Court Dismisses Suit By Airline Operators Against CJ, Ethiopian Airlines, Others

*Awards N1.5m Cost In Favour Of CJ
The Federal High Court, Abuja has dismissed the suit filed by the registered trustees of the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) challenging the letter by the Chief Judge of the court, Justice John Tsoho, directing the transfer of the matter pending before the Lagos division of the court to Abuja.
Justice James Omotosho in his judgment on Tuesday dismissed the suit for being frivolous and unreasonable as it disclosed no cause of action.
The court also awarded a cost of N1.5 million against the plaintiffs in favour of the Chief Judge for humiliating and harassing him in the course of performing his duties as a public officer.
Justice Omotosho agreed with counsel to the defendants that the suit by the plaintiffs disclosed no reasonable cause of action.
Plaintiffs in the suit are Azman Air Services Limited, Air Peace Limited, Max Air Limited, United Nigeria Airline Company Limited, and Topbrass Aviation Limited, while the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, Nigeria Air Limited, Ethiopian Airlines, Sen. Hadi Sirika (Minister of Aviation) and the Attorney General of Federation (AGF) are defendants.
Justice Omotosho held that the Chief Judge is empowered by the provisions of the Federal High Court Act to request for a case file at any stage of the proceedings and to re-sign the same to another Judge of the Court and that such discretionary powers are not justiciable.
He said, “Section 19 (3) of the Federal High Court Act and other enabling provisions have empowered the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court to act so. He can exercise his administrative powers to transfer and assign cases.
“The plaintiffs can not bring an action against the discretional powers of the Chief Judge to transfer a case and re-signed same. The Chief Judge acted in his judicial and administrative capacity and cannot be sued for his action.
“The action of the plaintiffs has not disclosed any reasonable cause of action. Insisting that a matter be heard by a particular judge is not a legal ground for bringing an action to the court.
“Besides, the Chief Judge has not assigned the case file to another judge of the Federal High Court”, he held and dismissed the suit for being frivolous and an abuse of court process.
“This suit is frivolous, unreasonable and brought to humiliate and harass a public officer. I hereby award a cost of N1.5 million against the plaintiffs in favour of the Chief Judge.”
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