A Federal High Court sitting in Jos on Wednesday adjourned the case concerning the ongoing crisis in the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to September 25 again.
Incumbent NFF President Amaju Melvin Pinnick, whose four-year tenure would end on September 30, had earlier filed a motion before the court challenging the ex-parte order which gave Ambassador Chris Giwa the power to take charge of the Glass House.
On June 5, Justice Musa Kurya ruled that the Pinnick-led NFF leadership should vacate office in the case between Yahaya Adama/Obinna Ogba and Aminu Maigari/Musa Ahmadu and two others.
This ruling was in the wake of the Supreme Court judgment which asked the lower court to examine the matter between Yahaya group and Maigari’s group for determination again.
Pinnick’s counsel, Festus Keyamo, stormed the court with two motions on July 5 demanding the vacation of the ex-parte order but the motions could not not heard due to the objection of the counsel to Adamu and others, Mr Ardzard, thus leading the judge to adjourn the case to July 10.
When the case came up again before the Federal High Court in Jos on July 10, Keyamo’s representation claim for both Maigari and Ahmadu, was objected by Shangyula Samuel who told the court that he was the only representative for the aforementioned duo.
The argument lasted for a long time before Festus Keyamo withdrew his appearance for both Maigari and Ahmadu thus leaving him as a representative of Pinnick.
Kurya thereafter adjourned the case to September 25 for hearing as he stated that he was already on vacation and could only preside over the case before the adjournment date if there’s a directive to that effect from the Chief Justice of the Federation (CJN).
The CJN directive came and hearing into the case was fixed for Wednesday, August 1.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Festus Ukpe from Keyamo’s Chambers told the court that he has three motions to file before the court in the afternoon.
Ardzard, however, objected to his application based on Ukpe’s failure to serve them copies of the motions before the hearing.
He revealed that he wanted to file the motions later in the day and also serve the other counsels with the copies of all the three motions.
The case was then adjourned by Justice Kurya to September 25 again as he added that it was Pinnick’s counsel to properly file the motions before the court and also serve the other parties involved.
Wednesday’s verdict means that it’s the second time that Pinnick has failed to stop Giwa from taking charge of the Glass House, by seeking an outright vacation of the ex-parte order issued by the court.
