The request by Senator Ali Ndume to withdraw as a surety for the embattled former chairman of the Pension Reforms Task Team, Abdulrasheed Maina, has been declined by the court.
The Federal High Court in Abuja took the decision on Monday when it noted that the same matter has also been filed before a Court of Appeal and therefore amounts to abuse of court processes.
Justice Okon Abang who gave the ruling said his court, therefore, lacks the jurisdiction to hear the case filed by Ndume on the matter and went ahead to dismiss the case.
“Where an appeal has been filed, every application will be made before the Court of Appeal. Therefore, any issue can only be entertained by the Court of Appeal,” Abang said.
“I have no jurisdiction to carry out a surgical operation on what is before the Court of Appeal. Where this happens, the court has the power to dismiss it,” the Judge added before dismissing the case.
Tracknews Online recalls Ndume stood surety for Maina in the over N1bn money laundering case against him said to have been perpetrated during his time as the boss of the pension reform team.
However, Maina jumped bail before he was subsequently re-arrested in Niger Republic by security operatives and brought back to Nigeria to continue facing his trials.
Maina’s bail was consequently revoked after he was arrested and was extradited to Nigeria on December 3, 2020.
After Maina’s rearrest, Senator Ndume had applied to withdraw as his surety after the lawmaker used his Abuja property’s title documents worth N500m as bail bond.
Meanwhile, Governors of the South-South have resolved to join Rivers State in its battle with the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, over the collection of Value Added Tax, VAT.
Naija News reports that this was made known by Delta State Governor and Chairman of the forum, Ifeanyi Okowa, while briefing newsmen at the end of a closed-door meeting.
Recall that Southsouth governors had on Monday held a meeting at the Government House in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
Also part of its resolutions at the meeting is the setting of a regional security outfit to help in tackling security challenges in the region.
