The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ex-judge

  • Ex-judge, three SANs, others behind plot to ‘neutralise’ Orji Kalu, group alleges

    A socio-political organisation, Nigeria Renewal, has raised alarm over an alleged plot by some influential Nigerians to “politically neutralize’ former Abia State Governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu”.

    The group, in a statement by its President and Secretary-General, Ibrahim Rabo and Usman Mohammed respectively, accused a former Chief Judge (CJ) of the Federal High Court, (name withheld), three senior advocates, a former Director of Legal Services of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and some politicians of plot to “continue to harass and victimise Dr. Kalu, using the judiciary”.

    The group alleged that the conspirators attended a meeting in 2016 in Abuja where it was agreed that Kalu must be dealt with “because of his rising profile”. The group also alleged that the scheme against the former Abia State governor is linked to “frustrate the quest of Ndigbo to produce the President in 2023. “In fact, the plan is to ensure that all presidential materials in the Southeast are politically neutralised to pave the way for a candidate from another geo-political zone in the south,” the group said.

    According to the group, “The plan is also to put Kalu at loggerheads with President Muhammadu Buhari. You know the president will not lift his fingers to help anybody having issues with the judiciary. The way the matter is going, many people believe the president may have a hand in it but this is not true at all,” the group said. Nigeria Renewal declared that at the Abuja meeting, “it was agreed that everything should be done to remove Kalu from the political scene. Another prominent Igbo politician, who is a member of APC, believes he is untouchable in the race to 2023 but his own soup is being cooked already.

    Nigerians will soon know the plot being hatched against him,” the statement added. The group also warned that the current plot against Kalu is also to deny Buhari the much-needed votes in the Southeast, given the fact that Kalu will play a major role in that regard. The statement lamented that the first move against Kalu was the transfer of his case before Justice (Mrs) J. Chikelu of the Federal High Court, Abuja to Justice Muhammed Idris of the Federal High Court, Lagos. Justice Muhammed Idris has since been promoted to the Court of Appeal “but why he is still on the case, we don’t know”.

    “That the matter was even transferred to Lagos is a surprise to us. Kalu was never governor of Lagos State. We are watching events as they unfold. On September 27, 2018, Justice Idris adjourned the matter sine die and the Chief Judge of Federal High Court transferred the case to Justice J. Aneke of the Lagos Division of the court. Instead of allowing Justice Aneke to continue with the case, Justice Idris has taken up the case again. This confusion has led to two Hearing Notices. How can the same person appear before Justices J. Aneke and Mohammed Idris in Lagos on the same day, November 5, 2018 at 9am with the same Suit No FHC/ABJ/CB/56/2007,” the group asked.

    Nigeria Renewal therefore alleged that “the former Abia governor and a leading light of APC in Southeast in particular and Nigeria in general cannot get justice before him”

    It would be recalled that Kalu, on October 30, 2018, wrote a letter to the President of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, seeking a permission to travel for medical surgery in Germany. A copy was sent to the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu. Kalu said, inter alia: “My Lord, I wish to travel to Germany for an urgent medical surgery operation which has been postponed many times because of this trial and which the trial court is aware of.

    “This application is directed to you specifically because I was given the date for this medical surgery after the criminal matter against me was adjourned sine die on September 27, 2018.” Kalu also wrote: “Your Lordship will also remember that I had written to you stating my objections to my matter being continued before the said Judge who had since been elevated to the Court of Appeal. I, therefore, restate this objection and request that the case file of this matter be retrieved from him and re-assigned to a Judge of the Federal High Court”.

  • Ex-judge: I was unjustly retired 10 years before time

    Ex-judge: I was unjustly retired 10 years before time

    A former Federal High Court judge, Justice Gladys Olotu, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to revisit her alleged premature retirement from the Bench.

    Justice Olotu, aged 57, said by virtue of Section 291 (1) of the 1999 Constitution, was due to retire on her 65th birthday on March 14, 2024.

    She said she was victimised for refusing to compromise a case, adding that she was not afforded fair hearing before she was retired 10 years before her retirement date at 55 in 2014.

    In a petition to the President, Justice Olotu said: “My humble petition is to pray you look into my case and if you find that I have told you the truth and shown to you that I was unjustly and unconstitutionally removed from office, to give me justice by reversing my unjust and unconstitutional retirement.”

    The National Judicial Council (NJC) chaired by former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Aloma Mukhtar, compulsorily retired Justice Olotu over an alleged gross misconduct.

    She was accused delivering a judgment in a case 18 months after the final address by counsel contrary to the constitutional provisions that judgment should be delivered within a period of 90 days.

    Justice Olotu said her retirement was not for failure to deliver the judgment on schedule, but for refusing to compromise a case.

    “They wanted me to vacate the ganishee order nisi I made in favour of the judgment creditor in suit no FHC/PH/CS/450/2010 and when I refused to do so, I incurred their wrath. This is my real offence and not any other picture painted to the world,” she said.

    According to her, the NJC disregarded her defence that the delay in delivering the judgment, over which she was sanctioned, was due to the volume of work she had to deal with in Port Harcourt.

    She said was assigned 3,957 cases within seven quarters, of which she disposed of 736.

    Besides, she said an intervening long vacation as well having to travel from Abuja to Port Harcourt after she was transferred affected the expeditious determination of the case.

    According to her, effort to reach former President Goodluck Jonathan to tell him her side of the story was blocked by her superiors before he confirmed her premature retirement.

    On allegation that she was worth N2billion, Justice Olotu said those who made the “false” claim could not substantiate it in court when she sued them.

    Justice Olotu said she believes in the President’s sense of fairness, courage and hatred for injustice.

     

  • Ex-judge sues NJC

    A retired Federal High Court, judge, Justice Charles Achibong, has sued the National Judicial Commission (NJC) for denying him access to his record of service to defend himself in petitions written against him and the report of the council’s investigation.

    In a suit he filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/837/2014, the judge, who last served in the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court, said he had earlier last month, applied to the commission, under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, for access to his service records, among others, but was denied.

    He argued in a supporting affidavit, that the NJC, being a public institution, has the obligation to avail him all he requested for in line with the provision of the FOI Act. He said he needed the information to defend himself against media publications that he was compulsorily retired on corruption grounds.

    Justice Achibong, in the suit before Justice Abdulkadir Abdulkafarati, is seeking among others, an order of Mandamus directing the NJC and its agents to provide him with “a comprehensive and detailed information demanded concerning his service records, judicial activities, clearances, warnings and certified records of proceedings of the defendants that resulted in its recommendation to the president the be compulsorily retired.

    Other reliefs sought by the plaintiff include: “A declaration that the refusal, failure and/or neglect by the defendant to release the information requested by the plaintiff concerning his service records, judicial activities including all petitions against him amounts to violation of Section 7(1) of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011 and is therefore wrongful, illegal and unconstitutional;

    *A declaration that the refusal, failure and/or neglect by the defendant to release the information requested by the plaintiff is a violation of the provisions of Section 4(a) of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011;

    *A declaration that by a true interpretation and construction of Section 4(a) of the FOI Act, 2011, the defendant as a public institution, within the meaning of Section 7 and 31 of the Act,  is under obligation to furnish  him with the information he, and that NJC’s refusal to provide what he requested for “amounts to a violation of Section 7(1) of the FOI Act, 2011 and is therefore, wrongful, illegal and unconstitutional”.

    The judge also sought a declaration that the refusal by the defendant to release the information he requested constituted a breach of the duty of care owed to him at Common Law. He also sought N1million for general damages and N500,000 from the defendant for wrongfully denying him the information.

  • Shame high-profile convicts, says ex-judge

    A retired judge of the Ogun State High Court, Justice Babasola Ogunade, believes Nigeria has tolerated corrupt public officials for too long. According to him, until they are shamed rather than celebrated, corruption will persist. He urges Nigeria to learn from the United Kingdom. JOSEPH JIBUEZE writes.

    While reading the London Evening Standard in November 2009, a former Ogun State High Court judge, Justice Babasola Ogunade came across a story that struck him.

    It was the report (and pictures) of former deputy mayor of London, Ian Clement, re-painting lavatories and changing rooms at King George’s playing fields in Sidcup, Kent.

    It was Clement’s punishment for fiddling £156 of his expenses. He was caught using his official credit card to pay for three lunches with his 23-year-old girlfriend Claire Dowson.

    After reading the story, Justice Ogunade carefully folded the newspaper cutout and saved it.

    Believing it is something worth learning from by Nigerians, he made cutout available to The Nation, five years after.

    He believes that until the country gets to that stage where corrupt persons, no matter how much they steal or how highly placed, are harshly dealt with, the problem of graft will persist.

     

    The full story

     

    The online version of the story published on November 29, 2009, reads: “Public shame of Boris’s deputy mayor who paints loos.

    “The Standard’s exclusive pictures show (Mayor of London) Boris Johnson’s former right-hand man for the first time since he was convicted of fraud over his City Hall expenses.

    “Five months ago Ian Clement, 44, was one of the most powerful political figures in London. He flew around the world helping to plan the 2012 Olympics and represented the capital at the 9/11 memorial service in New York.

    “But in a sharp fall from grace, he is now completing 100 hours of community service and living with a suspended 12-week prison sentence, a 9pm curfew and an electronic tag.

    “Unemployed, Clement’s 27-year political career is over. He is pictured helping refurbish the lavatories and changing rooms at King George’s playing fields in Sidcup, Kent.

    “He spent more than an hour labouring outside with a handful of other offenders on community service, who were taken to the grounds by bus.

    “A friend today said Clement is ‘totally destroyed’ by the conviction.

    “Clement, a former Bexley councillor, pleaded guilty to three counts of fraud by false representation after using his City Hall credit card to entertain his girlfriend and another woman.

    “He was given a corporate card to cover any ‘exceptional’ expenditure while abroad on City Hall business. But he used it to pay for two meals with 23-year-old Claire Dowson — for whom he left the mother of his son — and a dinner with PR assistant Joanna Laban. He lied and said he had dined with Tory council leaders. The three meals cost £156.70.

    “Clement was first suspected of impropriety last November when he started sending cheques to City Hall to cover personal spending he had made on his work credit card.

    “He initially used it to upgrade tickets for himself and a colleague on a flight to the Beijing Olympics. Clement then ignored a series of warnings and continued to use the card for more than £2,300 of personal spending, racking up bills in excess of £7,000.

    “His spending included £535 of work to his Jaguar and two £100-plus meals at Le Pont De La Tour restaurant at London Bridge, all of which he has since repaid.

    “When the spending was revealed, the Mayor initially decided his friend had made an error of judgment but, following warnings, demanded his resignation on 22 June. The Greater London Authority referred the matter to the police two days later.

    “Sentencing Clement, Judge Quentin Purdy said he had ‘flagrantly and arrogantly’ misused taxpayers’ money.

    “He told Clement he had come ‘very close indeed’ to being sent to prison. ‘You knew full well what you were doing was dishonest and it is your fault and your fault entirely. I accept you have lost much as a result of your wrong-doing but you regarded yourself as above the rules. Your dishonesty is now clear for all to see and it is entirely your fault. You were in a position of considerable authority and you arrogantly and flagrantly abused that with meals at the public expense.’

    “Clement, a former postman from Crayford, publicly apologised to Mr Johnson outside Westminster magistrates’ court, saying he was ‘truly sorry’. He admitted he had ‘let down’ taxpayers and colleagues.

    “‘I have failed to live up to the high standards of officer that were expected of me. I have given many years of dedicated public service to London which has been my pride, my passion and my life. That is over now. I very much regret and am truly sorry for my actions that have let down many good people, my family friends and colleagues including and not least the Mayor of London.’”

     

    A lesson for Nigeria

     

    “Our society has gone to the dogs,” said Justice Ogunade in reference to the erosion of the country’s value system. To him, if it were Nigeria, the money “stolen” by Mr Clement would be considered too insignificant to warrant him being subjected to such public ridicule.

    He believes that apart from a change in the value system, it would require political will to shame corrupt officials.

    He noted that as the mayor right-hand man, Mr Clement he could easily have been shielded from prosecution, especially considering the amount involved. The case could also have been frustrated by the courts.

    Significantly, Mr Clement repaid the illegal expenses, but was still made to undergo community service. He admitted the wrongdoing, and never attempted to appeal against the verdict.

    He was given a 12-week jail sentence suspended for 18 months, ordered to carry out 100 hours of unpaid community work, stayed at home between 9pm and 6am and pay £1,000 costs.

    “Here, people in authority trample the law and get away with it. Until we’re able to shame corrupt persons, corruption will remain Nigeria’s undoing,” the judge said. Will Nigeria learn?

     

  • Ex-judge canvasses quicker justice

    A retired Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Justice George Oguntade, has urged stakeholders in the Judiciary to ensure a quick dispensation of justice.

    Justice Oguntade spoke yesterday at the stakeholders’ summit on the Judiciary Information System (JIS), Introduction of e-filing and an appraisal of the Lagos High Court Civil Procedure Rules, 2012.

    The sunmmit was organised by the Lagos State Judiciary as part of activities marking the 2013/2014 Legal Year.

    He praised the Lagos State Judiciary for constantly reviewing the civil procedures.

    Justice Oguntade said: “The problem has not been the rules but the state of mind attached to it. Whether the rule is good or bad, a good judge will see to it that justice is speedily delivered. The rules of court are not totally the problem but the state of mind attached to it.”

    He hailed the Lagos Chief Judge, Justice Ayotunde Phillips, for revolutionalising the Judiciary by making it Information Technology (IT)-compliant.

    Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice Ade Ipaye said he was looking forward to seeing civil actions dispensed with on time.

    He urged judges and lawyers to cooperate to make the system work.

    Ipaye, who was represented by the Solicitor-General, Mr. Pedro Lawal (SAN), urged stakeholders to give the new rules a human face.

    He said the appraisal of the 2012 Rules showed that Lagos was leader among state judiciaries, “because while its rules are being copied by others, the state is moving ahead without waiting for others to catch up with it”.

    The Head Judge of the Lagos Judiciary, Justice Funmilayo Atilade, said the e-filing system was an indication that the state judiciary would remain in the forefront.

    The Chief Executive Officer of First High Tower Infotech Limited, the designer of the e-filing system, Mr. Sanni Eniola, said the system would improve justice dispensation.

    He said: “Today, we can gladly demonstrate the product which ensures that practitioners can file cases and make electronic payments from anywhere in the world, so far as he is connected to the Internet. The system works through the creation of e-filing accounts, user registration form, user name, creation of password and security questions, among others.”

  • How I became victim of judiciary’s injustice, by ex-judge

    How I became victim of judiciary’s injustice, by ex-judge

    A  former judge of the Federal High Court, Lagos Division, Mr. Justice Okechukwu Okeke, yesterday said he was “a victim of injustice in the Nigerian judiciary”.

    The judge, who retired on May 19, spoke at a valedictory court session presided over by the court’s Chief Judge, Justice Ibrahim Auta.

    He alleged that a Supreme Court Justice once attempted to influence his ruling.

    Following three petitions against Justice Okeke, which arose from cases he was handling, the National Judicial Council (NJC), in a May 6 letter, “seriously” warned him to desist from acts prejudicial to the judiciary’s integrity.

    But Mr. Justice Okeke challenged the NJC to publish his responses to the petitions.

    “I plead with the NJC, in the interest of justice and the benefit of the citizens of this great country Nigeria to publish in any national newspaper-unedited – the said petitions and my responses to them,” he said.

    Such publication, he said, would comply with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, and afford Nigerians the opportunity to form their opinion on the petitions’ merit or otherwise.

    Mr. Justice Okeke said his travails began with his adjudication of an application filed by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) versus convicted former Oceanic Bank Managing Director Mrs Cecilia Ibru.

    The application was for an order granting AMCON leave to apply for the issuance of a writ of execution (possession) by the court’s registrar in respect of the Federal Government properties forfeited by Ibru following an order made by the court’s former Chief Judge, Mr. Justice Dan Abutu.

    Justice Okeke said the application was argued on March 1. Satisfied that a case had been made out for the exercise of the court’s discretion in favour of the applicant, he granted the application as prayed.

    He said: “On 6th of March, 2013, I received a call from the Honourable Chief Judge of the Federal High Court that Honourable Justice Clara Ogunbiyi of the Supreme Court of Nigeria was furious with me for granting leave to Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, which led to the ejection of her daughter and son-in-law from No. 5A, George Street, Ikoyi, Lagos.

    “I explained the position to him. In his characteristic policy of non-interference with his judges in the discharge of their duties, he advised me to hear any application for the discharge of the order of 1st of March whenever filed.

    “On 8th day of March 2012, one Funke Ogunbiyi came to my Chambers at about 9.04 am, completed the visitor’s form in which she stated her address as No. 5A, George Street, Ikoyi, Lagos and wrote her phone number…She was led into the chambers.

    “She introduced herself as a daughter of Honourable Justice Clara Ogunbiyi of Supreme Court of Nigeria, that she was living with her husband at No. 5A, George Street, Ikoyi, Lagos, and that the mother …directed her to tell me to discharge the Order of 1st March, 2013 as there was no basis for the order.

    “I advised her that since they have filed a Motion on Notice for the setting aside of the order of 1st of March, 2013, that their counsel should meet the registrar of the court for a date for their motion,” Mr. Justice Okeke said.

    According to him, after considering the processes filed, he dismissed the application to set aside the order and advised the interveners/applicants to take their case to the Court of Appeal.

    “Hell was let loose on me,” Mr. Justice Okeke said, adding: “The interveners/applicants and their counsel wrote a petition against me which they backdated 18th March 2013 to the NJC.”

    Despite the petitions and “warning”, the former judge said NJC, in a May 13 letter, wished him “happy retirement after putting in years of dedicated and meritorious service to, particularly, the Federal judiciary”.

    Justice Auta, who is a member of the NJC, said he would not comment on the allegations and issues Mr. Justice Okeke raised concerning his travails.

    He described Mr. Justice Okeke as a man of honour. “The occasion underscores the important principle that excellence in the discharge of one’s responsibility and selfless service to the nation are virtues worthy of perfection and emulation,” Justice Auta said, adding:

    “Hon. Justice Okeke, above all, is a true Igbo man…You may have a second view to his own on all things or have a second view about him on many things, but there is always unanimity of opinion about his honesty. His integrity is impeccable.”

    Among guests at the court session were former Chief Judges of the court, Abdullahi Mustapha and Rose Ukeje; states Attorneys-General, including Ade Ipaye who represented Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) and Peter Afuba, his Anambra counterpart; Senior Advocates of Nigeria, including Chief Theodore Ezeobi, Dr Joseph Nwobike, Mr Kemi Pinhero, Mrs Funke Adekoya and Mr Rickey Tarfa, among others.

    Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court, Mr. Sunday Olorundahunsi, yesterday refrained from commenting on the allegation by Justice Okechukwu Okeke (Federal High Court) that Justice Clara Bata-Ogunbiyi of the Supreme Court once attempted to influence his decision in a case.

    When The Nation contacted him through the telephone, he said he could not comment on such an allegation because he was not present when it was made.

    “I don’t know anything about the allegation. I am not in Lagos, where you said the allegation was made. I am in Abuja. I don’t know what happened in Lagos.

    “So, how do you expect me to be reacting to an allegation that I do not know anything about and was not where it was made?”