By  Abdulwahab Abdulah
Justice Y. Halilu of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, has granted an application by Chief Joe Gadzama, SAN, asking the court to adjourn, pending the determination of his case at the Appeal Court.

Gadzama had gone to court to seek redress over alleged irregularities that robbed him of victory as the candidate for the office of president of Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, in the election in which Mr. Abubakar Balarabe Mahmoud, SAN, was declared president of the Bar.

The lawyer had filed a notice of appeal challenging an earlier ruling by the lower court which refused to hear the preliminary objections he filed alongside the substantive suit.

At the resumed hearing of the suit, Gadzama, through his lawyer, Emeka Ngige, SAN, told the court he had served the notice of appeal on all the defendants, while he prayed the court to grant an adjournment sine die (till later date).

The court had on November 8 refused the application of the plaintiff to consolidate the hearing of preliminary objections with the substantive suit, a ruling which did not go down well with the plaintiff, hence his appeal to the Court of Appeal.

Lead counsel to the defendants, Olumuyiwa Akinboro, SAN, opposed the application for adjournment sine die, arguing that the court of justice was not a warehouse where cases were kept to be picked at the whims and caprices of the plaintiff.

The defendants, therefore, urged the court to strike out the matter or grant only three months adjournment so that he would have enough time to deal with the issues before the Court of Appeal.

Responding to their contentions, Chief Emeka Ngige, SAN, reminded  the court that the plaintiff was the one who filed the matter in court, adding that he was more worried and concerned for the expeditious determination of  the matter than the defendants.

In his ruling, the court stated: “Once a Notice of Appeal is filed, the lower court must be formally informed of that because it is a court of record and, therefore, must keep the record of all the proceedings. I must allow the appeal pending the outcome of the Court of Appeal.”