A transcription of the judgment made available to Tribune Online indicated that the case was decided based on a majority rule of two to one, with the Chief Justice, Hon. Justice Hibatullahi Kanzullahi, delivering the lead judgment.
Consequently, the Temple of Justice declared the suspension of Mr Asukuti by the Senate Council as illegal, and contrary to the doctrine of separation of powers for assuming criminal jurisdiction.
However, the claimant’s prayers for defamation and fair hearing were not granted on the basis of lack of sufficient evidence and the conviction of the court that his right of fair hearing was not violated.
Lauding the decision of the apex court, counsel to the claimant, Olanrewaju Hanifat Adenike, expresses satisfaction over the judgment and thanked members of her team for a job well done.
” I want to express my joy and happiness and appreciate God for the victory in the just concluded case of Asukuti Ibrahim V. the Senate Council & Anor. I will like to use this medium to congratulate my client for the victory and also appreciate my co-counsel for the hard work and cooperation throughout the proceeding.
Finally, I want to appreciate the court for upholding the words of the law as contained in the Constitution by preventing any form of abuse of power”. She said.
On the other hand, counsel to the 1st defendant (Senate Council) and Senior Advocate of the Union (SAU), Prince Olasupo Morakinyo, accepted the ruling of the court but maintained that the decision was hinged on the procedure, and not the allegation levelled against the claimant.
“The judgment of the court is final, even if it’s not completely favourably to the parties. Well, I must say that the judgment is in two folds: the court held in clear terms that the claimant’ s suspension was illegal because of the procedure, and not that, he is not guilty as charged.
The defendant also failed woefully in law to establish a case of defamation against my client.
“We take the favourable parts of the judgement as sound and humbly disagree with the unfavourable parts. We believe the unfavourable part is an erroneous decision and we shall advise our client accordingly.” He said.
However, Counsel to the 2nd defendant and Senior Advocate of the Union (SAU), Jimoh Omotayo, declined to make any official comment until the full judgment of the Court is delivered.
It would be recalled that the Welfare Secretary of Unilorin Student Union, Comrade Asukuti Abdullahi, was suspended for 30 working days by the Senate Council on 3rd Feb. 2018 over his alleged embezzlement of public fund and for falling short of expectations.
and then