The absence of Justice Abubakar Shittu, Federal High Court, Abeokuta on Monday stalled the court proceeding in a suit involving warring factions of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ogun State chapter.
The case, which has been lingering before the Judge since 2018, was earlier said to have been transfered to the Chief Judge of the Court in Abuja over petitions written by one if the parties to case, claiming to have lost confidence in the Justice Shittu handling the case.
Lawyers to the two parties, Barrister Muyiwa Obanewa, Counsel to Defendants, and Barrister Ifeoma Eson, Counsel to Plaintiff alongside their partners were amused when the Registrar of the Court announced that the Judge would not be available to seat on the case.
This prompted dispersement of the legal teams as well as supporters of Hon. Adebutu, as they all went home disappointed, while the hearing has been adjourned till July 7th, 2020.
In an interview with journalists, Counsel to the defendants, Barr. Obanewa expressed disappointment at the matter, noting that he was surprised to have heard about the case coming up again in Abeokuta having been told earlier that it would come up in Abuja.
He stated: “We were told that the judge is indisposed and for that reason the court will not seat today, so they have adjourned the matter till 7th of July.
“Let me give you a little bit background, on the 9th of June, we came before this judge and on his own, judge himself said he was going to repeat himself on this matter and adjourned or took all the files to the Chief Judge in Abuja for him to reassign to another judge in Abuja, that was on the 9th of June, and we thought that our next place on this matter would be in Abuja.
“Surprisingly, on the 17th of June, I got a hearing notice asking us to come to court today. In fact, I was baffled I did not accept hearing that notice, because this is a matter that have been transfered to Abuja and the file is still here, and we are now ask to come back to this same court.
“Then we believe strongly that there must be something. I came because I wanted to appear and protest today to tell the Judge that I am not suppose to be here. The file is no longer supposed to be here. The court has been moved to Abuja. Now the court did not seat. So we will wait till the 7th of July. We have to wait and see what is happening by that day.”
In the same vein, Counsel to the plaintiff, Barrister Eson on her part hinted: “The court is not indisposed to the case, the information we received from the Registrar of the court is that the judge is indisposed and is unable to seat. That is not peculiar to our case. It affects all the cases and there is nothing we can do than to take an adjournment for the matter to be held on another day, which is on July 17th, 2020.”
