Defection: Court adjourns suit against Amaechi, others indefinitely

Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi

A Federal High Court, Abuja, on Tuesday adjourned indefinitely a suit filed by the Peoples Democratic Party seeking an order directing some governors of the All Progressives Congress to vacate their seats.

The PDP wants the court to order the removal of the governors on the account of their defection from the party which sponsored them into office to the APC before the expiration of their tenure.

The affected governors are AbdulFatah Ahmed (Kwara), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Aliyu Wamako (Sokoto) and Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano).

But Justice Gabriel Kolawole on Tuesday adjourned the matter sine die (indefinitely) on the grounds that the court processes were not properly served on the defendants.

The court, in a ruling on Tuesday, set aside the earlier service on the governors through APC’s new office at 14, Blantyre Street, Abuja.

Justice Kolawole held that the PDP fell into the trap set by the governors, which enabled them to justifiably claim that they were not properly served.

The judge said, “The plaintiff (the PDP) should repackage itself and do the needful to get the defendants properly served. I uphold the application of the defendants seeking the setting aside of the purported service, and the striking out of the motion on notice.”

The governors had challenged the competence of the service on them through the new APC office at 14, Blantyre Street, Wuse II, Abuja.

They had urged the court to declare the service null and void because the said address was not embedded in the ex-parte order which directed the court bailiff to serve them through substituted means.

Following the court order obtained on December 13, 2013, directing that the governors be served through the APC office in Abuja, the bailiff had taken the processes to 6, Bissau Street, Wuse II (the old address of the APC).

But on getting to Bisau Street, the bailiff discovered that the APC had vacated the office and had relocated to 40, Blantyre Street, Wuse II, Abuja, where he then served the processes.

But the governors refused service, arguing that it was not in conformity with the order of court. They then filed an application urging the court to set aside the order of December 13, 2013.

The PDP, through its counsel, Alex Iziyon (SAN), subsequently filed another motion on notice, dated March 20, 2014, seeking an order allowing it to serve the governors through their state’s liaison offices in Abuja.

But in his ruling on Tuesday, the judge said the latest motion on notice constituted an abuse of court process having been filed when the ex-parte order made in that respect on December 13, 2013, had not been set aside.