Court to hear contempt suit against Oshiomhole April 3

An FCT High Court in Bwari has fixed April 3 for hearing in a contempt suit filed against the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole and the party.

The plaintiff, Daniel Nwafor, the chairman of the APC in Imo state, instituted the suit following alleged disobedience of the court judgment which recognized him as the authentic chairman of the party in the state.

The judgment was given in a suit filed by one Evans Enwerem in 2018 challenging the conduct of the Ward, Local Government and State congresses of the APC in Imo State.

The court, after hearing the case, dismissed it and granted the reliefs as asked for by Nwafor with the court restraining APC and Oshiomhole from tampering with the tenure of Nwafor as chairman.

However, in December 2018, Oshiomhole sought to sack the Nwaforled executive against the order of the court, which led Nwafor to file a contempt suit against Oshiomhole and the APC.

Oshiomhole through his counsel, Damian Dodo (SAN) had subsequently filed a preliminary objection challenging the jurisdiction of the court.

When the matter came The new Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Communications, Mr. Istifanus Musa Mik Fuktur, has accused directors and heads of units in the civil service of focusing on personal comforts instead of the general good of Nigerians.

Mr Fuktur said this during the handing over ceremony by the director, Human Resources Management of the ministry, Mr. El Baff Abubakar in Abuja yesterday, a statement from the ministry said.

The permanent secretary expressed displeasure on briefs from various departments that is dominated by staff comfort rather than the comfort of Nigerians at large and urged the up on February 17, the plaintiff prayed the court to hear the contempt charge first while the defense, however, asked the court to hear the preliminary objection it filed first. The court later intervened to first hear the objection challenging the contempt proceedings.

The trial judge, Justice Othman Musa while adjourning the matter held that court orders are meant to be obeyed until such orders are set aside and adjourned the matter to March 20.

However, following the absence of the judge yesterday, the court, in agreement with the counsels in the case, fixed April 3 as the new date for the hearing of the suit. directors and their unit heads to focus more on things that would translate to a better life for Nigerians so that the positive effect of governance could also be felt by Nigerians, the statement added.

According to the statement, the Permanent Secretary disclosed that a timetable would soon be made available to all departments and units to present their departmental brief which would serve as a mirror to enable him to coordinate the Ministry activities for effectiveness and efficiency.

Earlier, Mr Abubakar welcomed the permanent secretary to the Ministry and stated that handing over ceremony is a common practice in service in order to ensure continuity in government operations.