The Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a suit filed by an official of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Nkemakolam Ukandu, against the Chief Judge of the court, John Tsoho, and another judge, Peter Lifu, while ordering him to pay a total of N100 million in costs.
Justice Salim Ibrahim, who handled the matter, struck out the case on Monday after ruling that the plaintiff failed to diligently pursue the suit.
The court’s decision followed an application by lawyer to the defendants, J.U.K. Igwe, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who requested that the case be dismissed and that costs be awarded against Ukandu due to repeated absence from proceedings.
The judge ordered Ukandu to pay N50 million each to Tsoho and Lifu within 14 days.
Court records showed that neither Ukandu nor his legal representative appeared before Justice Ibrahim after the matter was assigned to him, despite several scheduled proceedings.
Ukandu, who serves as the ADC national welfare secretary, had filed the suit against the National Judicial Council (NJC), Tsoho and Lifu, seeking an order compelling the NJC to investigate allegations of corruption and abuse of judicial powers against the two judges.
During previous hearings, no representative appeared for Ukandu or the NJC, while Igwe appeared on behalf of Tsoho and Lifu. The court had earlier confirmed that hearing notices were properly served and granted the plaintiff another opportunity to appear in the interest of fairness.
At the last adjourned date, Justice Ibrahim warned that the matter would be dismissed if Ukandu and his lawyer failed to appear again.
However, they were absent when the case resumed on Monday, prompting Igwe to ask the court to strike out the suit and award costs against the plaintiff.
The lawyer argued that Ukandu’s repeated failure to attend proceedings demonstrated a lack of commitment to the case and amounted to an attempt to frustrate the judicial process.
He also claimed that Ukandu had changed his address in court documents in an effort to avoid receiving legal documents, although the court’s order for substituted service was eventually completed.
Igwe further argued that judicial officers are restricted from publicly responding to allegations against them and that Ukandu had accused the judges of bias despite not being a party to the underlying ADC leadership dispute.
After considering the arguments, Justice Ibrahim invoked provisions of the Federal High Court Rules 2019 and struck out the case for lack of diligent prosecution.
The dispute originated from a leadership crisis within the ADC involving a separate suit challenging the emergence of David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola as party chairman and secretary.
Ukandu had attempted to join that case but was unsuccessful. He later accused the Chief Judge and Justice Lifu of bias after the matter was reassigned, alleging that the judges were acting against the interests of the party.
