Kano govt accuses federal judge of bias, demands his withdrawal from LG election case
The government of Kano State has demanded that a judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Simon Amobeda, withdraw himself from hearing the case filed before him by the All Progressives Congress (APC) seeking a declaration that there were no democratically elected local government chairmen in the state.
The APC, alongside its chairman in Kano State, Abdullahi Abbas, and another of its chieftains, Aminu Aliyu Tiga, had in Suit No: FHC/KN/CS/425/2024 filed an Originating Summons seeking a nullification of the election and a seizure of the funds accruable to the 44 local government ares in the state from the federal government.
But, the Attorney General of the state (AG), in a motion filed before the court on Thursday, asked Justice Amobeda to recuse himself from the case due to his perception of him as biased, based on traits he has exhibited over time.
The AG said the judge nurses some grudges against the state government and its agencies since a state agency wrote a petition against the judge for abuse of privileges and indiscriminate granting of ex-parte applications, among others.
“The Honourable Judge took it personally against the state government. As a result, he has openly exhibited fury and has persistently lamented, to the hearing of all… The Judge spends good time in his court castigating the state government before his proceedings begin every time he sits in court”, the AG claims in an affidavit seen by Nigerian Sketch.
The state government claimed it noticed an “unusual concentration of the cases involving politically exposed persons belonging, especially to the opposition political parties against the state government” before the judge, indicating a sort of affinity between the judge and an opposition political party.
The government said the “Honourable Judge has been variously quoted in newspapers threatening to expose a Kano State government functionary who wrote the petition against him, expressing his anger while trying to show that the petition was unjustified.
“There is … animosity in Justice Amobeda’s open utterances, to the extent that citizens of the state are already expressing worry that his court may visit vindictiveness on the state government in matters involving government before him.”
The state government argued that its fear of bias from Justice Amobeda is already permeative among average citizens in Kano State.
“Ordinary persons who have listened to him go with a strong impression that my lord is not happy, in fact, angry with the state government. This forms the fulcrum of the claim of bias.”
Citing the case of Abiola V Federal Republic of Nigeria, the AG quoted the Supreme Court of Nigeria to have held unanimously that:
“The test of real likelihood of bias which the courts have applied is based on the reasonable man who is fully apprised of the facts involved. Thus, in considering whether there was real likelihood of bias, the court does not look at the mind of the justice himself or at the mind of the chairman of the tribunal, or whoever it may be, who sits in judicial capacity. It does not look to see if there was a real likelihood that he would, or did in fact favour one side at the expense of the other. The court looks at the impression which would be given to other people. Even if he was as impartial as could be, nevertheless, if right-minded persons would think that, in the circumstances, there was a real likelihood of bias on his part, then he should not sit. And if he does sit, his decision cannot stand…”
