Fufore emirate: Judge adjourns sitting to April 3, says defense counsel needs time to reply a cross affidavit filed by Adamawa govt

An Adamawa State high court presided by Justice Musa Usman has adjourned sitting to April 3, 2025 to allow the defense counsel ample time to reply a cross affidavit filed by Adamawa State government in the ongoing suit challenging the creation of Fufore emirate.

The lead counsel for the plaintiffs, M. M Nuruddeen (SAN) has during today’s sitting prayed the court to give him time to respond to a cross affidavit filed by the state government through the attorney general.

Speaking to reporters shortly after the court session, Nuruddeen noted, “we took adjournment last time and the state was supposed to respond within seven days. Unfortunately, it came late.

“They have applied proper under the rules of court for extension of time so we have agreed to their application and the extension was granted.

“However they also annexed a brief of argument to their motion to which we need to reply because we have not had the time to look at it. The court has adjourned to third April for us to file our reply and take the main motion,” he said.

Also speaking, to newsmen Adamawa State commissioner of Justice and Attorney General of the state, Barrister Afraimo Jingi said initially, the state has filed an application praying the court to strike out the suit because it was not properly constituted.

He noted that based on their application, the plaintiff’s counsel came with another application that they want the issues we raised to be referred to the court of appeal.

“We saw that it is not a proper case to be filed to the court of appeal so we now brought up application to file a counter affidavit. We are out of time what happened today is that our application for leave to file a counter affidavit out of time and we also argued that this matter should not be referred to the court of appeal,” he said.

In the wake of the creation of Fufore emirate, the trio of Musa Halilu Ahmed, (Dujima Adamawa), Alh Mustapha Dahiru Mustapha, (Yeriman Adamawa) and Alhaji Mustapha Ahmad (Sarki Noma Adamawa) have approached the court to set aside the creation of the emirate for the court to set aside the creation of the new emirate for alienating history, culture and deep heritage of the Adamawa Emirate.

In the suit Adamawa State government, Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, the attorney general of the state Barrister Afraimo Jingi and the Emir of Fufore, Muhammad Sani Ribadu were to appear as defendants.

The creation of Fufore emirate was greeted with a lot of anxiety and condemnation by a section of stakeholders in the Adamawa Emirate who noted that it circumvents history, culture and deep heritage of the people.

But the governor has defended the move saying that it represents the aspirations of the people for self determination and a deliberate policy to enhance unity and development in the newly created emirates and chiefdoms.