A Federal High Court on Monday granted leave for an application for order of mandamus to compel the Attorney General of the Federation to produce information on the state of health of the Taraba State Governor, Danbaba Suntai.
Justice Sylvester Chukwuma of the court in Abuja, who gave Femi Falana (SAN) the leave in a ruling on an exparte motion, held that the reliefs were in accordance with inherent procedure.
Chukwuma said: “Having gone through the statement, address and, of course, the reliefs sought by the applicant, they ought to be granted.
“In the circumstance, the court will only grant the leave for the applicant to seek order of mandamus for the purpose for which he has brought the motion exparte.”
The vacation judge held that the case be re-assigned to a regular court as proceedings at the vacation court will terminate by September 13.
The matter was therefore adjourned to September 23 for the hearing of the substantive suit.
Falana, a human rights crusader, had brought the motion pursuant to Order 34 Rules 1 and 3 of the High Court Procedure Rules 2009, and Section 20 of the Freedom of Information Act 2011.
Earlier, the applicant had argued that the above statutes gave him the “locu standi” to demand information on the state of mental and physical health of the Taraba State governor.
He further argued that the refusal of the respondent to accede to his request dated August 27 was illegal and unconstitutional, adding that it violated Section 3 of the FoIA 2011.
According to Falana, Section 4 of FoIA compels such request to be granted within seven days, while Section 7 of the same law empowers the applicant to challenge the denial in court.
He said: “My Lord, I painstakingly and diligently applied for the procedure but my request was not responded to.
“I am urging the court to grant this application in the interest of justice.”
Falana explained that the respondent did not adduce any reasons why the information he requested for was not made available to him.
“The time allowed by the Act within which such information is to be provided has since elapsed,” he said.
Suntai was out of the state for medical treatment in Germany and the United States of America for about 10 months following injuries he sustained in a plane crash on October 25, 2012.
The applicant argued that Suntai, who has returned to Taraba State, has been unable to report to his office to perform his constitutional duties.
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