Kaduna: Former governor of Kaduna State Nasiru Ahmad El-Rufa’i has filed a plea with the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja, claiming that Justice Rilwan M. Aikawa, the judge overseeing his case in the Federal High Court Kaduna against the Kaduna State House of Assembly, was biased.
El-Rufa’i claimed prejudice, unfairness, and denial of a fair trial in the plea that his attorney, Abdulhakeem Mustapha, SAN, filed before the Federal High Court, Abuja.
The former governor asked that the case be moved to a different judge in the interest of justice in a petition he sent through his attorney to the Chief Judge of the Abuja Federal High Court.
The petition stated as follows: “On June 26, 2024, the Applicant filed this captioned suit at the Federal High Court, Kaduna Division, to enforce his Fundamental Human Rights to a fair hearing against the Respondents. The matter was assigned to Honorable Justice R.M. Aikawa upon filing, and he scheduled a hearing for July 8, 2024.
On July 8, 2024, S.S. Umoru, Esq. represented the applicant, and Sani Katu, SAN represented the single respondent, during the hearing for this matter. The Honorable Attorney-General of Kaduna State, Sule Shuaibu, SAN, personally attended on behalf of the Second Respondent. The Learned Silk for the First Respondent told the Court that they had not filed any processes and that they were running out of time to do so by one day, while our Umoru, Esq. informed the Court that they had been served with the processes from the Second Respondent and still had time to respond to the same.
