Oil mogul, Mr Femi Otedola has
asked an Abuja High Court to allow and sustain the N250 billion suit he filed
against the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal and former
chairman of the Fuel Subsidy probe committee, Representative Farouk Lawan.
Mr Otedola in the suit alleged
that he suffered harassment, intimidation and some business losses from the
defendants.
Counsel to the oil mogul, Mr
Babajide Kokusan told the presiding judge, Justice Peter Kekemeke, that the law
makers should not be allowed to hide under any legislative immunity to escape
the action they committed outside their legislative powers.
Reacting to the lawmaker’s plea
that suit action be dismissed because they cannot be sued on any action carried
out on behalf of the house, Otedola’s counsel argued that the defendants were
sued in their personal capacities for the intimidation he (Femi Otedola)
suffered from phone calls before he parted with $620,000 out of $3million bribe
demanded and collected by Mr Lawan.
He insisted that legislative
immunity cannot be used to defend the allegation of request and receipt of
bribe and asked the judge to make the two defendants defend themselves as
allowed by law.
Mr Kokusan also objected to the
prayer of Tambuwal and Farouk that the Federal High Court and not Abuja Court
can adjudicate over the matter because the House of Representatives was an
agency of the federal government.
His counsel argued that the case
of Otedola and Zenon Oil Ltd was on the demand for bribe with the use of
harassment and intimidation and not an attack against the fuel subsidy or the
report of the subsidy committee.
He further adds that the issue of
jurisdiction of a court in any matter could be determined by the nature of
reliefs, facts and statement of claims and that since the suit did not
challenge the revenue of the federal government or the administrative decision
of the national assembly, an Abuja High Court has the power and jurisdiction to
hear the case.
The Speaker of the House of
Representative and Mr Lawan had through their counsels, Kehinde Ogunwumiju and
Mike Ahamba opposed the suit filed by Otedola.
They claimed that the two
lawmakers enjoy absolute legislative immunity for words spoken on the floor of
the house.
Justice Kekemeke will however
rule on January 30 on whether to maintain or strike out the case.
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