Tag: Court

A Federal High Court in Abuja has scheduled a hearing for September 29 on a motion filed by the Osun State Government to challenge the hearing in Abuja of a suit against the state’s withheld Local Government funds.

Justice Emeka Nwite chose the date on Monday after listening to lawyers for the parties in the case.

Addressing the court, plaintiff’s lawyer, Musibau Adetunbi (SAN) argued that since the court’s vacation came to an end on September 16, the case should be transferred back to the court’s division in Osogbo (the capital city of Osun State) for hearing and determination.

The motion, challenging the jurisdiction of the court’s Abuja division, was hinged on two grounds.

The first is that the fiat issued by the court’s Chief Judge for the case to be heard in the Abuja division during the court’s annual vacation has been overtaken by events because the vacation has come to an end.

The second ground queries the validity of a purported letter from the office of the Chief Judge of the court, mandating Justice Nwite to hear the case in Abuja.

The plaintiff noted that the letter was signed by a person who claimed to be the Personal Assistant to the Chief Judge’s Personal Assistant.

It contends that the Personal Assistant to the Chief Judge’s Personal Assistant is a busybody and a person unknown to the law, who lacked the legal capacity to sign such a sensitive document.

Defence lawyers, Dr. Muritala Abdulrasheed (SAN) for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and Tajudeen Oladoja (SAN) for the Accountant General of the Federation (AG-F) faulted the plaintiff lawyer’s position.

Andulrasheed and Oladoja alleged that the motion filed by the plaintiff to challenge the court’s jurisdiction was a ploy to delay the expeditious hearing of the case.

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The two defence lawyers told the court that the tenure of the elected APC Chairmen and Councilors will come to an end on October 22, and as such, their case will become academic if not expeditiously heard.

Earlier, the judge had struck out the name of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), earlier listed as the third defendant in the suit, following the plaintiff’s decision to discontinue the case against him.

Adetunbi said the case was discontinued against the AGF because another suit against him was currently pending before the Supreme Court.

The suit, before the Federal High Court, was originally filed at the Osogbo division of the court by the Attorney General of Osun State, Oluwole Jimi-Bada, on behalf of the state government.

The plaintiff is seeking to restrain the CBN and the AG-F from opening accounts for the chairmen elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2022, who, the state government claimed, have been sacked by the same Federal High Court, which sack it further claimed, was affirmed by the Court of Appeal.

The plaintiff equally wants an order to restrain the CBN and AG-F “from disbursing allocations to the allegedly sacked APC Chairmen and Councillors.”

The Akure Division of the Magistrates’ Court in Ondo State has ordered the remand of a suspected drug dealer, Eze Elechi Amadi, at the Okitipupa Correctional Centre for allegedly killing his friend and housemate, Otu Ifeanyi, during a quarrel over N20,000.

Police investigations revealed that Amadi, 40, allegedly attacked the 21-year-old with a horsewhip and fists after demanding repayment of money he had withdrawn on Ifeanyi’s behalf, leaving him dead on the spot.

According to police, Amadi stuffed the body into a sack, placed it inside a blue drum, and attempted to dump it in the bush by tying it to his motorcycle.

The plan failed when the drum fell off along the roadside, forcing him to abandon both the corpse and his bike.

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An eyewitness returning from a vigil discovered the body and raised an alarm, leading to Amadi’s arrest.

Prosecutor Austine Omhenimhen told the court that the offence, which occurred on August 24, 2025, contravened Sections 324 and 316 and is punishable under Section 319 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Ondo State.

The court did not take Amadi’s plea, as the prosecutor sought his remand pending advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

Defence counsel Aki Amuluku requested an adjournment to file a counter-affidavit, but Magistrate Odenusi Fadeyi ordered Amadi’s remand and adjourned the case to October 13, 2025, for further hearing.

…says claimant lacks locus standi to file suit

A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has thrown out a suit filed by a Port Harcourt-based legal practitioner, Williams Stanley, challenging the just-concluded local government elections.

The lawyer filed the suit against President Bola Tinubu, the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Sole Administrator, the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC), and its chairman.

Stanley in the suit challenged the legality of the appointments of the state’s Sole Administrator by President Bola Tinubu and the administrator’s nominations of the chairman and members of RSIEC to conduct the August 30th Local Government Council election.

The Presiding judge, Justice Stephen Jumbo, in his ruling on the issue of locus standi of the claimant and jurisdiction of the court, held that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit.

He pointed out that, based on the constitution, only the Supreme Court has the exclusive jurisdiction to hear such suits during emergency rule.

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Jumbo also held that the claimant lacked the locus standi to institute the suit against the defendants.

He said that the claimant was not able to show personal interest above public interest and as well as his civil rights and obligations that had been violated by the actions of the defendants.

The judge also ruled that the claimant failed to show sufficient proof of injury or threat to injury or hardship he would suffer if his questions as contained in his originating summons were answered.

Jumbo insisted that the interest the claimant sought to protect was not his personal interest but that of the governor of the state, a position he was not holding at the moment.

On the conduct of the August 30th local government election, Justice Jumbo declared that the election was constitutional and legitimate.

The judge, who did not award any costs against the claimant, noted that the conduct of the LGA election was not done by the governor or sole administrator, but the RSIEC.

Reacting to the judgment, the lawyer to the claimant, Godsent Elewa, revealed some of the grounds he would encourage his client to appeal the ruling of the high court.

But the lawyer for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the fifth defendant in the suit, Monday John-Otokwala, said the judgment of the court represented the position of the law.

A Federal High Court in Abuja has granted the request by the Department of State Services (DSS) for accelerated hearing in the ongoing trial of terror suspects, Khalid Al-Barnawi and four others accused, among others, of being behind the August 26, 2011 bombing of the United Nations building in Abuja.

Justice Emeka Nwite granted the request while ruling on Friday on an application filed by the DSS through its lawyer, Alex Izinyon (SAN).

Al- Barnawi was arrested by the DSS in April 2016 in Lokoja, Kogi State, five years after the attack on the Abuja UN building, the first of such attack on an international agency’s property in the country, which left over 20 individuals dead and over 70 others injuried.

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While moving the application on Friday, Izinyon said the request for speedy hearing was informed by the prosecution’s readiness to ensure that the case is promptly determined.

By the application, which was not objected to by defence lawyers, parties are to watch video recordings tendered by the DSS in the ongoing trial-within-trial to prove that the defendants’ extrajudicial statements were made voluntarily.

The defendants had claimed they were compelled to make the statements, which informed why the court is now conducting trial-within-trial.

The video clips will be played in the presence of the court Registar and parties will take notes after which they will return to the court on the 23rd and 24th October for continuation of trial within trial.

The main trial had begun shortly after his arrest in 2016 in Lokoja. However, several legal and administrative issues had stalled the trial.

Al- Barnawi known as Kafuri/ Naziru/Alhaji Yahaya/Mallam Dauda/Alhaji Tanimu, is believed to be a founding member of Jama’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid Da’wah Wa’l-Jihad, the Boko Haram Islamist terror group, before he became the leader (Amir) of the break-away faction, Jama’at Ansarul Muslimim Fi Biladi Sudan (JAMBS).