The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Court

  • Court orders reinstatement of sacked workers

    The National Industrial Court, Abuja, yesterday ordered the reinstatement of 95 dismissed workers of the Police Service Commission.

    The claimants had joined the chairman, Police Service Commission, as co-respondent.

    Justice Sanusi Kado held that due compliance with the law regulating the commission was not followed in the dismissal.

    The claimants filed a suit before Justice David Isele in 2014, for non-payment of their salaries and allowances since 2013.

    Justice Isele, in his judgment of 2016, ordered the commission to pay the claimants their salaries and allowances.

    Their counsel, Mr. Femi Adedeji, said his clients, while awaiting compliance of the judgment, were served termination letters by the commission on March 30, 2017.

    In the suit before the court, the claimants, besides asking for reinstatement, sought payment of outstanding salaries and allowances due to them as ordered by Justice Isele.

    Justice Kado held that the order of Justice Isele on payment of salaries and allowances still subsisted, since the defendants did not contest the judgment.

  • Fusengbuwa Royal House: Court dismisses suit against Balogun

    Fusengbuwa Royal House: Court dismisses suit against Balogun

    A State High Court sitting in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, yesterday dismissed a suit challenging the position of the founder of the First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Otunba Subomi Balogun, as the Olori-Ebi (head) of the Fusengbuwa Ruling House, one of the ruling houses in Ijebu-Ode where the paramount ruler, the Awujale, is selected.

    In dismissing the claimants’ case, the court held said it relied on the evidence of the Awujale, Oba Sikiru Adetona, and resolved the issues in favour of the defendants.

    The court held that while the trial lasted, the claimants called six witnesses while the defendants called two, including Oba Adetona.

    The suit was instituted by a former National President of the Institute of the Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Otunba Abdul-Lateef Owoyemi, with Prince Rasaq Akeju, Prince Yisau Ajidagba, Prince Adeleke Adeyemi and one other, on behalf of Fusengbuwa Ruling House, against Balogun and others.

    Owoyemi and other claimants averred that he (Owoyemi) is the right and legitimate person to occupy the position of the Olori-Ebi of Fusengbuwa Ruling House.

    They prayed the court to declare him as such.

    The claimants approached the court to challenge Balogun, who is also a member of the Fusengbuwa Ruling House, on the alleged manner he became the Olori-Ebi of the family, after the death of the last Olori-Ebi, Prince Adebisi Adeyemi.

    They prayed the court to restrain Balogun from carrying on as the Olori-Ebi of the Fusengbuwa Ruling House.

    But Justice Aderonke Asenuga held that though the claimants (Owoyemi and others) had the right to approach the court for a justice-able matter, but he dismissed the suit on the grounds that they were not qualified for the claims they sought by reasons of the evidence before the court.

    Justice Asenuga said five issues were formulated for determination and resolved two in favour of the claimants and three others in favour of the defendants.

    On the first issue, the judge held that though the claimants (Owoyemi and others) had the right to approach the court for a justice-able matter, but dismissed their suit on the grounds that they were not qualified for the claims they sought by reasons of the evidence before the court.

    On who could become the Olori-Ebi of a ruling house of Awujale, the court held that the “Awujale has given evidence on who is qualified to be appointed as Olori-Ebi,” adding that the “Awujale’s evidence is relevant”.

    According to the judge, the oral evidence given by those (Awujale) who should know the custom and tradition of the Ijebu indicated that the first claimant was not qualified to be the Olori-Ebi of the Fusengbuwa Royal Family as his paternal lineage does not have any connection to it.

    Justice Asenuga said: “The evidence by the Awujale is accepted by the court. The first claimant is not qualified to be the Olori-Ebi of the Fusengbuwa Ruling House. The court, therefore, resolved the issue in favour of the defendants. The matter is hereby dismissed.”

    The court also awarded N100,000 cost in favour of the defendants, against the initial N200,000 demanded by the defendants’ lawyer Tunji Ayanlaja (SAN).

    Reacting to then verdict, Owoyemi said he left the matter in the hands of God.

    “The family will study the judgment and take appropriate steps afterwards,” Owoyemi said.

  • Court bars media from covering its proceedings

    An Ikeja Customary Court  yesterday barred the media from covering its proceedings. It claimed that  the ‘’order was from above’’.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the court’s registrar, simply identified as Mr Yomi, threatened to forcefully order reporters out of the courtroom.

    “We do not allow journalists into the courtroom to report proceedings due to the type of high profile cases and the calibre of people that comes into this particular court. The order not to allow journalists cover proceedings from this court is from above,” the registrar said

    He  said if any reporter came into the court to report proceedings, he would walk him or her  out.

    “I have walked journalists out of the court before with the backing of the President of the court. Ikeja Customary Court is the number one court in Lagos State because of the calibre of people and cases that are filed there.

    “You can never hear any news on marriage dissolution emanating from this particular court,” the registrar said.

    The court is a public place open to litigants and people interested in watching proceedings. But it is allowed to hear sensitive cases in chamber.

    Section 22 of the 1999 Constitution as amended provides that the press, radio, television and other agencies of the mass media shall at all times be free to uphold the fundamental objectives contained in this chapter.

    Section 39 (1) states that every person shall be entitled to freedom of expression including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference.

  • Refuse: Court gives govt, PSP 14 days to settle

    A Lagos High Court yesterday gave the  state government and the incorporated trustees of Association of Waste Managers of Nigeria (AWMN) two weeks to perfect their terms  of settlement.

    Justice Taofiquat Oyekan-Abdullahi directed them to meet on Saturday as well as March 14 and 16 to resolve  issues concerning  domestic waste management in the state.

    She noted that though  progress had been made, there was a need to get the litigants on the same page for a resolution.

    The judge ordered the parties to ensure that their terms of settlement is in the court’s file by March 20.

    The agreement could then be adopted as the court’s verdict on March 22.

    The AWMN otherwise known as Private Sector Participation (PSP) operators, filed the suit last year to stop the government from preventing its members from managing domestic waste.

    It claimed that the government intended to “take their job and give it to a foreign company,  Visionscape Sanitation Solutions (VSS) Ltd.”

    The co-respondents in  the suit are the Commissioner for Environment, the Attorney-General/Commissioner for Justice, Visionscape Group, VSS and ABC Sanitation Solutions Ltd.

    But the government, through its counsel S. A. Quadri, said, among others, that the claimants were former contractors whose contract had expired.

    It insisted that the claimants had no subsisting agreement to work with it.

    Last year, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode initiated the Cleaner Lagos Initiative (CLI) in furtherance of the Environmental Management Protection Law.

    At the resumed hearing of the case yesterday, the claimant’s counsel, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, said the parties ad been meeting to settle the case, but there were pending issues.

    Adegboruwa said the PSP operators were interested in keeping the state clean, but on certain terms and conditions.

    According to him, the bone of contention is domestic waste. He blamed ‘fifth columnists’ for the delay in reaching an agreement.

    Adegboruwa said: “The waste of people in residential areas – because of the volume and the number of the members – is critical to our settlement.

    “We have been in discussion with the Attorney-General. We believe that some fifth columnists are responsible for the delay of this settlement.

    “We believe that government will be sincere in addressing the fundamental issues that relate to domestic waste.

    “We appeal to our members, especially the PSP, to continue to keep the work of cleaning Lagos, picking waste and disposing them and not allow any sabotage of the CLI,” he said.

    Adegboruwa said if government had given the PSP operators the same support accorded Visionscape in form of soft loans and trucks, waste would disappear from the state.

    “We felt frustrated that we have been doing the job meritoriously for years and now, a foreigner has come, with the intention that we are not capable.”

  • Court orders manufacturers to insert health warnings in condom adverts

    Court orders manufacturers to insert health warnings in condom adverts

    AN Igbosere High Court, Lagos has ordered manufacturers of condom to warn users that it cannot guarantee 100 per cent safe sex.

    Justice Taofiquat Oyekan-Abdullahi ordered condom producers to insert the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) Health Risk Warning Clause in condom adverts.

    The APCON warning states: “Condom is not 100 per cent safe. Total abstinence or faithfulness is the best option.”

    The judge ordered that condom advertisements should be aired between 6pm and 10pm on television and between 6am and 8pm on radio.

    Justice Oyekan-Abdullahi made the order in a suit filed by the Incorporated Trustees of the Project for Human Development (PHD) against the Society for Family Health (SFH).

    The ruling followed a consent judgment reached by the parties last month, but which was made available to The Nation yesterday.

    PHD had through its counsel, Sonnie Ekwowusi, sought a declaration that the advertisement of ‘Gold Circle’ condom by SFH without the APCON health risk warning clause was illegal and unconstitutional.

    Ekwowusi said it was contrary to Article 49 of the APCON Laws, Sections 17, 37, 38, 39 (3), 45 of the 1999 Constitution and Articles 17, 18 27 and 29 of the African Charter on Human & Peoples’ Rights (Ratification Enforcement) Act, CAP 10.

    The applicant contended that condom advertisements in Nigeria give the misleading impression that they are 100 per cent safe.

    Ekwowusi added: “If there are no holes in condoms, why would the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) insist that manufacturers test for holes in condoms and consequently set an Acceptable Quality Level (AQL) that if up to four condoms have holes in a batch of 1,000, the batch will be allowed to pass?

    “Condoms, in addition to having possible manufacturing defects, could undergo deterioration during shipping, handling and storage, and even further degradation after purchase by the end user,” the applicant argued.

     

  • Court remands lawyers, Nwude in prison for ‘forgery’

    Court remands lawyers, Nwude in prison for ‘forgery’

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned two lawyers – Emmanuel Ilechukwu and Rowand Kalu – before Justice Mojisola Dada of an Ikeja High Court for alleged fraud and forgery.

    The two, with 29 years experience each, were arraigned with an alleged fraudster Emmanuel Nwude.

    They are facing a 15-count charge of conspiracy to forge, contrary to Section 516 of Criminal Code Law of Lagos State 2003.

    The prosecution said the defendants on or about January 12, 2011, allegedly conspired to forge a Power of Attorney issued in the name of Mankris Venture Limited, claiming that it owned Plot Y, Mobolaji Johnson Street, Oregun, Alausa, Lagos.

    The prosecution said they allegedly knew that the property was forfeited to victims of crime as restitution in a judgment delivered on November 18, 2005, by Justice Joseph Oyewole.

    The judgment was on a charge numbered ID/2CL/04 (Federal Republic of Nigeria vs Emmanuel Nwude and six others). The victims were said to have subsequently sold the property to Rossab Industrial Design Limited which later assigned it to G.C. Nweze and Company Limited.

    The defendants were accused of knowingly and fraudulently “uttering” a forged Power of Attorney on January 26, 2011, which was dated January 12, 2011, to deal in forfeited property without authorisation, contrary to Section 32 (1) of the EFCC Establishment Act 2004.

    The defendants allegedly transferred forfeited property to nominees contrary to Section 17 of the EFCC Establishment Act 2004; made false statement to a public officer contrary to Section 96 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State; conspired to pervert the cause of justice; fabricated evidence, and gave false testimony on oath.

    The defendants pleaded not guilty to all the counts.

    Justice Dada granted Ilechukwu and Kalu bail for N200,000 with sureties in like sum. The sureties must be owners of a property within Lagos metropolis, and must present two years tax clearance.

    The defendants must submit their call to bar certificates and are to be remanded in prison until they meet their bail terms.

    She adjourned till March 14 for trial.

     

     

  • Court remands lawyers, Nwude in prison for ‘forgery’

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned two lawyers – Emmanuel Ilechukwu and Rowand Kalu – before Justice Mojisola Dada of an Ikeja High Court for alleged fraud and forgery.

    The two, with 29 years experience each, were arraigned with an alleged fraudster Emmanuel Nwude.

    They are facing a 15-count charge of conspiracy to forge, contrary to Section 516 of Criminal Code Law of Lagos State 2003.

    The prosecution said the defendants on or about January 12, 2011, allegedly conspired to forge a Power of Attorney issued in the name of Mankris Venture Limited, claiming that it owned Plot Y, Mobolaji Johnson Street, Oregun, Alausa, Lagos.

    The prosecution said they allegedly knew that the property was forfeited to victims of crime as restitution in a judgment delivered on November 18, 2005, by Justice Joseph Oyewole.

    The judgment was on a charge numbered ID/2CL/04 (Federal Republic of Nigeria vs Emmanuel Nwude and six others). The victims were said to have subsequently sold the property to Rossab Industrial Design Limited which later assigned it to G.C. Nweze and Company Limited.

    The defendants were accused of knowingly and fraudulently “uttering” a forged Power of Attorney on January 26, 2011, which was dated January 12, 2011, to deal in forfeited property without authorisation, contrary to Section 32 (1) of the EFCC Establishment Act 2004.

    The defendants allegedly transferred forfeited property to nominees contrary to Section 17 of the EFCC Establishment Act 2004; made false statement to a public officer contrary to Section 96 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State; conspired to pervert the cause of justice; fabricated evidence, and gave false testimony on oath.

    The defendants pleaded not guilty to all the counts.

    Justice Dada granted Ilechukwu and Kalu bail for N200,000 with sureties in like sum. The sureties must be owners of a property within Lagos metropolis, and must present two years tax clearance.

    The defendants must submit their call to bar certificates and are to be remanded in prison until they meet their bail terms.

    She adjourned till March 14 for trial.

     

     

  • Killer wife: Court grants Maryam Sanda bail

    Killer wife: Court grants Maryam Sanda bail

    •Trial begins March 19

    A High Court of the FCT sitting in Jabi, Abuja, yesterday granted bail to Maryam Sanda, who is accused of killing her husband.

    Justice Yusuf Halilu granted the motion for her bail after rejecting same on three previous occasions.

    He struck out Maryam’s last bail application on February 6 because, according to him, it was an abuse of court process. She also failed to withdraw her notice of appeal challenging the earlier decision of the court on the same matter, which was still pending before the Court of Appeal.

    But Maryam’s lawyer, Joseph Daudu (SAN), approached the court with the fresh bail application and asked for an earlier date to move it.

    But lawyer to the police, James Idachaba, again opposed the motion.

    However, Justice Halilu said the court was satisfied with the health reasons canvassed for Maryam, who is said to be over three months pregnant and also asthmatic.

    He held that the police was not able to counter the claims that the prisons’ health facilities could not take care of Maryam’s conditions.

    Justice Harlilu ruled that Maryam should provide two sureties who must deposit their titles of ownership of landed properties in Abuja.

    He also ordered that Maryam’s father should enter into an undertaking to always provide her in court all through the trial.

     

  • Man jailed three months for stealing books

    Man jailed three months for stealing books

    A Karmo Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja, on Wednesday sentenced a 20-year-old man, Sadiq Ahmed, to three months imprisonment for stealing books and window frames.

    Ahmed, of Jabi Motor Park, had pleaded guilty to a count charge of trespass and stealing, punishable under Section 287 of the Penal Code.

    The judge, Abubakar Sadiq, said that the punishment would serve as deterrent to other would be offenders.

    The prosecutor, Mr Dalhatu Zannah, had told the court that one Christopher Moses of Utako, Abuja, reported the matter at the Utako Police Station on March 4.

    Read Also: Court jails man 12 months for stealing cell phone

    Zannah told the court that on the same date at about 3 a.m. the convict dishonestly trespassed into house No. 29 at Utako to steal the items.

    He said the convict criminally vandalised the complainant’s window and made away with his books, but he was apprehended, and the items recovered.

    He said during police investigation, Ahmed admitted committing the offence.

  • Driver in court for ‘indecent assault’

    A commercial driver, Jude Ugwu, was yesterday arraigned at an Ikeja Chief Magistrates’ Court, Lagos for allegedly inserting an unidentified substance in the private parts of his neighbour’s daughter.

    Ugwu, 50, who lives at 20, Wilmer Street, Ilupeju, Lagos, is facing a charge of alleged indecent sexual assault and causing the breach of peace.

    The prosecutor, Clifford Ogu, told the court that the offences were allegedly committed on February 19 at the accused’s home.

    He alleged that the suspect called the five-year-old girl into his room when she was preparing for school.

    “The accused, thereafter, inserted a yellow substance that looks like a charm in the private parts of the girl and told her not to remove it.

    “The girl could not walk properly as a result of the substance and told her mother,” Ogu alleged.

    He said when the complainant, Mrs. Akume Iruviere, confronted the accused, he denied, so the case was reported at the police station.

    The offences, Ogu said, violated sections 187 and 261 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

    The suspect pleaded not guilty.

    The Chief Magistrate, Taiwo Akanni, granted the accused bail at N250,000 with two sureties.

    She adjourned the case till April 16 for mention.