Court
Paternity dispute: Court cautions ex-minister’s lawyer over frivolous adjournment
A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Nyanya, on Tuesday cautioned Khalit Jatau, a lawyer to Mr Kabiru Turaki, former Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs Minister, over frivolous adjournment in his paternity dispute suit.
Justice Aliyu Shafa ordered Jatau to put his house in order ahead of the next adjourned date.
The development occurred shortly after the matter was called
Jatau had told the court that he was informed by his principal that the matter had been transferred to Kwali High Court and the matter fixed for March 27.
“I had to come to the court (High Court Nyanya) yesterday to verify at the registry,, but I was told that the matter would be coming up today before Justice Shafa.
“Due to the misinformation, I am not adequately prepared for the matter,” he said.
Justice Shafa told Jatau that it was only the chief judge of the court that had the power to reassign a matter to another court.
The judge, therefore, ordered the counsel to go and put his house in order, confirm whether the case is actually in Kwali and report back to the court in the next adjourned date
The defendants’ lawyer, Sani Idriss, expressed surprise at the development.
Justice Shafa consequently adjourned the matter until March 18 for hearing.
Justice Shafa had, on Oct. 22, 2024, refused Turaki’s application seeking to stop a woman, Uwani Arabi and two others from further making any form of publications about a paternity dispute between them.
The judge, in a ruling, refused the motion on the ground that the ex-minister had sought similar prayer in the main suit.
Justice Shafa held among others that granting the prayer sought in the motion would amount to deciding the substantive case.
The judge, however, granted an order for accelerated hearing in the substantive suit and adjourned the matter for definite hearing.
Turaki, in the main suit marked: CV/189/2024, had accused Arabi, her ex-husband, Musa Baffa and her daughter, Hadiza, of defaming him.
The ex-minister alleged that the defendants raised allegations of sexual impropriety against him to the extent of claiming he fathered a child through Hadiza.
In a supporting affidavit, Turaki stated that the interim restraining order was necessary to stop the defendants from further spreading false information against him during the pendency of the substantive suit.
Turaki, who is claiming damages in several millions of naira against the defendants, said he was a benefactor to Arabi and Hadiza because he took responsibility of paying her fees while she schooled in Baze University, Abuja and assisted her mother too financially.
He denied allegations of sexual impropriety allegedly raised against him by the defendants, stating that he only fell out with the mother and daughter because he stopped Hadiza from further visiting him when her alleged criminal acts became unbearable for him.
In their joint statement of defence, the defendants denied defaming the ex-minister, insisting that he was the one who volunteered to sponsor Hadiza’s university education.
They also denied that Hadiza was involved in some criminal acts, alleging that the former minister took advantage of her by sleeping with her until she became pregnant.
The defendants stated that “none of them made slanderous allegation or defamed the character of the claimant but rather, it was the claimant that slandered and defamed the reputable name of their family by breaching the trust of their family.”
They claimed that the claimant “is frustrating investigation into the matter, more especially when it came to his knowledge that the only way to know the truth of the matter is by conducting DNA test.
“The defendants aver that the Investigation Police Officers are of the same opinion that since it is a matter that involves paternity of a baby girl, only DNA Test can resolve the issue between the claimant and the defendants.
“The defendants, at the trial of this suit, will rely on all the voice messages, conversation, WhatsApp chats, medical reports and any other documents closely or remotely related to this case,” they averred.
