The High Court of Justice sitting in Kaduna, has set aside 16th March, 2022 for ruling on a case of alleged defamation of character instituted against Mainan Zazzau, Dr. Muhammed Sani Bello (Defendant) by the former 2019 People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Gubernatorial Candidate , Rt. Hon. Isa Mohammed Ashiru Kudan (Plaintiff).
According to Counsel to Ashiru, Gatekeepers Consult: “This morning the matter came up for Pre-Trial Conference (PTC) but, before then the defendant had filed a motion seeking for the dismissal of the suit claiming that it’s an abuse of court process.
“By the rules of Court, after the close of pleadings the plaintiff has 14 days to file their PTC forms. On the last adjourned date, 24th January the matter came up and this same argument was canvassed in Court orally because Counsel to the defendant, Barr. Sadau Garba (Esq) filed the same application seeking for striking out of the suit claiming same is an abuse of court process.
“The application was struck out for want of diligent prosecution. The Court had already struck out the said application before the said application before the defendant’s Counsel Barr. Garba walked in, so, oral arguments were taken on that same issue that was to be struck out. Then the Court ruled that the PTC forms filed by the plaintiff’s Counsel is valid. Then Defendant’s Counsel filed the same application the Court had heard and determined on 24th January, 2022 for the Court to determine again.
“So, we moved our application this morning and then we canvassed argument, we just referred the Court simply to its order it made on 24th January, 2022 while maintaining that the PTC form as filed were valid and then, the motion that Barr. Garba had filed today to be heard is an abused of Court Process. So, the Court had adjourned to 16th of March for ruling.”
After the PDP Primary election for gubernatorial candidates leading to the 2019 general election, Isa Muhammad Ashiru defeated Muhammad Sani Bello and he became the party’s flag-bearer. Thereafter, Bello decamped to APC and he released video/audio recordings, made social media posts and newspaper publications alleging Ashiru of certificate forgery.
