Court rules on suit against 2011 UTME May 9

A FEDERAL High Court, Lagos yesterday fixed May 9, 2011, for ruling on a preliminary objection filed by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), organisers of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME), over a suit initiated against it by three firms on the conduct of this year’s UTME.

The trial judge, Justice Okechukwu Okeke, arrived at the date after counsel in the matter adopted their written submissions in respect to the board’s objections to the suit.

The plaintiffs:  SW Global Ltd, Fleet Technologies Ltd and Global Portal Services (GPS) Ltd, in the suit, alleged that JAMB breached the contract it entered with them.

But JAMB had in a motion on notice brought pursuant to Order 26 Rules 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2009, urged the court to strike out the suit for lack of jurisdiction.

In the objection, JAMB alleged that the suit was initiated by the plaintiffs before the court while another suit instituted by the same plaintiffs against it on the same subject matter was pending.

The board also alleged that the ruling in the first suit was delivered on November 2, 2010, while the present suit was filed on October 25, 2010, on the same subject matter.

The defendant further alleged that the tripartite agreement dated February 12, 2010, which gave rise to this action contained an arbitration clause, had not yet been exploited by parties in the matter.

JAMB, in the motion on notice supported by a 21-paragraph affidavit sworn to by one, Mohammed Ibrahim, its legal officer, alleged that the writ of summons was not properly issued and served on it.

But the aggrieved companies, which sued jointly as members of the Converged Examinations Management Technology Platform Consortium (CEMPT Consortium), had in an affidavit in support of the suit deposed to by the General Manager of SW Global Limited, Tunde Sosina, claimed that they had entered into an Information Technology Services Agreement dated February 12, 2009, with JAMB.