The Ilana Omo Oodua Worldwide, led by Prof Banji Akintoye, said the suit which the group instituted to challenge the validity of the 1999 Constitution would be withdrawn and re-filed at the Abuja Division of Federal High Court in two weeks.
Akintoye, in a statement by his Communication Manager, Mr Maxwell Adeleye, said the decision to withdraw the suit was to achieve a better result.
He said the action of the group was in line with the new practice direction since the Attorney General of the Federation resides in the Federal Capital Territory.
The statement read in part, “The lead counsel representing us in the case, Mr Tolu Babaleye, has advised that plaintiffs should withdraw the suits in order to consolidate the matter and re-file it at the Abuja division of the Federal High Court because the major prayer, which is the invalidation of the 1999 Constitution, can only be heard at the Abuja division in line with the ruling of Ado-Ekiti division of the court on appropriate forum.
“After the ruling on the matter in Ado-Ekiti Federal High Court, our counsel and other senior advocates advised that as ruled by the judge in Ekiti, what the plaintiffs in Ekiti and Osun states are praying for are matters that affect the whole Nigerian federation.
“The plaintiffs want the 1999 constitution invalidated because its making is against the spirit of natural justice and fairness and that the judge in Federal High Court in Ekiti State ruled that the appropriate place to institute the matter is the Abuja division, and not in Ekiti.”
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