Judge withdraws from suit to remove Tambuwal

The suit filed by Hon. Abiodun Akinlade seeks to compel Tambuwal to vacate office following his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Akinlade is seeking an order of the court declaring Tambuwal’s seat vacant.

He is also praying the court to order the deputy Speaker, Emeka Ihedioha to take over the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The matter was assigned to Justice Chukwu.
But before the matter could be heard, Mr. Tambuwal filed a petition with the National Judicial Council, NJC, on November 30, challenging the assignment of the case to Mr. Chukwu.
The speaker had requested that the suit be transferred to a “neutral” judge because of the likelihood of bias that could prevent him from getting justice.
The petition reads in part, “My attention has been drawn to the above suit, which has been assigned to Court 8, presided over by Justice E. S.J. Chukwu, and we wish to make the following observations:
“My Lord, similar suits were variously instituted by various parties and are pending before the Federal High Court No. 7, presided over by Justice A.R Mohammed and are at various stages of proceeding pending before Court 7, presided over by Justice A.R Mohammed.”
Citing his lack of confidence in Justice Chukwu, Tambuwal appealed to the President of the Federal High Court, Ibrahim Auta, to re-assign the suit to “a neutral judge who has not made any judicial pronouncement on the issue or made public, his own opinion on the issue at hand.”
When the matter came up Tuesday, Justice Chukwu announced his withdrawal from the suit on the ground that a petition has been written against him.