The Peoples Democratic Party PDP on Friday said it has filed a notice of termination in the FHC/ABJ/CS/2520/2025 suit they filed against the Nigeria Police and asked the court to order the police to lift their blockade, vacate our secretariat and hand over us as the legitimately elected leadership of the party.
National Publicity Secretary of the People's Democratic Party, Ini Emembong, said in a statement on Friday that the party's decision to close the case was based on genuine fears that the party would not get justice under Justice Joyce Abdulmalik, who was appointed to handle the case.
According to the party, “The case was assigned to Justice Joyce Abdulmalik by the Chief Justice of the Federal High Court.
The party revealed that ahead of the trial, it had earlier written to the Chief Justice complaining about the apparent bias of three of the twelve judges of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
In the said letter, the party said it had expressed “doubt and complete lack of confidence in his ability to deliver justice impartially in cases where the PDP is involved”.
It added that “Despite this information, the Chief Justice still assigned our case to him. When we appeared in the case, we filed a motion for recusal, asking that Justice Abdulmalik recuse himself from the case and return the file to the CJ for reassignment.”
“Instead of taking the motion and taking the necessary steps to rule on it, the judge ruled that she would manage the case in a manner convenient to herself, which is to hear the case as well as take all motions (including the motion to vacate) and deliver her ruling on the motion to vacate, at the point of judgment, before judgment.
“In our view, this thwarts a fair trial as we have signaled our complete loss of confidence in his ability to be impartial in this matter, or any other matter relating to the PDP.”
The party states, however, that it has filed a notice of termination in accordance with the provision of Order 50 Rule 2(1) of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2019, which entitles the plaintiff to withdraw the suit without the leave of the court within fourteen days of the receipt of the statement of defense of the last defendant.
“It is on record that we filed the notice of termination three days after the statement of defense of the last defendant was recorded and served, hence it was safely under the provisions of the rules.
“Today, when our lawyer informed the court about our intention to stop work citing relevant rules, the judge heard the arguments of all the lawyers in the case and ruled instead of dismissing our case. This again aggravates our party's existing fears about the impartiality of the court.”
The party vowed that despite the bad experience, it would maintain respect for judges and the judiciary in general.
We wish to sincerely remind him of the immortal advice of Justice Nicky Tobi JSC (as he then was), “Nigerian judges need to maintain a great distance from politics and politicians.” Our Constitution prohibits any kind of social gathering. As judges, we must follow the Constitution.
“The two professions do not and will never meet in our democracy in the discharge of their functions… The expression, the politician and the judge are opposites, so to speak, in their functional content… Their waters should never meet in the same way as the rivers Niger and Benue meet at their confluence near Lokoja.
“If they meet, most of the time what will suffer will be democracy, and that will be bad for sovereign Nigeria…And therefore judges should not in any way dance to the music played by politicians because it will completely destroy their role as independent umpires in the judicial process.”
The party prayed that “politics and justice should not mix and our judges should not dance to the drum beat of politicians”.
