Atiku Abubakar, presidential
candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), says Livy Uzoukwu, his lead
counsel at the tribunal, is qualified to practise in Nigeria.
His legal team at the tribunal
where he is challenging the reelection of President Muhammadu Buhari, comprises
31 lawyers led by Uzoukwu.
In its response as the first
respondent in the case, INEC had said the petition filed by Atiku was not
signed by a legal practitioner licensed to practise in Nigeria.
The electoral body challenged the
choice of Uzoukwu, saying he was not on the roll call of lawyers called to the
bar in the country.
But reacting in a statement by
Phrank Shaibu, his spokesman, Atiku said the counter affidavit “specifically
referred to documents signed by the learned SAN as Dr Livy Uzoukwu as against
one Dr. Livinus Uzoukwu which INEC
acknowledged to be on the roll call, arguing that both names could not be
referring to one and same person.”
Atiku said the electoral body
exhibited “crass ignorance” as the use of abbreviations by counsels had been
settled by the supreme court.
He alleged that the All
Progressives Congress (APC) and INEC have assembled a team of lawyers “intent
on misleading the courts and Nigerians in general”.
“It’s either INEC is not aware or
chose to maintain a blind eye as far as this issue is concerned. How can you
say a former Attorney General of Imo State and a SAN is not qualified to
practice law in Nigeria?” he asked.
“This is a clear case of crass
ignorance and incomparable display of low level of illiteracy intended to
mislead the court and Nigerians.”
Citing a supreme court judgement
permitting counsels to use abbreviations as well as their full names, Atiku
said the use of Livy as against Livinus in the roll call of lawyers called to
the bar does not in anyway diminish the qualification of his counsel.
“In the case of DANKWANBO v
ABUBARKAR (2015) LPELR-25716(SC), the Supreme Court in a unanimous judgment
comprising of a full court of 7 Justices held: Whether an abbreviated name of
counsel is permissible for endorsement on court processes, I must say clearly,
that an abbreviated name is legal and permissible, “the court judgement quoted
by Atiku, read in part.
“It does not cease to be a
person’s name or render it to lose its juristic personality. In other words, an
abbreviation of the first name of any person whose name is on the Roll of Legal
Practitioners does not render the abbreviated name to become unregistered or
unknown to law as argued by the appellant.
“This is a different situation
from the use of two names that are on the role as a Legal Practitioner’s name
to file processes in court.”
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