Civil Society Organizations under the auspices of Citizen for Development and Education and Organization for Community Civic Engagement have alleged that Justice Simon Amobeda of the Kano Federal High Court is undermining democracy through his judgments.
The CSOs claim Justice Amobeda’s rulings aim to stop the upcoming Local Government elections in Kano State.
Recently, he sacked the chairman and commissioners of the Kano State Independent Electoral Commission, citing their affiliation with a political party.
Addressing journalists on Thursday, CSO leaders Ambassador Ibrahim Waiya and Abdulrazak Alkali expressed concerns that Justice Amobeda’s judgments could spark socio-political unrest in Kano.
They accused him of consistently issuing orders against the state government and public interest.
The CSOs cited over 30 instances of Justice Amobeda’s court orders, which allegedly disrespect state institutions, religion, and culture. They questioned his motives, suggesting he aims to truncate Kano’s development.
The groups warned that conflicting judgments from different courts could lead to violence, given Kano’s volatile nature and large population.
They urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the Federal High Court President to intervene and transfer Justice Amobeda out of the state.
The CSOs vowed to monitor the situation, ensuring no individual or group breaches law and order in the state.
The controversy surrounds Justice Amobeda’s handling of election-related cases, sparking concerns about the impartiality of the judiciary.
Acccording to Waiya who spoke on behalf of the CSOs, “Justice Amobeda should be held responsible if violence erupt before or during the scheduled state local government elections for granting orders that go against the interest of the government and people in the state.
” Justice Amobeda has excelled in granting various orders at his court that disrespect state institutions, the religion and culture of Kano people.
“Since justice Amobeda come to Kano, we have been following instances and happening in his honorable court, more than 30 orders have been issued at his court all against Kano people, Kano state government and public interest.
“We understand that justice Amobeda is billed to issue a judgment today regarding the conduct of this election, but he deliberately and intensionally decided not to do it and shifted it to tomorrow because he understand that another high court has slated tomorrow to give its judgement, so why is this happening ?
“Why is he so particular aimed to truncate any development of Kano ?, We are peace advocates, we are peace promoters, and we hate anything that has a tendency of jeopardizing peace that we are enjoying in our state.
“Tomorrow, we may have two different judgments, one is positive, one is negative OR one is negative, one is positive, we know Kano is very volatile, and this is the state that has more than 20 million people, if he issue another order tomorrow it may likely course cious, or violence in the state.
“And it is on this note, we are trying to inform him about the tendency and implications of whatever he is trying to do, and to caution him that if anything happened tomorrow because of his judgment, he is going to be responsible for that.”
He said, “civil society organizations will follow-up to ensure that no anybody was used to create breach of laws and order in the state.”
