Contempt: case against el-Rufai, Al-Hassan adjourned
An Abuja High Court yesterday adjourned hearing in the committal proceedings against the minister of FCT, Malam Nasir el-Rufai and the Executive Secretary of the FCDA, Muhammad Al-Hassan till March 15.
An application for committal was brought against El-Rufai and Al-Hassan by counsel to Dr Timiebi Koripamo-Agary, who is the plaintiff in the case for violating an order of interim injunction made by the court on February   19, 2007.
Officials of the FCDA had on March 1, 2007, attempted to evict the plaintiff, who is the permanent secretary ministry of labour, while the order for interim injunction was pending.
Ruling on an oral application for adjournment filed by counsel for both parties, the presiding judge, Justice Muda Oniyangi, said that it was necessary to grant the adjournment to enable the parties to file all necessary processes before the court.
He, however, urged counsel for the defendants to ensure their presence in court on March 15.
Oniyangi reiterated that the order of interim injunction made on February 19 2007, restraining the defendants or their agents from evicting the plaintiff from the property situated at No 58, Kwame Nkrumah Crescent, Asokoro, was still subsisting.
Earlier, Counsel for the plaintiff, Dr. Olumide Ayeni, had described the failure of the respondents to be physically present in court as contempt.
He said that by section 136 of the Penal Code Act, whoever intentionally failed to attend a court's summons in person should be punished.
Ayeni said that the motion for committal required the presence of both defendants, adding that the matter could not proceed without them as trial in absentia was ``alien to our law''.
He added that there was also the need for him to be given time to reply to the notice of preliminary objection and counter-affidavit filed yesterday by counsel for the defendants.
Counsel for the defendants, Mr. D. Elogun, said that he was only served with the notice of committal proceedings on March 1 and required two clear days to file a reply.
Elogun said that the application before the court was incompetent, adding: ``We are challenging the jurisdiction of the court''.