A Lagos High Court will tomorrow deliver judgment in the trial of four men charged with the murder of Cynthia Osokogu.
Justice Olabisi Akinlade reserved the verdict on January 12.
Okwumo Nwabufo, 33; Olisaeloka Ezike, 23; Orji Osita, 33, and Ezike Nonso, 25 are facing a six-count charge of conspiracy, murder, stealing, recklessness, negligence and possession of stolen goods.
Tag: defendants
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Cynthia Osokogu: Defendants know fate tomorrow
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Defendants seek amicable settlement of phone scam case
Two unemployed men, who obtained N240, 000 under the pretext of selling iPhones through OLX, an online advertisement portal, yesterday asked for an out-of-court settlement.
Louis Onome, 34, and Alade Olalekan, 33, are being tried on a three-count charge of conspiracy and fraud at an Igbosere Magistrates’ Court.
Following their arraignment last March 16, the accused pleaded not guilty and were granted N100, 000 bail with two sureties each in the like sum.
Prosecuting Corporal Kingsley Jackson told the court that between February 24 and March 7, the accused placed advertisements on the OLX portal, offering iPhones for sale.
According to him, Onome obtained N100, 000 from a buyer, Eze Ethel; Olalekan also obtained N140,000 from another buyer, Aibaye Timilehin, without supplying the iPhones.
The cash totalled N240, 000, the prosecutor said, adding that the defendants placed an advert for the phones on the OLX website “as if it was genuine.”
The offence contravenes Sections 312 and 410 of the Criminal Law of Lagos, 2011.
Yesterday, counsel to the accused Mr S. N. Oniyide asked for an out-of-court settlement since his client had refunded the complainants’ money.
“The complainants in this case are not ready to go on with the court case; they have even collected their money from the accused.
“I will like the court to allow us to settle out of court,” he pleaded with the court.
But counsel to OLX, Mr Peter Uwalaka, opposed the out-of-court settlement, saying appropriate penalty will serve as a deterrent to others.
In his ruling, the Magistrate, Mr B. A. Sonuga, adjourned the case to July 19 for report of settlement.
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Alleged N5b land fraud: Defendants fail to stall trial
Justice Sendoten Ogunsanya of the Lagos State High Court, Ikeja, has refused to suspend hearing in a N5 billion alleged land fraud case brought against a former accountant at Chevron Nigeria Limited, Mr. Michael Adenuga.
Adenuga and his company, Covenant Apartment Complex Ltd., were arraigned in last May by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a three-count charge of stealing, forgery and use of false documents.
The defendant’s counsel, Miss A. Funmilayo, informed the court that her boss, Dr Muiz Banire (SAN), who would have conducted the case, was in Abuja while another senior counsel, Mr. Ehis Agbogu, was hospitalised. She sought an adjournment.
Ruling, Justice Ogunsanya upheld the prosecution’s argument that the defendant’s counsel announced her appearance when the case was called, only to inform the court when hearing resumed that she had just been briefed on the matter.
She said: “Counsel who appears in any case is presumed to have full knowledge of the case and have full authority of the defendant. The court directs that the prosecution should continue with the case.”
When hearing resumed last Tuesday, the two prosecution witnesses, Oye Oyeniran and Olubukola Adeyemi Oladiran, said Mr. Adenuga defrauded them and some other investors in a landed property worth about N5 billion.
Adenuga and his company were alleged to have fraudulently converted a 22.68 hectares of land located in the Lekki area of Lagos between February 2008 and September 2011, to their use.
According to EFCC, the property, situated at Ayetoro Ikota, in the Lekki area of Lagos, was owned by Covenant Sugarland Property Development Ltd., and Messrs Sunday and Joseph Oyeniran and was proposed to be developed as a residential neighbourhood to be called Sugarland Town.
The defendants are also accused of forging a document titled: ”Contract of Sale between Covenant Apartment Ltd. and Kingview Realty Ltd., to facilitate the alleged theft, contrary to Section 363 and 364 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State.
According to the EFCC, the said document was later presented by Adenuga to one of its officers, Mr. James Buzugbe, as genuine.
The commission said the offences contravened sections 278 (1) and 285 (b) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State of Nigeria 2011.
Mr Oladiran, who was led in evidence by EFCC counsel Mr. Emmanuel Jackson, testified that he and other investors under his group signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Adenuga’s group to buy the land and that each group would raise half of the cost.
Oladiran said after the land became fully owned by Covenant Sugarland Property Development Limited, Adenuga went behind them to obtain the signature of the original land owner, the Ojomu Chieftaincy Family on a “Deed of Assignment” made in his company’s name for 17.2 hectares of the land.
He further alleged that Adenuga proceeded to obtain the Governor’s consent on the fraudulent “Deed of Assignment” document with a forged Survey Plan and through the scheme denied the government huge sum of money in statutory fees.
“The said “Deed of Assignment” was registered as No 63 at Page 63 in Volume 2398 with the Lagos State Land Registry.
“Within days of registering the “Deed of Assignment”, he approached and used the fraudulent document to obtain millions of Naira in financial facilities from Imperial Homes Mortgage Bank Limited (formerly known as GTHomes Limited)”, the witness testified.
Three witnesses, Mr. Sunday Oyeniran, Engr. Oye Oyeniran and Olubukola Adeyemi Oladiran, have so far testified against Adenuga.
They told the court how various sums of money were raised through investors to develop the project.
The EFCC counsel also tendered through the last two witnesses some documents of draft payments made by the investors for the purchase of the property.
The documents tendered and eventually admitted as evidence by the court include letters authorising the payments and the statements made by the witnesses to the EFCC after they discovered and reported the fraudulent diversion of the property by Adenuga.
Justice Ogunsanya adjourned the matter to November 12.
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You’re frustrating suit, plaintiff accuses defendants
The plaintiff in the suit before a Federal High Court in in Lagos, challenging the contract awarded to Samsung Heavy Industry Nigeria by Total Upstream Nigeria for the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of the Egina floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) has accused the defendants of frustrating the suit.
Defendants in the suit are Attorney General of the Federation, National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NPIMS), Nigerian Content Development Monitoring Board (CDMB), Samsung Heavy Industry and Total Upstream.
The plaintiff, Mr. John Owubokiri, through his counsel, Mr Mr Olukayode Enitan, at the resumed hearing in the matter before Justice Okon Abang, noted that the defendants were doing all to stall hearing of the motion for interlocutory injunction.
Counsel to Total Upstream had told the court that he had filed with the court registry, a reply on point of law to the plaintiff’s counter affidavit and written submission to the preliminary objection of the defendants.
But Justice Abang noted that he had not seen it, as it was not in the court’s file.
Enitan said it was another attempt by the defendants to stall the matter, noting that the court had adjourned for hearing in all pending application, including the application for interlocutory objection, committal proceedings against the defendants and stay of proceedings.
He said that he was shocked that Total Upstream waited till a day to the hearing of the matter to file whatever it wanted, only to announce at the hearing that it has just filed a reply on point of law to the plaintiff’s counter affidavit.
Enitan reminded the court that on March 27, the case was adjourned for all pending applications to be heard, while on that same day, Total Upstream brought an application for stay of proceedings, which was served on the same March 27 on the plaintiff and based on that the matter was adjourned.
He added that the matter was adjourned till April 15, only again for Total Upstream to serve on the plaintiff in court, its reply on point of law to the plaintiff’s counter affidavit, which he explained was a plot to ensure that the was never heard.
Enitan told the court that he was ready to go on with the matter, even though the latest defendants reply on point of law was served on him.
But Justice Abang said he would want to see all the processes in the matter to decide on which one to take.
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Calabar dredging suit: Defendants to be served outside jurisdiction
Justice Emmanuel Obilo of the Federal High in Calabar, Cross River State, yesterday granted Sam Nmeje’s prayers to serve the defendants outside the jurisdiction of the court.
Nmeje instituted the suit to declare as illegal the contract awarded for the dredging of the Calabar Channel.
The President, the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), the Minister of Transport, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and the Calabar Channel Management Limited are the first to sixth defendants.
Presenting a motion ex parte yesterday, Mr Monjok Agom, who held brief for the plaintiff’s lawyer, Mr Reginald Osere, sought two reliefs.
These are: •An order granting the plaintiff/applicant leave “to serve originating processes in this suit to the 1st to fifth defendants outside the jurisdiction of the court” and
•“An order directing that the sixth defendant to be served by substituted means by publishing same in one national newspaper on the grounds that the bailiff could not effect service after multiple trials.”
After listening to Agom’s presentation, Justice Obilo said the applicant had satisfied the requirement for granting the first relief sought.
But the second relief was refused because the applicant had refused to fulfil the requirements for its grant.
“There is nothing placed before this court to show that the bailiff ever attempted to serve the sixth defendant at any time. The sixth defendant is entitled to personal service,” he said.
Justice Obilo fixed the report of service in the case for March 24.
Speaking with our reporter after the court sitting, Agom said: “Today was a routine application for the case to begin. The parties ought to be served so that at the end of the day, we know that these are the issues before the court. So, for this application, the rules require that if you are to serve an application outside of a state – because some of the parties are to be served in Abuja – you ought to bring a formal application to that effect so that permission would be granted to you; so that you now serve outside of the state.
“For the first to fifth defendants, the court accepted that they should be served outside Abuja, but refused that the sixth defendant could not be served by a publication in the newspaper, and ought to be served personally.
“The judge noted that there was nothing in the application to show that the bailiff had actually tried to reach them without success.”
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Court strikes out defendants’ names in Lagos land suit
Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja has struck out the names of six defendants in a land suit brought against a Lagos businessman, Mutiu Okunola.
The claimants, Prince Steven Ibitoye and Commander Fasasi Adebambo(rtd), are demanding N500 million damages for alleged trespass.
When the matter came up for hearing, the claimant’s counsel Olajide Ajana told Justice Mary Omeya, that he had an application in which the claimants were seeking to discontinue the suit against six of the 22 defendants.
He argued that the claimants’ decision to discontinue the suit against the six defendants was supported by decisions of the Supreme Court and cited a decided case between “Olayinka Rodsignes and others versus Public Trustees (1972) 4 SC @ 29” to buttress his submission.
The six defendants are YDJ Investment Limited; H & H investment Limited; Garewa General Merchants; Aglow Company; SC Designs Limited and Unknown persons.
A deponent , Joy Salako in a seven-paragraph affidavit in support of the motion on notice averred that after filing the suit, they could not serve the fourth to eighth and the 18th defendants the copies of the origination summon.
She claimed that they have the instruction of the claimants to discontinue the suit against the six defendants.
In her ruling, Justice Omeya granted leave to the claimants to discontinue the suit against the six defendants and adjourned hearing of the originating summon to March 17.
The defendants were not in court neither were they represented by their counsels.
Other defendants in the suit include Wasimi Creek Resort Estate, Guessimate Engineering Company, Pa Amida Akerele, Prince Taofeek Bashir, Prince Kayode Bankole, Pastor Paul Nasiru for themselves and the Kuyasi Awushe family.
They also include Chief Wakilu Sodiq; Alhaji Tajudeen Irawo; Alhaji Taofeek Ganiyu; Mr. Kazeem Balogun; Hon. Ganiyu Sodiq for themselves and Iluobi branch of Kuyasi Awushe family. The other defendants are the governor of Lagos State, the state Attorney-General; the Director, Lagos State Lands Bureau and the Director, Lagos State Public-Private Partnership Office.
In a 68-paragraph affidavit by Prince Ibitoye, the claimants asked the court for seven orders. They prayed the court to declare them as the rightful owners of a large parcel of land situated at Wasimi Maryland, Lagos, allegedly being trespassed on and sold by the defendants and that they are entitled to be granted statutory right of occupancy in respect of same and that any purported sale of any portion of the land be declared illegal, null and void.
They urged the court to grant an order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants, from further trespassing on the land; from granting or registering any title in respect of the land to anybody, except themselves; an order restraining the 19th to the 22nd defendants from recognising or entering into partnership with anyone with respect to the property; an order of mandatory injunction for the removal of any structure on the said land. They also asked the court to award them a sum of N500 million jointly and severally against the defendants for trespassing on their land.
The defendants, in their 40-paragraph counter affidavit deposed to by Chief Wakilu Sodiq, who claimed to be the head of the Iluobi family of Onigbongbo, urging the court to dismiss the claims of the claimants as frivolous and gold digging.
They denied the averment of the claimants as contained in paragraphs nine to 67. They averred that the land upon which the claimant sued does not belong to the Kuyasi Awushe family, but to the Iluobi family. They averred further that the Iluobi as a whole did not at any time assign or sell their purported land to the second claimant and that he is not known to the family.