By Okeoghene Akubuike
Abuja – The Federal High Court in Port Harcourt has assigned a new Judge to hear the case between the Law graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) and the Council of Legal Education.
Mr Carl Umegboro, Chairman of the “Law Graduates Forum ” made this known in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday.
The new Judge, Justice Hilary Oshomah, Umegboro said, had fixed June 17 for fresh hearing of the case in Port Harcourt.
He said the notice was received after the forum filed a letter to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Abuja, dated May 31, appealing for his intervention “to ensure justice was accorded to the case’’.
“Though we were surprised that the matter has now been enlisted for fresh hearing by the new judge instead of judgment, we are grateful to his Lordship for doing the needful, despite the delays.
“We are also hopeful that the court will ultimately bring the long-drawn out dispute to a logical conclusion in next to no time as the contentions are irrefutable germane.
”The notice of hearing has been successfully served on the four defendants in the suit with acknowledgement,” the chairman said.
NAN reports that the Council of Legal Education had issued a public notice in 2015 against the Open University’s Faculty of Law for admitting its first set in 2004 and graduated them in 2013.
The Law Graduates Forum of NOUN filed a suit against the Council, challenging its refusal to admit them into the Nigerian Law School programme.
After hearing the matter on Dec. 7, 2016, in Port Harcourt, the presiding Judge, Justice Babatunde Quadri, failed to deliver judgment on the case on Jan. 27, 2017 as scheduled.
According to Umegboro, since then, the law graduates had continued to fight for the judgment with several petitions to the appropriate quarters,to no avail.
banker of the day - FREE banker tips from experts