Nasir el-Rufai, former Governor of Kaduna, has accused Justice R.M. Aikawa of bias and requested that his fundamental human rights case against the Kaduna House of Assembly be transferred to another judge.
Gatekeepers News reports that El-Rufai’s lawyer, Adetayo Adeyemo, stated in a letter to the Chief Judge, John Tsoho, that the court’s actions “smack of extreme bias, injustice, and denial of a fair hearing” as they were not given adequate notice of the proceedings and were not allowed to respond to the counter-affidavit and written address of the 1st respondent.
Adeyemo explained that they had filed a letter of adjournment due to the short notice of the hearing, but the presiding judge proceeded with the case without their presence or representation.
He argued that service of hearing notice is sacrosanct and that the applicant was not given an opportunity to respond to the counter-affidavit and written address.
“The action of the presiding judge to hear the matter without the attendance and appearance of the applicant smacks of extreme bias, injustice, and denial of a fair hearing against the applicant for a lot of reasons,” Adeyemo said.
The lawyer further stated, “In view of the foregoing, we humbly apply for a transfer of this matter from the trial court presided over by Honourable Justice R.M. Aikawa, whereby the relevant applications can be heard as the applicant has lost confidence in the judge to continue to hear and determine the matter. Justice must not only be done but must also be seen to be done.”
