From: Segun Babatunde in Bauchi
The former Governor of Abia State and Senator representing Abia North in the National Assembly, Orji Uzor Kalu Thursday pleaded for an out of court settlement with plaintiff, Aliyu Ladan who dragged him to court over his inability to honour an agreement to declare his interest to contest for the position of the president in the forthcoming general elections.
It would be recalled that Senator Orji Uzor Kalu was dragged to court by some Northern youths for his inability to declare his interest to contest for the position of the President of Nigeria in 2023.
The case was filed by Comrade Aliyu Ladan and Lawan Abdullahi with suit number BA/331/2021 before Bauchi State High Court Number three, Presided over by Justice Mohammed A Sambo.
Counsel to the defendant, Mouktar Abubakar Usman Counsel who spoke with newsmen shortly after the hearing said that his client, Uzor Kalu pleaded with the court for more time to enable him settle the case out of court.
According to him, “What happened today is that the matter came up for the second time for hearing of the originating summons which was for interpretation of an agreement purportedly entered into by the plaintiffs and the defendant which is to the effect that the defendant had purportedly agreed to contest for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria come 2023.
“They came in order to get the order of the court compelling him to contest for the office of the president. So, today we announced to the court that the defendant proposed for the settlement of the matter out of court and the court agreed with us to take a date for us to be able to sit down and see if we can settle the matter amicably and we have been given 17th of February, 2022 for report of settlement,” he said.
Meanwhile, counsel to the plaintiff, Auwal Ibrahim said that his client is prepared for settlement out of court if the defendant would declare his interest to become the president of the country.
“The bone of contention is basically based on the agreement or understanding our client has with the defendant, that is Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, which he has not yet fulfilled.
“Today, the matter was slated for hearing but because of the contact the defendant made with our clients, he is trying to employ the way and manner to resolve the matter amicably out of court, and the court graciously adjourned the case to 17th of February, 2022 for us to see a way of resolving the matter.
He explained that “What my clients want is for the defendant to fulfill his part of the bargain to aspire for the presidency of this country and since, on his volition, he is asking for the matter to be resolved out of court, we will hear from him and after that, we are going to report to the court on the next adjourned date”.
