Bala Muhammad Inuwa, the former Managing Director of KASCO, has submitted a motion to Justice Hafsat Yahaya Sani of the Kano State High Court, urging her to withdraw from the ongoing case involving an alleged fraud of N4 billion against him.
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Inuwa, through his lawyer, Professor Nasir Adamu Aliyu, SAN, expressed concerns about receiving fair treatment during the proceedings, stating that he believes he will not obtain justice in her court.
In addition to the motion for recusal, Inuwa and his son Bala Inuwa Muhammad (Jnr) have both entered pleas of not guilty to the charges.
They have also requested that the case be reassigned to another judge at the Kano State High Court for a fair hearing and determination on its merits.
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Professor Aliyu, representing the defendants, explained that the application was made based on several grounds, including the court’s dismissal of their notice of preliminary objection challenging the jurisdiction of the court, followed by the judge’s refusal to grant leave for appeal for 14 days period stipulated by law.
He further highlighted that the judge had revoked the bail previously granted by another judge, Justice Naabba, resulting in the defendants being remanded in a correctional center for 30 days.
These actions, according to Professor Aliyu, indicated a potential bias and a departure from providing impartial justice.
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Considering this sequence of events, Professor Aliyu contended that the presiding judge has demonstrated personal interest in the case, suggesting a likelihood of bias.
It is therefore being argued that she should recuse herself from further involvement in the proceedings to ensure the principles of justice are upheld.
Consquently, one of the counsel in the defence team, Barrister Abdurrazak A Ahmad, also shed more light on the motion requesting for the presiding judge to recuse herself from the case and have it reassigned to another judge.
He explained that the defendants had initially been granted bail by Justice Usman Naabba.
However, when the case was transferred to Justice Hafsat Yahaya Sani, she initially ruled that she is bound by Justice Naabba’s previous rulings and orders.
However, Barrister Ahmad highlighted that the defendants’ deposed in their affidavit that, when Justice Sani later assumed jurisdiction over their case, she contradicted herself by revoking the order of their bail earlier granted to the defendants seemingly with the intention of punishing them.
Additionally, he stated that when the defendants sought to appeal the ruling dismissing their preliminary objection, the judge deliberately denied the defendants’ hearing date fo hear their application for leave to appeal within the stipulated 14 days time for no just reason, despite letters and personal visits to the judge’s registry by the defendants’ lawyers, particularly, when the application was time-bound.
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The lawyer added that the judge had sat and heard other matters within the mandatory stipulated 14 days period required by the law for the application to be heard and determined.
Therefore, Barrister Ahmad said for those reasons the defendants concluded that the judge may have a personal interest in the case, and when there is a likelihood of bias, the principles of justice dictate that in such a circumstance, a judge should recuse and disqualify himself from further proceedings in such cases.
