Justice Obiora A. Egwuatu of the Federal High Court in Kano has fixed October 23, 2019, for ruling on the case of human rights abuse instituted by Amina Mohammed Amal against the Kannywood multi-talented actress, Hadiza Aliyu Gabon.
The court would on the set date rule on the preliminary objection on the motion earlier filed by the defence counsel, challenging jurisdiction of the court to hear the case and subsequently pass the final verdict on the substantive suit.
Amal had filed the case in the court seeking public apology and an award of N50million as general damages from Hadiza Gabon over alleged assault, torture and inhuman treatment meted on her by the actress.
The Counsel to Gabon had challenged the jurisdiction of the court to hear the case, arguing that the alleged human rights abuses took place outside the area of jurisdiction of the court.
Addressing the press shortly after the court proceeding on Thursday, the lead counsel to Gabon, Barr Sadiq Sabo Turawa said “We filed the preliminary objection challenging the jurisdiction of the court on issues ranging from the territorial jurisdiction.
“The alleged incident did not even happen in Kano, if it actually happened. We further looked at how the suit was initiated. It was initiated by way of motion on notice and they raised some contentious issues and actually you cannot raise contentious issues by way of motion on notice because it doesn’t warrant the call of oral evidences; they raised issues that can’t be looked at with only affidavit evidence.”
The prosecution counsel led by Barr. Faruq Umar countered the preliminary objection, describing it as unmeritorious and frivolous.
