Court Strikes Out Suit Against NUJ, Awards N100,000 Damages

From Paul Orude Bauchi

The High Court in Bauchi State has dismissed the suit filed against the State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) for lack of jurisdiction and awarded damages of N100, 000 against the plaintiff.

The Voice of America (VOA) Hausa Service Correspondent, Abdulwahab Muhammed and three others had approached the court challenging the process of the nomination of members of the 2023 Electoral Committee of the council tasked to organise fresh polls for the council.

The complainants also prayed the legal interpretation of some sections of the NUJ Constitution in relation to the complaints as contained in their claims before the Court.

Counsel to the defendants, Barrister Rilwanu Jibrin argued that the State High Court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the case noting that only the National Industrial Court is the appropriate court to entertain the issue being a labour-related issue.

While delivering the judgment on the arguments before him, Justice Muktar Abubakar affirmed the submissions of the defendants arguing that the High Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter.