By Ise-Oluwa Ige

ABUJA — The legal battle to void the litany of amendments recently made to the 1999 constitution following the refusal of the National Assembly to get presidential endorsement to the document yesterday shifted venue from the high court level to the Court of Appeal for definite pronouncement.

The shift in the venue of the legal duel followed an order granted by a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to the effect.

The trial high court judge, Justice Ibrahim Auta, had agreed with a request by a Lagos-based lawyer, Mr Bamidele Aturu, to temporarily hands off the case to allow the Court of Appeal thrash out the legal dispute touching on the legality of the amendment to the 1999 constitution without presidential assent.

The judge specifically said there was need to transfer the legal issues raised in the Aturu’s case to a higher court since a Lagos division of the Federal High Court which is of co-ordinate jurisdiction with his court had already pronounced on the subject-matter of the case.

Justice Auta held that there was only one Federal High Court in the country regardless of its divisions and that sitting on the same issue to make a different find would mean that the Federal High Court is at war with itself.