From Umar Danladi Ado, Sokoto
Senior lawyers engaged in a heated courtroom exchange on Monday as the Federal High Court in Sokoto fined counsel for the 1st defendant and adjourned the ongoing ADC leadership dispute in the state to July 22, 2026, for hearing.
The development followed a ruling by the presiding judge, Justice Ahmad Mahmud Gama, on an application filed by the lead counsel for the 1st defendant, Dr. Sulaiman Usman, SAN.
Barrister Salmanu Jabo, who appeared on behalf of Dr. Usman, had earlier applied for an adjournment, explaining that his principal was unavoidably absent while attending to other important matters relating to the case.
Jabo told the court that he had been authorised only to hold brief for his principal and had no authority to proceed with the hearing, as urged by the plaintiff’s lead counsel, Barrister Mathew Burkaa, SAN.
He further argued that he was not in a position to proceed because he had filed three pending processes that had not yet been served on all the parties, stressing that service of court processes on all parties is a fundamental requirement of fair hearing.
According to Jabo, proceeding with the matter under those circumstances would prejudice the affected parties and violate the constitutional principle of fair hearing.
Counsel for the 2nd and 3rd defendants, Prof. Ibrahim Abdullahi, SAN, did not oppose the application for adjournment.
He urged the court to grant it in the interest of justice and fair play.
Abdullahi drew the court’s attention to Order 26, Rule 4 of the Federal High Court Rules, which provides that a party served with court processes has seven days within which to file a response.
However, counsel for the plaintiff, Barrister Mathew Burkaa, SAN, who said he was ready to proceed with the hearing, argued that the application for adjournment was incompetent.
He further submitted that the repeated requests for adjournments by the defence amounted to unnecessary delay tactics and urged the court to dismiss the application and proceed with the hearing.
After listening to the submissions of counsel, Justice Gama granted the application for adjournment and fixed July 22, 2026, for the continuation of the case.
Delivering his ruling, the judge said:”It is correct that all parties must be served so that they can respond appropriately. Failure to do so amounts to a violation of the principle of fair hearing.”
Justice Gama, however, imposed a fine of N500,000 on counsel for the 1st defendant, payable to the court.
The judge also ordered the 1st defendant’s counsel to reimburse the plaintiff’s counsel for his air travel expenses upon presentation of receipts, as well as other related incidental costs.
Speaking to journalists after the proceedings, Barrister Jabo said: “We applied for an adjournment because we had filed some processes that had not been served on all the parties, particularly the 4th and 5th defendants.
“We made the application in the interest of justice.
“The court granted the application but also imposed a fine of N500,000 on us and ordered us to pay the plaintiff’s counsel’s flight expenses.
“The fine is payable to the court, while the travel costs will be settled once the plaintiff provides receipts or proof of payment for the trip from Lagos to Sokoto.”
