FOR lack of diligent prosecution, a Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal, on Tuesday, struck out a notice of appeal filed by a former Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Ishaya Bamaiyi (retd) and three others, seeking to uphold a $10 million bribery allegation suit filed against a former Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Ade Alabi.
When the appeal was called on Tuesday, neither the appellants nor the respondents were represented in court.
It was consequent upon this that the appellate court, presided over by Justice U. I. Ndukwe-Anyanwu, struck out the appeal.
Bamaiyi, along with a former Lagos State Commissioner of Police, James Danbaba (retd), a former Chief Security Officer to the late General Sani Abacha, Major Al-Mustapha and Mohammed Rabo Lawal, had been standing trial over alleged attempted murder.
The four were accused of attempting to kill the publisher of The Guardian Newspaper, Mr Alex Ibru.
During the course of the trial, Bamaiyi and others alleged that Justice Alabi demanded $10 million bribe from them through their lawyers.
They further accused the judge of threatening and bullying their lawyers several times in court.
Following the petition, the National Judicial Commission (NJC) set up a panel of inquiry, which, in its report, said the allegations were baseless, false, frivolous and malicious.
Displeased, Bamaiyi and others approached a Federal High Court in Lagos for the enforcement of their fundamental human rights, where Justice Nwodo, in a ruling delivered on September 26, 2002, dismissed the suit.
Also Dissatisfied, Bamaiyi and others, through their counsel, Yakubu Maikau, appealed against the ruling and urged the appellate court to set the decision aside and grant them leave to enforce their fundamental human rights.
