Six legal practitioners have dragged President Muhammadu
Buhari to court for failing to appoint a replacement for the late Minister of
State for Labour and Productivity, James Ocholi.
The lawyers are: Felix Okolo, Femi Victor Motojesi, Samuel
Ogala, Dickson Enema, David Adegbe and Titilope Akerejola.
In a suit filed at the Federal High Court, Lokoja with a
number: FHC/LKJ/C/08/2017, the six lawyers described Buhari’s refusal to
appoint a replacement for the late Ocholi as a breach of the constitution; and
as such, prayed the court to declare that Buhari’s duty to appoint a Kogi state
minister is mandatory.
They also prayed the court to order President Buhari and the
Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami to, within 30 days of
service, inclusive of the day of service to answer questions on the legal and
constitutional effect of the president’s refusal to appoint a minister from
Kogi state.
The originating summon sought reply to: “Whether the current
composition of the federal executive council of the federation without a
substantive minister representing Kogi state in the Federal Executive Council
for over 10 months is not a breach of Section 143 (3) of the constitution of
the federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended.
“Whether the failure of the first defendant to appoint a
substantive minister from Kogi state into the Federal Executive Council is not
a flagrant and violent breach of the principal of equality and justice upon
which the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended is
founded.
The lawyers also asked: “Whether by virtue of the provision
of sections 147 (3) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
1999, as amended, the first defendant has a mandatory duty to appoint an
indigene of Kogi state as minister of the federation into the Federal Executive
Council.”
The matter has been fixed for hearing on Wednesday, May 3 at
the Federal High Court in Kogi state.
It could be recalled that James Ocholi (SAN) who was until
his death a junior minister in Buhari’s cabinet had a fatal car accident on his
way to Abuja at about 40 kilometres away from Kaduna and died on the spot,
alongside his wife and son.
Ocholi hails from Kogi state.
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