A Federal
High Court in Abuja has granted permission to the Kingdom Human Rights
Foundation, a civil society group, to commence its lawsuit seeking the arrest
and sacking of Minister of Transport Rotimi Amaechi and Minister of Science and
Technology Ogbonnaya Onu over allegations of corruption.
According to
a report by Punch Newspaper, the plaintiff is requesting that the court grant
an order of mandamus compelling the Department of State Service (DSS) and the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to arrest and prosecute the two
ministers. Additionally, the group is seeking an order mandamus that would
compel President Muhammadu Buhari to sack both ministers.
The online
newspaper explained, “A plaintiff seeking an order of mandamus under the
judicial review of administrative action/inaction procedure is required to
first seek and obtain the leave of court through an ex parte application to
properly commence the suit.” The court granted the plaintiff its leave on
December 1.
Mr. Amaechi
and Mr. Onu are alleged to have attempted to influence court decisions,
according to Supreme Court justices Sylvester Ngwuta and Inyang Oro. The judges
made the allegations after being arrested in October for alleged corruption.
According to
the judges, they were arrested because they refused to decide court cases in
the favor of the two ministers.
Mr. Ngwuta
alleged that Mr. Amaechi asked him to sway the Supreme Court judgments on the
Ekiti and Rivers States gubernatorial elections in favor of the All
Progressives Congress (APC). The judge further alleged that Mr. Onu asked him
to influence a Court of Appeal case over the 2015 Ebonyi State governorship
elections in favor of the Labour Party candidate.
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