THE Abuja Division of the National Industrial Court (NIC) has fixed Monday, September 19, 2022 for the hearing of a suit filed by the federal government against the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over the ongoing industrial strike that entered it seventh month on September 14.
His Lordship, Justice H. I. Hamman, who is presiding over the matter on Friday, September 16, adjourned the suit on after hearing both parties’ comments.
Justice Hamman had earlier last Monday ordered the federal government and ASUU to file and exchange their written submissions and fixed Friday for a further mention of the case.
At Friday’s proceedings, Mr James Igwe, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who is the counsel to the federal government, appealed to the court to immediately go on with the hearing of the suit as it is a “matter of national interest.”
He had filed an interlocutory application seeking an order to restrain ASUU from continuing with its ongoing strike “pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.”
But the counsel to ASUU, Mr Femi Falana, SAN, objected to the court hearing on the grounds that the suit was only scheduled for Friday for mention and not hearing.
The judge, therefore, adjourned the hearing for the interlocutory injunction until Monday, 19 September.
Earlier, the lawyer to the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Mr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN, urged the judge to hear his client’s application to be joined as a second defendant in the case filed against ASUU by the federal government.
Adegboruwa, therefore, asked the court to strike out its earlier suit on the same issue of strike and allow it to be joined in the federal government’s suit.
ASUU’s referenced suit filed on 12 September sought to compel the federal government to honour its agreements with the union.
The government’s counsel, Mr Igwe, objected to the application for the hearing of ASUU’s application to be joined as a party in the fresh suit, saying he was only served with the application around 5pm on Thursday.
The judge, H. I. Hamman, granted the application to strike out the earlier suit and adjourned SERAP’s application to be joined with ASUU as a defendant in the federal government’s suit to next Friday.
