Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Warri, Delta State, says he has withdrawn himself from a case involving the new board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
In the lawsuit filed by Prince Emmanuel Okotie-Eboh, son of Nigeria’s first Finance Minister Festus Okotie-Eboh, and others had questioned the office of the NDDC’s new chair.
On behalf of indigenes and members of oil and gas producing communities of Itsekiri ethnic extraction in Delta State, Okotie-Eboh and others had asked the court to, among other things, prevent the new board of the NDDC from implementing the commission’s budget.
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On Thursday, at the resumed hearing in the matter, their attorney, Robinson Ariyo, informed the court that the case was ready to be heard.
Giving the reason for his decision, Justice Abang stated that since he was from the Niger Delta, he would prefer that the case be reassigned to a judge who is not from the region.
Albany also ordered that the file be forwarded to the Chief Judge for reassignment.
