Justice Adenike Akinpelu of an Ilorin High Court on Wednesday struck out a certificate forgery case filed against the Kwara State Governor, Alhaji AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, following the withdrawal of the suit by the claimant, Mr. Abraham Adekunle.
The court also struck out the application of Olusola Olaseinde who sought to be joined as a co-claimant in the case. The court had last week Monday adjourned till Wednesday after holding that contrary to the argument of the defendant, the claimant had not withdrawn the case.
Lawal Jimoh, who appeared as the defendant’s counsel last week Monday, had argued that the claimant had withdrawn the case but counsel to the claimant, Lawrence Oludele, said he was not aware of the development.
The court, which refused to allow the defendant’s counsel to tender the notice of withdrawal he said was from the claimant, ruled that the claimant had not withdrawn as argued by his counsel.
However, on Wednesday, Justice Akinpelu ordered the counsel to the claimant to meet with his client to sort out the issues about the withdrawal of the case
After their meeting, the counsel told the court that the claimant had applied to withdraw the case.
The judge then struck out the case and subsequently struck out Olaseinde’s application to be joined as a co-claimant, saying “you can not place something on nothing and expect it to stand.”
The court, however, refused to award the cost of N1m sought against the claimant by Salman Jawondo who appeared as the lead counsel for the defendant on Wednesday.