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Fintiri Alleges Foul Play, Asks NJC to Investigate Judge
Former acting Governor of Adamawa State, Umaru Fintiri, has
asked the National Judicial Council (NJC) to investigate Justice
Adeniyi Ademola for not releasing a copy of the judgment
which sacked him from office to his lawyers.
The chamber of the former Attorney General of the
Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN), lead
counsel to Fintiri in a petition dated October 10 and a follow-
up dated October 14, signed by Chief Duro Adeyele (SAN),
claimed that “To begin with, though Tuesday, October 7 was a
public holiday, I got a phone call at about 6:19 p.m from
someone who claimed to be the secretary to the presiding
judge of Federal High Court No 6, Abuja intimating me that
judgment in the above quoted suit would be delivered the
next day Wednesday, October 8.
“I was not in Abuja and I therefore instructed one of my
junior colleagues in the chambers to go for the judgment. I
also emphasised that he should obtain a certified true copy of
the judgment as my expectation was that His Lordship would
make a copy of the judgment available to parties knowing the
constitutional and political nature of the case. However, no
copy of the judgment was made available.
“On getting back to Abuja on the same Wednesday, October 8,
I instructed one of my junior colleagues in the chambers to
apply for a certified true copy of the said judgment to
concretise the notice of appeal which I had instruction of my
client to file. However, up till close of business of that day, the
judgment was not made available. Nevertheless, I still went
ahead to file a notice of appeal based on what my junior
heard in court.
“My Lord, to my shock and surprise, up till the close of
business the next day, Thursday and Friday, Justice Ademola
refused to release the said judgment. And there is no
indication from the court when it will be ready and made
available to me. One would expect that in a matter such as
this, his Lordship should have gotten the judgment ready
before delivering same.
“What now compounded the situation is that even though I
was not availed a copy of the judgment, an enrolled order of
the judgment was served on INEC headquarters Abuja by
11:28 am on the date of judgment October 8, and by 2p.m. of
the same day, a copy of the said enrolled order was taken to
the Chief of Staff of my client at the government house,
Jimeta, Yola, Adamawa State.”
Part of the follow-up reads, “yesterday October 13 we again
sent one of our colleagues in chambers to the said court to
obtain a certified true copy of the judgment. However and to
our chagrin and consternation, the Court Registrar again
informed our colleague that the judgment was not ready for
certification as it was still being typed. That after typing, it
would be proof-read by the Legal Assistant to the trial judge
before it would be presented to his lordship to proof-read
and errors will be corrected by the secretary before his
lordship would sign. He finally informed our colleague that
the judgment would not be ready for collection until next
week.
“My Lord, this makes it evident and crystal clear that the
judgment is being deliberately withheld from our client to
frustrate timeous prosecution of his appeal and render his
appeal nugatory.”