Some lawyers involved in the suit challenging the removal of the chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Danladi Umar, have asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to take any action that could undermine the court process.

The lawyers led ’y Mahmoud M. Maidoki Esq made the request in a letter titled “Re: Process of Removing the Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal and Matters Arising: On the Duty to Observer the Lis Pendens/Sub Judice Rule”, to the Senate President Godswill Akpabio, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun and Speaker Tajudeen Abbas.

The lawyers pleaded with the leaders not to tamper with the issue of the chairmanship of the CCT until the determination of the suit, which a Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned to January 14, 2025.

The lawyers said they were inspired by the well-known legal principle of “lis pendens or sub-judice rule as provided in Section 6(1)(6) (b) and 39 (3) (a) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) as well as Order 53 Rule 5 of the Standing Order Rules of the Senate of the National Assembly 2015 (as amended), which is in pari materia with the provisions of Order 18 Rule 184 of the Standing Order Rules of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly 2015 (as amended).

“In effect, the law on the doctrine of lis pendens as expressed in these and too numerous other decisions is that nothing should change in terms of the positions of the parties during the pendency of a matter. The position is equally long settled that the doctrine relates or applies to both tangible and intangible res,” the letter read. (Daily Trust)