- Widow appeals to CJN to save late husband’s properties
For allegedly abusing his judicial powers and privileges, a widow, resident in Abuja has petitioned the Chief Justice of Nigeria against the acts of an Area Court Judge, Suraj Mahdi.
In the petition dated 14 December 2022 and made available to Law & Society Magazine, the widow, Mrs Halimatu Sani claimed that the judge abused his judicial powers and privileges when he not only ordered for one of their properties to be auctioned within twelve days but began personally to arrange for the sales.
The petition alleged that the petitioner and her children were wife and children of one late Alhaji Umar Sani who died in November 2021 leaving behind several properties in Abuja. Being of the Muslim Faith, the petitioner and her children approached the Area Court for the distribution of their late husband and father’s estate in accordance with Islamic Law.
Trouble began when some corporate bodies and third persons who were not heirs to the estate brought claims that the late Alhaji Sani was owing them. One of them claimed the sum of about Four Hundred and Eighty-Five Million Naira being due under a failed contract and the other claiming the sum of Sixty-Five thousand Naira.
The petitioner alleged in one her petition that “The Area Court Judge, well aware that these were claims of debt which exceeded his jurisdiction and also well aware that this was no longer a case of distribution of estate but an action in debt went ahead to award the claims of the said claimants even though that some of the claims were contentious.”
The petition went ahead to allege that the judge immediately ordered for one of their properties to be auctioned within twelve days and began personally to arrange for the sales.
The petitioner, insisting that the Area Court, though with unlimited jurisdiction to distribute the asset s of her among his heirs did not have the jurisdiction to entertain a claim in debt more than its monetary jurisdiction. The petitioner through her counsel filed an application for order of certiorari to have the orders of the area court quashed.
The Petitioner in her petition further alleged that the moment the area court judge learnt that there was an application in the high court to quash his orders, he quickly facilitated personally for the property to be auctioned on the 12th December 2022 which was also the day that the petitioner and her children were asked to appear before the Area Court Judge. The petitioner in her petition asserts that the scheme was so that while they were in his court in obedience to the Judge’s orders to appear to take their motion, the auction would take place without their immediate knowledge and interference and that that was exactly what happened on the said 12th December.
It was further alleged in the petition that when the counsel for the petitioners insisted that there was an application pending in the High Court with respect to the orders, the Area Court Judge broke into a tirade and in their presence made a call to get assurances that a buyer he sent had gone to see the property.
The petitioner who is a widow is petitioning the Chief Justice of Nigeria against what she termed an abuse of judicial powers and privileges and to save her late husband’s property from wanton dissipation because of the area court judges personal interest. In the meantime, the petitioner on the 20th December of last year, published caveat emptor in respect of her late husband’s properties. An action by the Chief Justice is currently being anticipated.
