The Adamawa State High Court IV sitting in Yola has fixed December 4, 2025, to hear defense witnesses in a suit challenging the creation of Fufore Emirate.
Justice Musa Usman announced the adjourned date on Thursday after taking evidence from one defense witness and granting an adjournment at the request of counsel because the next critical defense witness had lost a relative and could not appear in court.
Counsel to the plaintiffs, Manga Nurudeen, SAN, told newsmen after the sitting that a death in the family of a witness is sufficient reason to excuse their absence.
Expressing optimism that the next sitting would bring the case closer to its conclusion, Nurudeen said, “If the Attorney General had called his witness today, we would now have been talking about addresses and judgment. By December 4, God willing, we would adjourn for addresses and judgment.”
The suit was filed in March this year in reaction to the carving out of Fufore Emirate in December last year from Adamawa Emirate.
Three prominent sons of the Adamawa Emirate went to court seeking a declaration that the new Fufore Emirate should not have been created.
During the last sitting of the court last month, at the level of plaintiffs’ witnesses, legal fireworks ensued as plaintiff witnesses gave evidence and defense lawyers sought to challenge it.
At that penultimate sitting, four key witnesses for the plaintiffs, including renowned historian Professor Alkasum Abba, were cross-examined by two leading defense counsels: Chief Lenon Zedon and Barr. Afraimu Jingi.
The three Adamawa Emirate titleholders who sued the Adamawa State Government over the Fufore Emirate are Musa Halilu Ahmed (Dujima Adamawa), Alhaji Mustapha Dahiru Mustapha (Yeriman Adamawa), and Alhaji Mustapha Ahmad (Sarkin Noma Adamawa).
The plaintiffs listed the state Governor, Ahmadu Fintiri; the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Afraimu Jingi; and the Emir of Fufore, Muhammad Sani Ribadu, as defendants.