April 27, (THEWILL) – A Kano State High Court has ordered the State Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Musa Abdullahi Lawan, to immediately file charges against Majority Leader of the Federal House of Representatives, Alhassan Ado Doguwa, and others for conspiracy over alleged culpable Homicide.
The order came after a Kano Retired Chief Magistrate, Muntari Garba Dandago, applied for an order of mandamus, seeking to compel the AG to file the charge.
An Order of Mandamus is a judicial writ issued as a command to an inferior court or ordering a person to perform a public or statutory duty.
The Court, however, gave the order upon an ex parte application by Counsel to the Applicant, Y.I Shariff.
The motion ex parte, which contained 19 paragraphs of affidavit in support, was duly sworn to by Applicant himself, dated April 5, 2023, and the written address filed by the Applicant’s counsel, dated 10th April, 2023.
Delivering a ruling on the motion, Justice Maryam Sabo upheld that ”Leave is hereby granted to the Applicant to apply for the issuance of an order of mandamus against the respondent, that is Attorney General of Kano State, compelling him to exercise his power under section 211 of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), to immediately file a charge against Doguwa and his conspirators for the offences of criminal conspiracy, culpable homicide, mischief, incitement of public disturbance and possession of firearms before a court of competent jurisdiction.”
The Court adjourned the case to May 12, 2023, for the hearing of the motion on notice.
However, the State’s Attorney General said the State Ministry for Justice was still waiting for Nigeria Police to complete their investigation and bring back the case file.
“The Police have written to the ministry officials that the IGP has taken over the investigation and already assigned a special team headed by AIG from Headquarters to conduct the investigation over the incident,” she said.
