FORMER Acting Governor of Adamawa State, Umaru Fintiri, has prayed the National Judicial Council (NJC) to investigate Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja Division for not releasing to his lawyers a copy of the judgment which ousted him from office.

The chamber of former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Bayo Ojo (SAN), lead counsel to Fintiri, in a petition dated 10th October and a follow-up dated 14th October, signed by Chief Duro Adeyele (SAN), claimed that: “To begin with, though Tuesday 7th October was a public holiday, I got a phone call at about 6:19 pm from someone who claimed to be the secretary to the presiding judge of Federal High Court No 6, Abuja intimating me that judgement in the above quoted suit would be delivered the next day Wednesday 8th October. I was not in Abuja and I therefore instructed one of my junior colleagues in chambers to go for the judgement. I also emphasized that he should obtain a certified true copy of the judgement as my expectation was that His Lordship would make a copy of the judgement available to parties knowing the constitutional and political nature of the case. However, no copy of the judgement was made available.

“On getting back to Abuja on the same Wednesday 8th October, I instructed one of my junior colleagues in chambers to apply for a certified true copy of the said judgement to concretize the notice of appeal which I had instruction of my client to file’. However, up till close of business of that day, the judgement was not made available. Nevertheless, I still went ahead to file a notice of appeal based on what my junior heard in court.

“My Lord, to my shock and surprise, up till the close of business the next day Thursday and Friday, Ademola J. refused to release the said judgement and there is no indication from the court when it will be ready and made available to me. One would expect that in a matter such as this, his Lordship should have gotten the judgement ready before delivering same.”

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