Wife of president Muhammadu Buhari, Aisha,has approached the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory seeking an order of substituted service on the governor of Ekiti State Ayo Fayose.
In the ex-parte motion, filed on July 20, 2016, Mrs. Buhari prayed the court to grant her reliefs to issue writ of summons against Fayose and his media advisers, Idowu Adelusi and Lere Olayinka.
She had sued Governor Fayose over his repeated claims that she was involved in the Halliburton scandal even after she wrote to the governor on June 23, demanding retraction.
The presiding Judge, Olukayode Adeniyi, granted all reliefs sought by Mrs. Buhari, including an order of substituted service.
Counsel to Mrs. Buhari, Mary Ekpere, had prayed the court to allow the lawsuit be served on Fayose and his two aides.
Justice Adeniyi while granting the order, ordered that the service be done through a courier service, DHL or any media publication.
It would be recalled that Fayose had in June alleged that Mrs. Buhari was the “Aisha Buhari” named in a U.S. court document, alleged to have been involved in the bribery case involving a convicted former U.S. lawmaker, Williams Jefferson.
The governor, in what appeared to be an error, referred to the Jefferson bribery as the Halliburton scandal, which is an entirely different case.
Fayose however insisted he was right, despite Mrs. Buhari’s denial and threat of lawsuit.
The material distributed by Fayose on June 20 said the first lady was an accomplice in the bribery scandal that landed Jefferson in jail.
Although Aisha Buhari was mentioned in the case files as having transferred a sum of $170,000 to Mr. Jefferson, former heads of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission who investigated the matter said the Aisha Buhari named in the document was an impostor and not President Buhari’s wife.s actions while still in office.
