Yar’Adua to appeal suit against Leadership newspaper

By Ise-Oluwa Ige

ABUJA—President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua has asked the Abuja Court of Appeal to set aside a verdict entered by an Abuja high court adjourning, sine die, the criminal defamation suit he is maintaining against Leadership Newspapers Group.

Yar’Adua wants the matter to be tried while he presides over the affairs of the country notwithstanding the constitutional immunity he enjoys.

But the Leadership Newspapers has said it would join issues with President Yar’Adua at the Court of Appeal. The newspaper said the verdict entered by a two-member panel of the Abuja high court is impeachable.

But Yar’Adua, in a notice of appeal containing seven grounds, is contending that the two member panel of the court which sat in an appellate capacity erred in law when they held that since the accused persons cannot apply to compel the attendance of  the president, the matter must wait till he leaves office or else would amount to a denial of the accused person’s right to fair hearing.