NFF Crisis: Court To Rule On Acquittal Appeal, June 9

A Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed June 9 to hear a motion to grant leave to appeal against the ruling discharging and acquitting Amaju Pinnick and others in a criminal charge filed against them.
Justice Inyang Ekwo, who fixed the date, said he would hear the motion on notice on the next adjourned date.
The Tidesport source reports that Pinnick is the President of the Nigeria Football Federation and a FIFA council member.
When the case was called, Justice Ekwo asked counsel to the applicants, Dr Celsius Ukpong, to inform the court what the application was all about.
And after listening to Ukpong’s reason for filing the motion, the judge said he would listen to the lawyer formally on June 9.
Tidesports source reports that the court had, on February 3, fixed today, March 29, to hear the motion.
The Chairman, National Footballers Association of Nigeria, Harrison Jalla, and a staff of the association, Tunde Aderibigbe, filed the motion with suit number FHC/ABJ/ CR/93/2019.
Others listed in the motion include the Federal Republic of Nigeria as complainant/respondent; Sunusi Mohammed, Seyi Akinwumi, Shehu Dikko, Amaju Melvin Pinnick as defendants/respondents and Yusuf Ahmed Fresh.
The applicants, in the motion dated December 16, 2020, and filed same day by their lawyer, sought “an order of the court granting leave to appeal as interested parties against the ruling of this honourable court in charge No: FHC/ABJ/CR/93/2019 discharging and acquitting the defendants in this matter.”
They said the motion was brought on the grounds that “at the day set for arraignment, the applicants and other aggrieved people were in court to testify after the arraignment.”
They argued that when the prosecutor who took over from the agency that filed the charge suddenly applied to withdraw the charge in order to study the file or whatever only for the learned trial judge to discharge and acquit the defendants without any proper arraignment and trial.
“The applicants/interested party in the matter, in public interest, took risk and made a lot of sacrifices to complain and gather a lot of evidence to try the defendants before the defendants were finally charged to court.