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Tag: Falana

  • Falana to Fed Govt: release El-Zakzaky now

    Falana to Fed Govt: release El-Zakzaky now

    Lagos lawyer Femi Falana has urged the Federal Government to release detained cleric Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.

    Falana, in a statement yesterday, said it was wrong to continue to detain the cleric.

    His statement reads: ” Last week, it was widely rumoured in the social media that Sheik Ibraheem Elzakzaky had died  in the illegal custody of the State Security Service .  Although I was compelled to dismiss the dangerous rumour via a public statement I requested the Federal Government to release the Shiite leader and his wife for urgent medical attention. Instead of acceding to my request the State Security Service misinformed Sheik El-Zakzaky and his wife  of the readiness of the Federal Government to release them after a media parade to assure the Shia community  that the Sheik is alive and well. Hence, they agreed to the media parade which lasted for one minute and 20 seconds (yesterday) in an undisclosed detention custody at Abuja.

    “But  contrary to the official claim that the Shiite leader is hale and hearty he is currently wearing a neck collar support which was procured for him when he fell sometime last December. That was when his personal doctor was allowed to examine him for the first time in his over  2-year detention period. Before the neck injury he had lost his left eye while the recommendation of eye specialists that he be flown abroad to save the right eye and prevent him from going totally blind has been ignored by the federal government. In fact, the medical state of his wife is by far worse than his.  She has been subjected to excruciating pain as some of the bullets deposited in her body on December 14, 2015 during the military invasion of their home in Zaria  have not been removed. Hence, the organisers of the media parade deliberately prevented her from addressing the media representatives even though she was present at the so-called press conference!

    “Having paraded the couple before the media, albeit illegally,  the federal government should immediately proceed to  purge itself of the aggravated contempt of the Federal High Court by complying with the order for their release from the illegal custody of the State Security Service. The order which  was made on December 2, 2016 has not been set aside by any higher court. Yet, the federal government which claims to operate under the Rule of Law has ignored the court order. However, if the federal government does not want to end the official impunity of treating  a valid and subsisting court order with disdain it should release the Elzakzakys to their children who have applied to take them abroad for urgent medical treatment.”

  • Falana asks IGP to investigate arrest of Cameroonians

    Falana asks IGP to investigate arrest of Cameroonians

    Lagos lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has asked the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, to investigate the arrest of 10 Southern Cameroonian leaders by the Department of State Services (DSS).

    The request was contained in a letter dated January 11, 2018 sent by the lawyer to the IGP at the Police Headquarters, Louis Edet House, Abuja, on Thursday.

    The arrested Cameroonians leaders were – Mr. Julius Ayuk Tabe, Mr. Wilfred Tassang, Dr. Nfor Ngala Nfor, Professor Augustine Awasom, Dr. Cornelius Kwanga, Dr. Henry Kimeng, Elias Eyambe, Nalova Bih, Dr. Ojong Okongo and Dr. Fidelis Nde Che.

    Falana asked the IGP to use his good office to investigate the circumstances of the Cameroonians’ arrest by the DSS and any other security agency.

     

     

  • Falana: Why INEC must go ahead with Anambra rerun

    Falana: Why INEC must go ahead with Anambra rerun

    Human rights lawyer and activist Femi Falana (SAN) said yesterday that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is right to proceed with the January 13 Anambra Central Senate seat rerun election.

    According to him, two separate judgments of the Court of Appeal ordered the election agency to conduct the election within 90 days.

    He said the electoral body was right to ignore the consent judgment of an Abuja court ordering it to issue a certificate of return to Mr. Obiora Okonkwo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Falana said until the Court of Appeal judgments were set aside, INEC must obey them.

    “If a Court of Appeal, two of them actually, say, go and conduct election, can a High Court in defiance of those judgments, set aside the orders of the Court of Appeal? It doesn’t matter whether it is a pre-election matter or not.

    “You have to successfully set aside the orders of the Court of Appeal before INEC can do otherwise. I want to believe that the attention of the High Court was not drawn to the orders of the Appeal Court, because a high cannot deliberately ignore the orders of a higher court under our law.”

    When the election was originally conducted, candidate of the PDP, Uche Ekwunife, won.

    However, the Election Tribunal annulled the election, a decision the Appeal Court latter upheld.

    The Court of Appeal then ordered INEC to conduct the election within 90 days, without the participation of the PDP.

    Yesterday, some Corps members released by the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Anambra to work as ad hoc poll employees for the proposed Jan. 13 election have declined the offer.

    Confirming the situation, NYSC Coordinator In the state Mr Ebenezer Olawale told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that only about 4,000 corps members out of about 7,600 shortlisted and released reported for INEC training.

    Olawale noted that the NYSC would make available any number of corps members requested by INEC for its election duties but reiterated that participation was not compulsory.

    Resident Electoral Commissioner Dr Nkwachkwu Orji, dismissed the notion that the corps shunned the duty call because of nonpayment of allowance for previous assignment.

    The REC said out of the 23,000 ad-hoc staff engaged in the Nov. 18 governorship election over 20,000 had been paid and promised to continue to address the complaints on nonpayment as they come.

  • Nganjiwa: Implications of Court of Appeal judgment, by Falana

    Nganjiwa: Implications of Court of Appeal judgment, by Falana

    Activist lawyer Mr Femi Falana (SAN) writes that the Court of Appeal judgment in the appeal filed by Justice Hyeladzira Nganjiwa could have “far-reaching implications”, if allowed to stand.

    I am unable to persuade myself to share the views of some learned colleagues who have argued that the judgment delivered on Tuesday, December 12, 2017 by the Lagos Judicial Division of the Court of Appeal in the case of the Honourable Justice Hyeldzira Ajiya Ngangiwa v Federal Republic of Nigeria (Appeal No CA/L/969c/2017) has clothed Nigerian judges with immunity. It is indisputable that the sole legal issue decided by the Court is that a serving judicial officer cannot be charged with a criminal offence in any court by any prosecution agency unless and until he/she has been subjected to the disciplinary jurisdiction of the National Judicial Council.

    The Hon Justice Abimbola Obaseki-Adejumo who read the leading judgment of the Court and her learned brothers who concurred with her Ladyship are not unaware of the case of Fawehinmi v Inspector-General of Police (2002) NWLR (PT 767) 606 wherein the Supreme Court held that notwithstanding the immunity conferred on the President and state governors they can be investigated even though they cannot be charged with any criminal offence until the expiration of their term of office.

    The Court of Appeal has not said that judges cannot be investigated by the anti graft agencies. On the contrary, the Court conceded that judges can be investigated but that the report of any criminal investigation indicting them should be turned over to the National Judicial Council which will deal with it as a complaint of misconduct and possibly recommend the removal and prosecution of such judges to the appointing authorities before they can be arraigned in court. Realising that the judgment might be misunderstood or misinterpreted the Court made it abundantly clear that “no judicial officers is covered by immunity from prosecution under the Constitution as the Constitution only grants the powers to discipline judicial officers for official misconduct to the NJC.”

    Having read and digested the landmark judgment which has generated an interesting debate in legal circles I have come to the irresistible conclusion that it was a protest judicial decision against the special treatment being accorded to certain personalities and criminal suspects by the Buhari administration in the prosecution of the war against corruption. Hence the Court did not cite any decided case in Nigeria or any other common law country.

    In fact, their Ladyship and Lordships said, ex abundanti cautela, that the judgment had taken judicial notice of the decision of the President of the Republic to set up a panel of inquiry to probe a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation and a former Director-General of the National Intelligence Agency. As far as the Court is concerned, indicted judges deserve to be treated, in like manner, before they can be properly prosecuted in a court of law.

    It is however doubtful if the Court of Appeal was aware of the fact that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had reported the judges on trial to the National Judicial Council which had endorsed the prosecution and placed the judges on suspension pending the conclusion of their trial. The position of the NJC cannot be faulted in the circumstance because the Supreme Court has ruled in the cases of Garba v University of Maiduguri 1986) 2 NWLR (Pt 18) 559 and Federal Civil Service Commission v Laoye (1989) All N.L.R 350, that administrative bodies lack the vires to determine the civil rights and obligations of any person accused of committing a criminal offence in Nigeria.

    Regrettably, our colleagues who have been celebrating the landmark judgment have not considered the fact that it has exposed our judges to greater danger. For instance, the criminal case filed against of one of the judges arrested by the Department of State Security (DSS) last year was dismissed by the trial court in his favour. Consequently, the judge was reinstated and was allowed to resume duty in his court.

    He has just been recommended for compulsory retirement by the NJC following another case of misconduct. But assuming that the President had dismissed the judge based on the recommendation of the NJC which might have found him guilty of the allegation of corrupt practices levelled against him by the DSS he would not have been reinstated since the dismissal would have been premised on the civil offence of misconduct. It is common knowledge that the age long practice of interdicting public officers on trial pending the conclusion of criminal cases pending against them is to prevent a situation whereby they are removed from the public service on account of criminal allegations that have not gone through the crucible of cross examination. But once they are discharged and acquitted they are reinstated with all the rights and privileges.

    Therefore, by asking that judges be disciplined by the NJC before they are prosecuted the Court of Appeal has made it impossible to reinstate such judicial officers even if they are eventually discharged and acquitted. With respect, such unintended consequence of the judgment has made a mockery of judicial independence and further exposed our judges to danger.

    However, since the judgment has seriously questioned the inconsistency of the federal government in the prosecution of the war on corruption the Court of Appeal has equally challenged our judges to apply the law to all citizens without fear or favour. Out of ingenuity some lawyers are going to invoke the constitutional right of equality of all citizens before the law to challenge the validity of the criminal cases pending against some civil servants on the grounds that the administrative jurisdiction of the Federal Public Service Commission has not been invoked against them. More so, that the NJC, the Federal Civil Service Commission and other executive bodies have been created by section 158 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended.

    Even professionals in the private sector who are standing trial for corruption will rely on the judgment of the Court of Appeal and insist on going through administrative procedure before they can be prosecuted in any court. For instance, a medical doctor who is charged with murder in a state high court for killing a patient in a hospital due to criminal negligence may challenge the case on the grounds that the Medical and Dental Practitioners Tribunal has not been given the opportunity to try the allegation of professional misconduct which informed the criminal prosecution. If such preliminary objections are filed the trial courts may have no choice than to uphold them as they are bound to follow the judgment of the Court of Appeal in the case of the Honourable Justice Hyeldzira Ajiya Ngangiwa v Federal Republic of Nigeria (supra).

    Finally, in view of the foregoing, it is indubitably clear that the judgment has far reaching implications for the judiciary, the anti graft agencies and other law enforcement agencies as well as the Buhari administration which has loudly proclaimed to be fighting a war against corruption and impunity in the country. It is therefore hoped that the EFCC will not hesitate to challenge the controversial judgment of the Court of Appeal at the Supreme Court.

  • Falana advises Lagos CJ to inspect detention centres

    Falana advises Lagos CJ to inspect detention centres

    Lagos lawyer Mr Femi Falana (SAN) has urged the Chief Judge of Lagos, Justice Opeyemi Oke, to order a monthly inspection of police stations and detention centres to prevent rights abuses.

    In a letter to the CJ, Falana advised her to designate Chief Magistrates to conduct monthly inspection of police stations and other detention centres to prevent the illegal detention of citizens and foreigners.

    The frontline lawyer said he would ask the court for an order of mandamus to compel the Chief Judge to designate the magistrates, should she fail to act before December 31.

    He said the request was pursuant to Section 34 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, which states: “The Chief Magistrate, or where there is no Chief Magistrate within the police division, any Magistrate designated by the Chief Judge for that purpose, shall at least every month, conduct an inspection of police stations or other places of detention within his territorial jurisdiction other than the prison.

    “During a visit, the Magistrate may call for and inspect the record of arrests, direct the arraignment of a suspect, where bail has been refused; grant bail to any suspect, where appropriate; if the offence for which the suspect is held is within the jurisdiction of the Magistrate.”

    Falana said in view of the provision, the Chief Judge may wish to monitor the monthly inspection by directing the designated Chief Magistrates to submit monthly returns of such inspection to her office forthwith.

    He said: “It is hoped that Your Ladyship will not hesitate to grant our humble request in view of the urgent need to compel the Nigeria Police Force and other law enforcement agencies to respect the fundamental rights of every person to liberty and dignity, guaranteed by sections 34 and 35 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended.

    “Take notice that if the Chief Magistrates are not designated by Your Ladyship before December 31, 2017, we shall not hesitate to pray the Lagos State High Court for an order of mandamus with a view to ensuring urgent compliance with the law.”

     

  • Fuel scarcity: Falana advises Fed Govt to deploy police to monitor supply of fuel

    Fuel scarcity: Falana advises Fed Govt to deploy police to monitor supply of fuel

    Lagos lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) has advised the Federal Government to mobilise the police to monitor the supply of petroleum product throughout the country and ensure that all saboteurs are arrested and prosecuted forthwith.

    He said in a statement issued yesterday titled, “Unending Fuel Scarcity”, that this has become necessary since government claimed to have  enough fuel to cater for all consumers in the country.

    Falana blamed the situation in the country on independent marketers which he alleged, illegally increased the pump price of the petrol despite assurances by the federal government that there is no plan to increase the price of petrol.

    He noted: “The independent marketers have said that they can no longer import refined fuel and sell at N145 per litre. Convinced that the government lacks the political will to deal with them the marketers have illegally increased the pump price of the product to N300 per litre in several parts of the country.

    “The cheap blackmail of the importers ought to be rejected because they were importing the product, selling at N145 per litre and smiling to the banks when a dollar exchanged for over N500 last year.”

    The senior lawyer said the minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachukwu and the Group Managing Director of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru, should apologise to Nigerians over the perennial scarcity of fuel being experienced across the country.

    Falana said: “Given the shortage of petrol throughout the country it is indubitably clear that Messrs Kachukwu and Baru deliberately set out to deceive the Nigerian people when they gave the misleading impression that there was enough fuel to cater for all consumers.

    “Both highly placed officials have not tendered a public apology for engaging in public deceit.”

     

     

  • Falana urges Lagos CJ to inspect detention centres

    Falana urges Lagos CJ to inspect detention centres

    Lagos lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has urged the Chief Judge of Lagos, Justice Opeyemi Oke, to order a monthly inspection of all police stations and detention centres in the state to prevent rights abuses.

    In a letter to the CJ,  Falana urged her to designate Chief Magistrates to conduct monthly inspection of all police stations and other detention centres to prevent the illegal detention of citizens and foreigners.

    Falana said he would ask the court for an order of mandamus to compel the chief judge to designate the magistrates should she fail to act before December 31.

    He said the request was pursuant to Section 34 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015.

    It provides: “The Chief Magistrate, or where there is no Chief Magistrate within the police division, any Magistrate designated by the Chief Judge for that purpose, shall at least every month, conduct an inspection of police stations or other places of detention within his territorial jurisdiction other than the prison.

    “During a visit, the Magistrate may: call for, and inspect, the record of arrests; direct the arraignment of a suspect; where bail has been refused, grant bail to any suspect where appropriate if the offence for which the suspect is held is within the jurisdiction of the Magistrate.”

    Falana said in view of the provision, the chief judge may wish to monitor the monthly inspection by directing the designated Chief Magistrates to submit monthly returns of such inspection to her office forthwith.

    “It is hoped that Your Ladyship will not hesitate to grant our humble request in view of the urgent need to compel the Nigeria Police Force and other law enforcement agencies to respect the fundamental rights of every person to liberty and dignity guaranteed by sections 34 and 35 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended.

    “Take notice that if the said Chief Magistrates are not designated by Your Ladyship before the 31st day of December 2017, we shall not hesitate to pray the Lagos State High Court  for an order of mandamus with a view to ensuring  urgent compliance with the law,” Falana said.

     

  • Why Nigerian victims of slavery cannot sue Libya, by Falana

    Why Nigerian victims of slavery cannot sue Libya, by Falana

    •Fed Govt urged to accept African Court’s jurisdiction 

    Lagos lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) yesterday explained why it will be impossible for aggrieved Nigerians, who are victims of slavery to sue the Libyan government.

    He explained that the Federal Government is yet to deposit its declaration accepting the jurisdiction of African Court on Human and Peoples Rights at the court’s registry in Arusa, Tanzania.

    Falana gave the Federal Government till December 31 to deposit its declaration accepting the court’s jurisdiction.

    He said: “If this request is not granted before December 31, 2017, I will not hesitate to approach the Federal High Court for an order of mandamus to compel the Federal Government to deposit the declaration at the registry of the African Court with a view to empowering Nigerian citizens to secure the enforcement of their human rights in the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights”.

    The senior lawyer said this yesterday in a statement in Lagos titled: “Why Nigerian victims of slavery cannot sue Libya”.

    Falana said unless government deposits its declaration with the registry of the African Court, it will be impossible for aggrieved Nigerians who are victims of slavery to sue the Libyan government.

    The activist, however, advised government to demand for payment of monetary damages by the Libyan government to the victims in view of the facts and circumstances of the illegal human trafficking in Libya.

    Noting that Libya has not formally accepted the jurisdictional competence of the African Court, Falana contended that the victims of the illegal slave trade could have submitted a petition to the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights and thereafter apply that the communication be referred to the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights for judicial determination.

    The senior lawyer, who admitted that there was nothing to prove that Libyan government has been involved in the illicit trade, contended that the government was liable on account of its failure to curb the trade in slaved, which he described as crime against humanity.

    In addition to the demand for payment of compensation to the victims of the illegal slave trade in Libya, Falana advised the Federal Government to take urgent steps to facilitate access to the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights by aggrieved Nigerian citizens and non-governmental organisations by depositing the declaration accepting the jurisdiction of the court.

    He said this is in pursuant to Article 1 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, which imposed a duty on the Government of Nigeria to recognise the rights, duties and freedoms enshrined in the Charter and undertake to adopt legislative or other measures to give effect to them.

    Falana noted that over the past 20 years, his law office has been inundated with complaints from Nigerians who were brutalised in some African countries. Falana explained that some of the complaints pertain to the barbaric killing of 18 Nigerians during an armed invasion of the Nigerian Embassy in Guinea Bissau on October 8, 2013.

    According to him, it is common knowledge that Nigerians living in South Africa have been subjected to xenophobic attacks, which have led to loss of lives and destruction of properties on several occasions while other Nigerian have been brutalised or killed gruesomely in some other African countries.

    He noted that of recent, there have been reports of young men and women who were killed in North Africa while crossing the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea on their way to European countries for greener pastures.

    Falana said in the process of such trips, many of the travellers have been captured and sold into slavery in Libya.

    He noted that Federal Government has ordered the evacuation of thousands of Nigerian youths held in notorious slave camps in Libya.

    He added that Nigeria has itself to blame for the tragedy in Libya for blindly supporting “the illegal resolution of the United Nations Security Council which authorised the invasion of Libya to effect a regime change”.

    “Today, not less than five armed gangs are laying claim to the leadership of the country. It has been confirmed that the arms and ammunition looted from the armory in Libya were sold to the dreaded Boko Haram sect. It is also true that the shameful slave trade which Nigeria is battling with is part of the fallout from the removal and brutal killing of President Muammar Gaddafi by armed gangs supported by the allied forces of imperialism led by the United States under President Barrack Obama,” he said.

  • Falana sues FCDA for N100m over manhole accident

    Falana sues FCDA for N100m over manhole accident

    Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has sued the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) at the High Court in Abuja over failure to cover up manholes on Abuja streets.

    Falana said he fell into one of such manholes and sustained severe injury.

    He is praying for an order directing the defendant to pay him N100million as general damages.

    He also sought a declaration that the defendant was negligent and failed to ensure his safety.

    The SAN claimed that on October 27, while walking on Shehu Shagari Way, Maitama District, Abuja, he fell into an uncovered manhole which had no inscription around it to caution road users, especially pedestrians.

    He prayed the court to hold that the FCDA’s negligence led to the accident which caused a severe sprain on his right knee.

    Falana sought an order directing the defendant to close up all uncovered manholes in the FCT.

    He also wants the defendant to pay him N209, 580.00 as specific damages.

    Falana said: “The defendant owes all road users including the plaintiff a duty of care by ensuring that the roads within the Federal Capital Territory are safe for all road users.

    “The defendant ought to know that leaving a manhole open in the middle of the road was dangerous for all road users, especially pedestrians. The defendant owes the plaintiff a duty of care to ensure his safety while walking on Sheu Shagari Way, Maitama District, Abuja.

    “The failure of the defendant to exercise reasonable care for the safety of road users especially pedestrians by covering the manhole in the middle of the road caused the accident leading to the severe sprain the ‘plaintiff suffered on his right knee.”

    Falana added that he was in “severe and excruciating pain” when the accident occurred.

     

     

  • Lawyer to AGF: prove Falana bought Abuja home, or…

    Lawyer to AGF: prove Falana bought Abuja home, or…

    Human rights lawyer Morakinyo Ogele has issued a seven-day ultimatum to the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to produce evidence that Lagos lawyer Femi Falana bought a N1 billion property in Abuja with the proceed of crime.

    Ogele berated Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose for allegedly attempting to blackmail Falana on the controversy without producing any proof.

    The lawyer and activists,who spoke yesterday with The Nation in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, averred that Fayose’s attack on Falana cannot be sustained because there was no evidence that the Lagos lawyer bought a house allegedly recovered from looters.

    The National Coordinator of Ekiti Redemption Group (ERG) criticised Malami for allegedly rushing to the press without producing any evidence linking Falana to the property.

    Ogele said: “Before rushing to the press, the Honourable AGF should have conducted a search at the Land Registry to identify the owner of the house in question.

    “It is not enough to say Falana bought a house without meeting the requirements; that is the search and documents of the sale. It is very sick of Fayose to be attacking Falana on an issue he knows very little or nothing about.

    “This is a governor who has been indicted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Department of State Services (DSS). It is usual for Fayose to launch rabid attacks on respected personalities in the country.

    “Fayose had attacked eminent personalities, like President Muhammadu Buhari, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Chief Olabode George, among others. I think it is now the turn of Femi Falana (SAN). I know by tomorrow, it will be the turn of another prominent Nigerian.

    “I am giving the AGF a seven-day ultimatum to produce the documents for the sale of the house in question and the search (conducted at the Land Registry), showing the name of Femi Falana.

    “If not, I will not hesitate to drag the Honourable AGF to court for feeding the nation with lies…”