BREAKING: Litigant Lawyer Withdraws Certificate Suit Against Buhari; You'll Be Shocked Why

Mr. Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe, a legal practitioner and the litigant who is in court seeking President Muhammadu Buhari's disqualification over non-certificates has withdrawn the suit abruptly, News Punch has learnt reliably

He filed a notice of withdrawal at the Federal High Court in Abuja to discontinue the suit he instituted against President Muhammadu Buhari for lack of certificate ThisDay Newspaper reports.

Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe had alleged that Buhari was not qualified to aspire for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria because he did not sit for the Cambridge West African School Certificate (WASC) in 1961 as he claimed.

The notice of discontinuance dated June 27 and obtained by ThisDay Newspaper, read: 

“Take note that the plaintiff in this originating summons, Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe, hereby discontinues this action.”

Our checks revealed that following the withdrawal of the suit from court, the trial judge, Justice Ademola Adeniyi will today sit and accordingly strike out the case.

Though Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe did not give any reason for withdrawing the case from court, but This Day Newspaper gathered that it might not be unconnected with alleged threats to his life and members of his family.

In an interview with our reporter last month, Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe had alleged that there were some subtle threats on him to withdraw the case from court.

He had said: Of course, I am concerned and my family and friends are too; I am not naïve and some subtle threats have already been made. For now it is small comfort that if anything happens to me, even if disguised as an accident or anything, Nigerians will know exactly who is responsible.

“In any case, it was Professor Wole Soyinka, I think, who once said in one of his books that ‘The Man Dies in Him Who Keeps Quiet in The Face of Tyranny’ or something of the sort. Speaking of which, I am amazed at the conspiracy of silence by Nigerians. It is astounding is it not, that in the light of this very apparent rape of our constitution, laws, indeed the very essence of our democracy, all of our civil society advocates and activists have gone deaf and dumb in the face of tyranny.

“All those voluble persons (and I don’t want to name them; they know themselves and Nigerians know them too), who pretend they are activists or keepers of the moral conscience of the nation astonishingly can’t see or appreciate what is happening. This country really misses Chief Gani Fawehinmi; he was the only fearless, credible, true and genuine conscience of the nation, not the pretenders we have today; all the others only make noise when it suits them and their interests but look the other way once they are compromised. None of us today, can tie Gani’s shoe-laces.”

Certificate Scandal: Buhari Jittery, Hires 23 Top Lawyers

Apparently jittery and dissatisfied by the outcome of the outcome of the certificate suit, President Muhammadu has hired 23 top lawyers to appeal the ruling of Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court in Abuja who on May 26, 2016 dismissed his preliminary objection in a suit filed by an Abuja-based legal practitioner, Mr. Nnamdi Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe, ThisDay Newspaper reports

President Buhari through his legal team filed a notice of appeal at the Court of Appeal, Abuja Judicial Division on seven grounds of appeal.

The president’s legal team, which endorsed the notice of appeal, is led by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN).

Others are Mr. Lateef O. Fagbemi (SAN), Chief Akin Olujinmi (SAN), Oluwarotimi O. Akeredolu (SAN), Kola Awodein (SAN), Prof. Taiwo Osipitan (SAN), Charles Edosomwan (SAN), Emeka Ngige (SAN), Femi Atoyebi (SAN), Femi Falana (SAN), Funke Aboyade (SAN), H.O. Afolabi (SAN), Muiz Banire (SAN), and 10 other counsels.

When contacted on the phone, the plaintiff, Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe said the president has the constitutional right of appeal and was within his rights to exercise it particularly since he had not yet submitted a defence to the substantive action and had filed nothing in defence of the merits of the case.

The plaintiff, Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe had alleged that Buhari was unqualified to aspire to the Office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria because he did not sit for the Cambridge West African School Certificate WASC) in 1961 as he claimed.

When the suit came up on May 26, Buhari in his preliminary objection challenged the mode of service of the originating summons on him, insisting that he ought to have been served at an address in Kaduna instead of by substituted means at the national secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abuja.

However, Justice Ademola, in his ruling, had held that it was incompetent and upheld the service of the originating court processes on Buhari.

The judge held that the service of the court’s processes on the president through the secretariat of the APC was proper.

The court was satisfied that if it was served on a senior officer of the APC at the national headquarters, it would be brought to Buhari’s attention.

Meanwhile, the Principal Registrar of the Federal High Court, Abuja, Mr. Jane Egbo, has issued a summons to the parties to appear before her on Monday, June 13, 2016 to settle the records of the president’s appeal.

Also, a check at the Registry of the Federal High Court, Abuja confirmed that the plaintiff has filed an application to amend his originating summons to include prayers for the nullification of the election of Buhari, as he was not qualified ab initio to contest the election having contravened the Electoral Act and committed perjury in claiming to have had a WASC when he never even sat for the examination.

The plaintiff also wants to add prayers for the court to order the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Buhari and issue a fresh one to Dr. Goodluck Jonathan who came second in the 2015 presidential election.

The plaintiff’s motion on notice for amendment of his originating summons has been served on all the defendants and will come up for hearing on Thursday, June 16, 2016.