By Innocent Anaba
LAGOS — A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, yesterday, held that it will first hear the preliminary objection by Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board, JAMB, challenging a suit over the 2011 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME.

Trial judge in the matter, Justice Okechuke Okeke, upheld the argument of counsel to JAMB. Counsel to parties had argued on which of the various applications pending before the court should be taken first. Counsel to JAMB contended that the application for committal filed by the plaintiffs was not ripe for hearing.

JAMB’s counsel had argued that it has an application challenging  not only the court’s jurisdiction to entertain the suit but also the validity of the ex parte order granted to the plaintiffs by the court.

The board argued that it was necessary for the court to  take the application challenging the validity of the order restraining it from securing or retaining the services of Sidmach technologies Ltd(2nd respondent) and Electronic Test Company Limited(3rd respondent) or any other company for the registration of its candidates for 2011  UTME, which is around the corner.

Sidmach technologies Ltd’s counsel urged the court to step down the application for committal for contempt and instead, hear the application challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear the entire suit and the validity of the ex-parte order made by the court, as the alleged contempt was committed outside the court and that the rule of natural justice demands that the case should be heard by another judge.

The plaintiff, however, urged the court to take the contempt proceedings first notwithstanding the pending challenge to the court’s jurisdiction by the defendants.

Justice Okeke in his ruling on which application to take first, noted that all the defendants were challenging the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the matter and that the challenge to the jurisdiction of the court by the defendants was fundamental and must be heard first, following which he ordered that parties should adopt their written submissions with respect to the preliminary objections and adjourned the matter till March 3.

The plaintiffs, who sued jointly as members of the Converged Examinations Management Technology Platform Consortium (CEMPT Consortium) had claimed that they had entered into an Information Technology Services Agreement dated February 12, 2009 with JAMB and that the agreement empowered them to provide the sole platform for the Converged Examination Management Technology for all examinations conducted by JAMB and other two examination bodies under the Federal Ministry of Education.