Former President Goodluck Jonathan and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), on Monday urged Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja to dismiss a lawyer’s motion seeking his withdrawal from a suit.
Jonathan and Fagbemi, through their lawyers, asked Justice Lifu to dismiss the motion with substantial costs.
The lawyer, Johnmary Jideobi, who is the plaintiff in the suit seeking to stop Jonathan from contesting the 2027 presidential election, filed the motion.
In the motion on notice, deposed to by his lawyer, Ndubuisi Ukpai, Jideobi asked the judge to recuse himself from the case over alleged bias.
Responding, counsel to the former president, Chris Uche (SAN), vehemently opposed the motion.
The senior lawyer described the application as frivolous, baseless, and founded on gross misrepresentation.
Uche urged the court to discountenance the application, describing it as a gross abuse of the court process, and prayed the court to dismiss it with substantial costs and proceed with the case.
Similarly, Fagbemi, who was represented by Maimuna Lami-Shiru, Director of Civil Litigation and Public Law at the Federal Ministry of Justice, also urged the judge to dismiss the motion.
