By Adedayo Ogunleye, Abuja

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday adjourned indefinitely the suit filed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, against the Federal Government over the withdrawal of his security aides and an alleged attempt to declare his seat vacant.

The adjournment is a fall out of a motion of stay of proceeding filed at the Appeal Court by three members of Kebbe/Tambuwal federal constituency of Sokoto State challenging the ruling of the high court which prevented them from being joined as defendants in the suit.

Justice Ahmed Mohammed held that with an appeal before the appellate court, the lower court lacked the jurisdiction to look further into the matter, adding that “the court has no other option than to bow to the superiority of the court above”.

Tambuwal had filed the suit October 31 seeking an order preventing the federal government from declaring his seat vacant and compelling the Inspector-General of Police, Suleiman Abba, and other security agencies to restore his security detail which had been withdrawn after he defected from the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, to the All Progressives Congress, APC.

There have been several adjournments since the Speaker filed the suit, prolonging judgment on the case.

The latest adjournment was occasioned by a pending suit before the Appeal Court filed by some members of the Kebbe/Tambuwal Federal Constituency who were disallowed from being joined in the suit.

The two sets of applicants claimed to have shown interest in the suit on behalf of the people of Kebbe/Tambuwal Federal Constituency being represented by the Speaker at the House of Representatives.

One set of applicants comprise chairmen of Kebbe and Tambuwal local government areas in Sokoto State, Bala Konkani and Sambo Modo, and the other set consist of three members of the Sokoto State House of Assembly – Abdussamad Dasuki, Suleiman Hantsi, and Shuaibu Umar, representing Tambuwal East, Tambuwal West and Kebbe constituencies.

On November 28, Israel Olorundare and Moyosore Onigbanjo, counsels for the local government chairmen and the state legislators respectively, argued their respective motions for joining the suit.

Justice Mohammed, in a ruling on December 1, refused the applications on the grounds that the interest they sought to protect had been effectively protected by the plaintiff himself.

The judge had also rejected the applications for joining the suit as co-defendants on the grounds that their interest to support the case of the plaintiff was in conflict with that of the already existing defendants in the suit.