution.
The plaintiff, who claimed to have been aggrieved with the appointments also sought another order to compel Mueeba Farida Dankaka and Mohammed Bello Tukur to vacate their offices without any delay.
In a 21-paragraph affidavit in support of the suit, the lawyer averred that Buhari, on March 18, 2020 appointed Mueeba Farida Dankaka and on June 2, 2020 was confirmed by the Senate as Executive Chairman of the FCC.
He also claimed that Buhari on April 6, 2017 appointed Mohammed Bello Tukur as Executive Secretary of the FCC and that since the expiration of his tenure on April 7, 2021, he has continued to function in office.
He further averred that since the two appointees are from the North, Buhari has breached sections 7 and 8 of Nigeria’s Constitution and prayed the court to declare the appointments unlawful, unconstitutional, illegal, null and void.
The plaintiff also wants the court to declare that Buhari and other defendants in the suit are bound to abide by the provisions of the constitution as they relate to the principle of proportional sharing of all political offices.
The trial judge, Justice Inyang Ekwo, has fixed November 11, 2021 for hearing of the suit.
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