A Kano State High Court has fixed May 16, 2024, for ruling on whether the court would allow service through substitute means to respondents in the case before it between the Kano State government, as the applicant, while former Governor Abdullahi Ganduje and eight others are respondents in the case.
However, Justice Usman Na’abba, presiding over the case on Monday, after listening to arguments and counterarguments on whether the respondents could be served using alternative means, fixed the date for his ruling on the applications.
According to the counsel representing respondent number six, Lamash Properties Limited, Nuraini Jimoh SAN argued that respondents in a criminal case cannot be served through substituted means.
While the Counsel representing the state government, Adeola Adedigbe SAN referred to a Kano state law 378/5 that allows service in criminal cases to be made using substitute means.
However, Jimoh SAN described the Kano state law as ‘Ultra Vires’ and is inferior to the Nigerian Constitution that restricts such action. He explained that the Nigeria law says that service of criminal charge is on the exclusive legislative list.
According to him” The Kano state Assembly law that allows service of criminal surmons by substitute means is Ultra Vires”.
Jimoh SAN then further argued that there is no charge before the court against the respondents as the application before it reads, “Application to prepare a charge“.
He said that the attempt to make the court allow service by substitute means, when no effort has been made to reach the respondents, makes the service transfer it’s responsibility to the court.
He added that it is a violation of the Sec 36 of the constitution.
