Judge withdraws from suit on Tambuwal’s ouster

Evoh Chukwu, a justice of the federal high court in Abuja, has withdrawn from adjudicating on a suit filed by Abiodun Akinlade, a member of the federal house of representatives, towards compelling Aminu Tambuwal to vacate his office as speaker of the lower chamber.

Akinlade filed the suit on the grounds that  Tambuwal was no longer speaker since he defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

‪‎He is also seeking an order of the court declaring Emeka Ihedioha, the deputy speaker of the house representatives, as speaker in Tamwuwal’s place.

‪The case was assigned to Chukwu, whom Tambuwal had petitioned against, detailing a list of reservations to Ibrahim Auta, the chief judge of the federal high court.

He urged Auta to reassign the case to a neutral judge who had not made any judicial pronouncement on the matter or made his opinion public on the issue.

When the matter came up on Tuesday, Chukwu announced his withdrawal from the suit on the grounds that a petition had been written against him.‬