A Federal High Court in Abuja has once again adjourned hearing in the suit filed by the Coalition of Northern Groups seeking a referendum to determine the fate of Biafra and other self-determination agitations till May 20, 2022.
Justice Inyang Ekwo noted that “the court could not proceed on the grounds that some parties, who seek to be joined in the suit, have not served the plaintiff.”
He said the case had to be adjourned so that all the parties could serve the plaintiff.
Speaking to journalists after the adjournment, counsel for the CNG, Sufiyanu Idris, said, “Previously, there are parties that filed applications to be joined to three sets of parties without our knowledge, and there are two persons, who have applied for joinder, which I just found out in court, even though they are saying that they have already served our address of service, but they have not been brought to my notice.
“The judge looked into that and he said it would be better if all the five applications for joinder were taken at once and it would give us an opportunity of amending the process because after the parties have been joined, we need to amend processes to reflect those parties that have been joined.”
In his remarks, the spokesman for the CNG, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, said, “We are the plaintiff in this matter. We initiated this action and we are happy. It is developing into an interesting scenario.
“You can see that almost the entire nation is now out picking interest in the matter; we urge all stakeholders in Nigeria and friends of Nigeria to support this process so that we can have a much more peaceful environment to operate as a nation.”
In the same vein, the Yoruba Nation, through the lead counsel, Timilehin Albert, explained that people should have a right to decide where they wanted, stating, “It is their right and that right is sacrosanct and it should be upheld; that is what we come here for.”
The lead counsel for the Igbo Nation, Victor Onwaremadu, said, “This is an interesting development, which shows the unity in Nigeria because you can see the Hausa/Fulani, the Yoruba and the Igbo saying that they want to be a party to this suit.
“We are saying that this is one of the ways we can bring peace to this country instead of making troubles; we have come together to determine how we are going to cohabit as one country in Nigeria. This is very important. Referendum means that the people can decide to stay together and you want to decide to stay together as a country.”
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