The Senate will on Monday appeal the verdict of the Federal High Court which voided the suspension of Senator Ali Ndume by the upper legislative chamber.
This position was made known on Sunday by the counsel to the Senate, Chief Mike Ozekhome, in a statement made available to The Next Edition.
It would be recalled that a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Friday, voided the suspension of Senator Ali Ndume who is representing Borno South Senatorial District.
Ndume was in March suspended for six months by the Senate.
He was said to have ridiculed the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, and Senator Dino Melaye over the claims he made on the two men.
Whie he accused Melaye of certificate forgery, Ndume also accused Saraki of “harassing“ the Comptroller General of Customs Service, Hameed Alli, because his expensive car was seized by the Customs.
A probe was carried out on the allegations by the Senate and they were said to be untrue.
Consequently, Ndume was suspended for six months as a punishment.
But ruling on the propriety or otherwise of the suspension, Justice Babatunde Quadri ordered that Ndume should be reinstated.
He also ordered that Ndume’s salaries and allowances within the period should be paid promptly.
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Reacting on the verdict of the court however, Ozekhome said the Senate was displeased with the judgement of the Federal High Court.
“For the records, the Senate had challenged the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court to entertain the matter on several grounds, portions of which are outlined hereunder for the purpose of emphasis, as follows:
- That the Plaintiff wrongly joined several causes of action in his Originating Summons.
- That an action for the enforcement of fundamental rights to fair hearing can only be brought against a court or a tribunal, established by law as held by the Supreme Court in several current cases, and not against Committee of a legislative body.
- That by the provisions of sections 3 and 30 of the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act, the trial court lacked requisite jurisdiction to hear the suit of the Plaintiff,” he said.
He stressed that the Senate’s argument was supported by various and current decisions of the apex court.
The statement reads further: “The Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which has the strong conviction that the decision of the trial court will be overturned by the Court of Appeal, has accordingly instructed the law firm of Mike Ozekhome’s Chambers, to file an appeal against the judgment immediately.
“The notice of appeal is ready and would be filed unfailingly by Monday morning. An application for a stay of execution of the orders of the court will also be filed same time.”
