Former Senate President Bukola Saraki has approached the Federal High Court in Abuja in order to seek an order for the relisting of his suit against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other entities.
The suit was initially filed on May 10th, 2019 and named the Attorney-General of the Federation, Inspector-General of Police and the State Security Service (SSS) as first to third defendants respectively.
The remaining defendants were the EFCC, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).
The suit resulted from a decision taken by the EFCC to probe Saraki's earnings between 2003 and 2011 when he was the governor of the state of Kwara, leading the EFCC to seize some of his properties in the Ikoyi area of Lagos.
Saraki had then filed the suits in order to enforce his fundamental rights.
However, the suit was struck out by Justice Inyang Ekwo on January 25th, 2020. When a suit is struck out it can be refiled, but when a suit is dismissed, the decision can only be appealed at a higher court.
In light of this, Saraki has filed a motion on notice dated February 1st, 2021 and filed February 3rd in accordance with the Order 19, Rule 1 and 3, Order 26, Rule 3 of FHC Civil Procedure Rules and under the inherent jurisdiction of the court.
The motion consists of two orders; the first is for an extension of time in which he can apply to relist the suit to the court's cause list, and the second is to actually relist the suit to the court's cause list.
Saraki has provided seventeen grounds in the motion as to why his application should be granted.
The motion states that though Saraki was not present in court for the Jan. 25th hearing, it was due to an oversight on the part of the secretary in his law firm.
He also mentions that since the case was reassigned to Justice Ekwo, his counsel has been diligently prosecuting it.
He also stated that on June 27th, 2022 and October 5th, 2022, the case was adjourned off record due to the court not sitting on those days.
On February 1st, 2021, Saraki was informed that the suit was struck out because no lawyer represented him in court.
The judge fixed March 31 for mention.
(NAN)