Nureini Jimoh Chambers: The casualty of political cruelty and concomitant callousness- Bala Ibrahim

I received with shock, a cliché on the social media this morning, announcing the detention of Nureini Jimoh, SAN, in his office, at Murtala Mohammed way, Kano. The cliché said the lawyer was locked up in the office by the police.

It reads, “A team of Policemen & some staff of Min.of Land came to the counsel office and locked him inside with padlock. Presently, the counsel & his staff cannot go in & out of the office, as the two gates that access his office have been padlocked & sealed. Counsel however remain mute & is preparing to get out of the office by scaling fence to leave the State for fear of further attack”.

Nureini Jimoh is a close friend of mine, so I quickly put a call to him, and he confirmed the story, saying he is making efforts to rescue himself.

Yesterday, Tuesday, 01/12/21, an FCT High Court Abuja sacked the All Progressives Congress (APC) executive committee loyal to Kano state governor, Abdullahi Ganduje. Delivering a ruling on the reliefs sought by Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, Justice Hamza Muazu, granted all the reliefs sought by the plaintiff’s lawyer, who happens to be Nureini Jimoh, SAN.

It may be recalled that in July this year, the Kano APC had conducted party congresses across the 44 local councils and unanimously elected unopposed, the entire ward executive members across the 484 wards. Those Congresses were done under the leadership of Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.

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However, another faction of the party, led by Senator and former Governor Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, Senator Barau Jibrin and another member of the House of Representatives, Sha’aban Ibrahim Sharada, rejected the result and conducted a parallel congress.

The Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau faction went to court, asking it to declare amongst other prayers, that the Ganduje Congresses were unauthentic.

In his ruling, Justice Hamzat Muazu declared that indeed the Congresses conducted by the Ganduje faction were void, thereby literally handing over the structure of the APC in Kano State to the Shekarau faction, an action that angers Ganduje.

The lead counsel in court to the Shekarau faction is Nureini Jimoh, whose office was sealed off today.

Also, on the same day, Tuesday, 01/12/21, in another Federal High Court, Abuja, Justice Anwuli Chikere held that the Government of Kano state, under Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, had acted illegally, unlawfully and unconstitutionally, by banishing the deposed Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi to Awe, Nasarawa State.

The court held that the restrictions placed on Sanusi after his deposition on March 9, 2020, on allegations of insubordination are a clear arbitrary violation of his right to freedom of movement and personal liberty granted by the Nigerian constitution.

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N10m was awarded to him, to be paid by the Government of Kano State, under Abdullahi Umar Ganduje. And Nureini Jimoh is again the lawyer to the deposed Emir, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

Sometimes back, in July this year, a Kano State High Court had ordered Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, to pay the sum of eight hundred thousand naira (N800,000), to the Publisher of Daily Nigerian, Ja’afar Ja’afar, as cost for expenses incurred in the court case of the controversial dollar bribery video.

It may be recalled that Ja’afar Ja’afar had released a video clip allegedly showing Governor Ganduje stuffing his pockets with bails of dollars, suspected to be kickback of awarded projects from contractors, a charge the state government denied, alleging the videos to be doctored.

I am not sure if Nureini Jimoh is also part of the legal team that acted for Jafar Jafar, but a lot of insinuations are circulating, accusing Ganduje of trying to vent his anger on Nureini Jimoh, because of his brilliance in practice.

My investigations have long confirmed that the police have no hand in the raid on the lawyer’s premises, if anything, it is between him and the State Government, who is using tenement rate as an excuse to get at the lawyer.

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There is unanimity of opinion in Kano that Nureini Jimoh, SAN, and his chambers are being harassed by Ganduje simply because they acted as the lawyers in all the cases against him, the results of which are embarrassingly humiliating.  But when has the practice of law become a crime?

If he is not aware, Ganduje’s Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, should bring it to the attention of his principal that, lawyers have the duty of protecting the rights of their clients and promoting the cause of justice. In doing that, they shall seek to uphold human rights and fundamental freedoms recognized by national and international law and shall at all times, act freely and diligently in accordance with the law and recognized standards and ethics of the legal profession. In return, they are expecting similar treatment from everyone, including serving governors, one of whom is His Excellency, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.

Ibrahim, a media advisor writes from Abuja