The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Federal High Court

  • Kalu: Court adjourns N3.2b trial to Sept 11

    Kalu: Court adjourns N3.2b trial to Sept 11

    A Federal High Court in Lagos Thursday adjourned till September 11 the alleged fraud trial of a former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu and two others.

    Kali, Udeh Jones Udeogu and Slok Nigeria Limited were arraigned last October 31 by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before Justice Mohammed Idris on a 34-count charge of N3.2billion fraud.

    They pleaded not guilty.

    Justice Idris adjourned the trial following the conclusion of evidence by the EFCC’s fifth witness, Toyosi Ekorhi.

    Ekorhi, a compliance officer at First City Monument Bank (FCMB), stated under cross-examination by lawyer to the third defendant (Slok Nigeria Ltd), K. C. Nwofo (SAN), that she was not the author of the documents tendered as exhibits by the prosecution.

    On Wednesday, the witness, who claimed she joined FCMB on October 13, 2008, said the documents were retrieved from the archives of the defunct Inland Bank Plc., but she had no knowledge of its contents because she never worked at Inland Bank.

    Under cross-examination by Kalu’s lawyer, Chief Gordy Uche (SAN), the witness said the former governor’s name was not listed as one of the Directors of Slok Nigeria Ltd.

    She added that the second defendant, Udeh Jones Udeogu, was also not a signatory to the company’s account.

     

  • How Police, Army, SSS, INEC, others shared in $115m ‘Diezani bribe’ – Witness

    How Police, Army, SSS, INEC, others shared in $115m ‘Diezani bribe’ – Witness

    The Federal High Court in Lagos Thursday heard how several individuals and public officials shared in an alleged bribe of $115m paid by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke, to compromise the 2015 general election.

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) named the officials Thursday during the trial of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Dele Belgore before Justice Rilwan Aikawa.

    In two documents it tendered before the court, the anti-graft agency said the persons benefited from N450 million and N155, 220,000 out of the $115m (about N36 billion) Diezani cash.

    The disbursements, which the EFCC claimed were bribes, were contained in a document titled, “Security and Transportation per State”, and another one titled, “Kwara State”.

    According to the first document, the Resident Assistant Inspector-General of Police (IGP) in Kwara State at the time got N1 million cash, the Commissioner of Police (COP) in Kwara State at the time received N10m cash, while the Deputy COP in charge of Operations got N2 million cash.

    Also, the Assistant Commissioners of Police in charge of operations and administration in Kwara State, received N1 million cash each.

    The document also showed that the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Kwara State for the 2015 general elections got N10 million cash, while the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Administrative Secretary in Kwara State at the time received N5 million cash.

    According to the document, INEC’s Head of Department, Operations and “his boys” were given N5m, while “other officers” received and shared N2m among themselves.

    Also listed as beneficiaries of the alleged bribe in Kwara State were the “OC Mopol” and “his men”, who got N7 million, “2iC Mopol” and men in the state, who got N10m; the Director of the State Security Service (SSS) and his men, who got N2.5m.

    The military in Kwara State was bribed with N50m, according to the document, while other security agencies including the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) got N20m..

    An EFCC investigator Usman Zakari, who brought the document, told the court that it was recovered from Belgore.

    Belgore is accused of collecting N450m from Diezani and distributing same to beneficiaries in Kwara State.

    The EFCC said he handled the cash without going through any financial institution, contrary to sections 1(a), 16(d), 15(2)(d) and18(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) (Amendment) Act, 2012.

    According to the commission, the offence is punishable under sections 15(3)(4), and 16(2)(b) of the same Act.

    Standing trial along with Belgore for the offence is a former Minister of National Planning, Prof. Abubakar Suleiman.

    The SAN and the don were arraigned on charges of money laundering on February 8, 2017 but they pleaded not guilty.

    Zakari is the second witness to be called by the EFCC in its efforts to prove its case.

    Testifying before Justice Aikawa on Thursday, the witness explained that Belgore volunteered the list to the EFCC when he was invited and interrogated by the anti-graft agency.

    The investigator pointed out Belgore’s endorsement on the document, stating: “document supplied by me, Mohammed Dele Belgore (SAN).”

    The second document the EFCC said it recovered from Belgore, also showed showed beneficiaries of a sum of N155, 220,000 and the breakdown of what they got.

    Among them were 15 electoral officers who each received, 250,000; 15 supervisors, who got N100, 000 each; state Returning Officers who got N1m, among others.

    The two documents were tendered by the EFCC prosecutor, Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, and admitted in evidence as Exhibit 7 and 7A, against Belgore and Suleiman, as their lawyers, Mr. Ebun Shofunde (SAN) and Mr. Olatunji Ayanlaja (SAN), raised no objection.

    In his evidence, Zakari told the court that the EFCC’s findings showed that the money was disbursed in cash to the beneficiaries.

    “My Lord, the mode of payment, as contained in Exhibit 7, is cash payment. The payments were not done through any financial institution,” Zakari said.

    Meanwhile, Justice Aikawa entertained Belgore’s application seeking the dismissal of the charges on the grounds that the EFCC failed to attach an affidavit showing that it had concluded investigation in the case before bringing the case to court.

    Moving the application on Thursday, Belgore’s lawyer, Shofunde, argued that the failure of the EFCC to attach an affidavit saying it had concluded investigation before filing the charges was a fundamental breach of the Federal High Court Practice Direction and which had rendered the charges incompetent.

    He urged Justice Aikawa to quash the charges and free his client.

    But in opposition, the EFCC lawyer, Oyedepo, argued that the current law governing criminal cases in the country was the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015.

    He argued that the ACJA did not list filling of the said affidavit as one of the conditions that must be fulfilled before a criminal charge could be filed in court, stressing that the provisions of the ACJA were superior to that of the Federal High Court Practice Direction.

    Besides, he referred Justice Aikawa to Section 221 of the ACJA which barred a judge from entertaining any application challenging the competence of charges in a criminal case in the middle of trial and Section 396(2) of the Act, which barred a judge from ruling on any such application until judgment is delivered in the case.

    While urging the judge to dismiss the application, Oyedepo said granting it would “amount to slaughtering justice on the altar of technicality.”

    Justice Aikawa adjourned till July 7 for ruling.

     

  • Lawyer urges court to commit Edo Speaker to prison

    Lawyer urges court to commit Edo Speaker to prison

    A Benin based lawyer, Barr.  Ikhide Ehighelua, has asked a Federal High Court in Benin City to commit Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly, Hon Justin Okonoboh to prison custody until they purge themselves of contempt by complying with the orders of the Court of Appeal.

    Barr. Ikhide in motion on notice filed before the court said Speaker Okonoboh violated the court order by not swearing-in his client, Hon Godwin Adenomo, as a member of the State House of Assembly after the Court of Appeal declared Adenomo winner of the party primaries.

    The Court of Appeal had in February sacked Hon Sunday Aghedo and ordered Adenomo to be sworn-in as a member of the Assembly representing Ovia South West constituency.

    Ikhide told newsmen that the judgement which sacked Hon. Sunday Aghedo from the Assembly has not been reserved or set aside.

    He said it was worrisome that months after his client got  judgement from the appeal court, the Speaker refused to comply even when there was no order staying the execution or enforcement of the judgment of the appellate court.

    Ikhide noted that the Speaker has been served with the judgement and a copy of Certificate of Return issued to his client.

    Hon.  Godwin Adenomo by INEC,  the leadership of the House remained adamant hence the  need to commence a  committal process against the speaker and the clerk of the house.which will see them go to prison if they are found wanting.

    According to the lawyer, “The enrolled orders of the court have been served on the Speaker and the clerk respectively of the Edo State House of Assembly and they have failed and deliberately refused to comply with the orders of the court.

    “It is fit and proper in the circumstances to commit them to prison custody until they purge themselves of contempt by complying with the orders of the court.

    “Therefore, the judgement which sacked Aghedo from the house is a valid and subsisting judgement.  Until the judgement is set aside, it must be obeyed. For Speaker and the clerk allowing Aghedo to continue to sit, the parties sought to be committed are eroding the authority of the court.

    “The issues here are founded on the rules of law, and the need for all levels of government to obey the rules of law.  This is Executive and legislative lawlessness. Ehighelua said.

    Speaker Okonoboh in his reaction said the Assembly was an institution of the rule of law and could run fowl of the law by swearing in Adenomo when the Supreme Court was yet to rule on the case.

     

  • Alleged fraud: Court rejects Fani-Kayode’s bid to suspend trial

    Alleged fraud: Court rejects Fani-Kayode’s bid to suspend trial

    …Senator Usman granted leave for foreign medical travel

     

    The Federal High Court in Lagos Wednesday denied a motion by a former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, to suspend his trial for alleged fraud pending the determination of his request for the case to be transferred to Abuja.

    Justice Rilwan Aikawa, however, granted an application by former Minister of State for Finance, Senator Nenadi Usman, for the release of her international passport so she can travel abroad for a medical appointment.

    Usman, the judge said, was permitted to travel for three weeks between July and August to the United States but must surrender her passport to the court not later than August 31, 2017.

    The court also allowed the prosecution to call its first witness, Olusegun Idowu, who testified against the defendants.

    Usman, Fani-Kayode, one Danjuma Yusuf and a firm, Joint Trust Dimensions Limited were brought last June 28, before Justice Muslim Hassan by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    They were arraigned on a seven-count charge of conspiracy, unlawful retention of proceeds of theft and laundering of N4.9billion.

    Fani-Kayode, who was the Director of Publicity of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s presidential campaign organisation for the 2015 election, was accused of conspiring with the others to directly and indirectly retain various sums, which the EFCC claimed they ought to have reasonably known were proceeds of crime.

    The four were also accused of indirectly retaining N300m, N400m and N800m, all proceeds of corruption, according to the EFCC.

    The agency said they allegedly committed the offence between January 8 and March 25, 2015 ahead of the 2015 general elections.

    But Fani-Kayode objected to being tried before Justice Hassan and the defendants were re-arraigned before Justice Aikawa on May 15, on a similar charge.

    They pleaded not guilty and the judge adjourned till Wednesday for a hearing of Usman’s application for the release of her travel documents and commencement of trial.

    However, upon commencement of proceedings Wednesday, Fani-Kayode’s counsel Norrison Quakers SAN informed the court that it was yet to rule on a pending application for the case to be moved to the Abuja division of the court.

    Although Justice Aikawa said the application was not in the court’s file, Quakers insisted that the application was filed on the day of the defendants’ re-arraignment and had been received and acknowledged by the EFCC.

    The application, Quakers said, was jurisdictional in scope and should be determined before trial could commence.

    Quakers said: “Practice direction is clear on this matter. This is what the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, in his wisdom, has formulated. The rule is recognized by Section 490(d) of the Administration of Criminal Justice LAW (2015). Rules of court are meant to be obeyed.

    “There is a practice direction that guides the Federal High Court in situations like this. The direction says the court will not commence trial until the defendant’s application is taken, one way or another. It is trite that jurisdiction is the life of any adjudication. The second defendant (Fani-Kayode) has not said he does not want to be tried, he is saying he does not want to be tried in Lagos.

    “Your Lordship is bound by Rules of Court, the ACJL and judicial pronouncements on the issue to determine it one way or another.”

    He argued among others that the CJ’s power to make the practice rules flowed from Section 490 of the ACJL pursuant to Section 254 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

    But Oyedepo, relying on Section 396 of the ACJL, argued, among others, that Quakers’ position was not correct in law.

    He said: “I submit that it would amount to turning the law upside down to say that the substantive issue, which is the allegation as contained in the charge, cannot be taken without determining the application. Section 396 of the ACJL is higher in hierarchy and takes precedence over the practice direction.

    “This application is challenging the competence of this charge in Lagos. What the defendant did was just to lift the same application decided before Justice Hassan and re-filed it here. This application, apart from being a gross abuse of court processes, cannot constitute a stay.”

    Ruling, Justice Aikawa upheld the prosecution’s argument.

    He said: “I have listened to the erudite argument of counsel. In my opinion, practice directions, although having the force of subsidiary legislation, are meant to guide the court in criminal trials. Departure from it in some circumstances will not render proceedings fatal if done in the interest of justice and speedy conclusion of trial.”

    The court then allowed the prosecution to begin its examine its witness, Idowu.

    The witness, who identified himself as a media consultant, said he got two contracts of N24million and N6million from Fani-Kayode through an intermediary, one Olubode Oke.

    However, at the prosecution’s request, the court adjourned trial till Friday to enable the witness bring originals of invoices and receipts of the alleged transactions.

     

     

  • Alleged threat to life: Let Kashamu submit self for investigation, IGP tells court

    Alleged threat to life: Let Kashamu submit self for investigation, IGP tells court

    …Court to rule June 6

     

    The Inspector General of Police (IGP) Wednesday told a Federal High Court in Abuja to direct Senator Buruji Kashamu (representing Ogun East Senatorial District) to submit himself for interrogation in relation to allegation of threat to life made against him by a House of Representatives member, representing Ikenne, Sagamu and Remo North Federal Constituency in Ogun State, Oladipupo Adebutu.

    The IGP made the request while objecting to a suit by Kashamu, seeking among others, to restrain the Police and Department of State Services (DSS) from arresting and transporting him to the United States for trial on drug related offences.

    Adopting IGP’s written submissions Wednesday, David Igbodo, who represented the IGP, said the fundamental rights suit by Kashamu was intended to frustrate ongoing police investigation of the petitions by Adebutu and the applicant (Kashamu) in which they made allegations and counter-allegations against each other.

    He said Adebutu was the first to petition the IGP, accusing Kashamu of threatening his life in a hotel in Port-Harcourt. He said Kashamu equally filed a counter petition.

    Igbodo noted that while Adebutu has made statement to, and been interrogated by the investigating panel constituted by the IGP to investigate the petitions, Kashamu refused to, but instead filed the suit, alleging of plot to transport him to the US on drug related cases.

    Igbodo said: “Our contention is that the issue of drug has nothing to do with the incident that happened in Port Harcourt and on which the petitions being investigated relate. We urge this court to refuse this application and urge the applicant to make himself available to investigators to make his statement.”

    Lawyer to Adebutu, Ehi Uwaifo, argued in similar manner and urged the court to refuse Kashamu’s application and ask him to submit himself for interrogation in relation to allegations contained in the petition against him.

    Although the DSS was absent during proceedings, Igbodo drew the court’s attention to the counter affidavit it filed and its prayer that the court rejects Kashamu’s application, which the court adopted in the absence of any lawyer representing the DSS.

    Earlier while arguing his client’s case, Kashamu’s lawyer, Ajibola Oluyede urged the court to grant the prayers contained in the application.

    Oluyede said the complaint made by the 3rd respondent (Adebutu) against the applicant (Kashamu) has been dismissed by the Police, through a report signed by a Deputy Commissioner of Police, to the effect that the complaint was found to be baseless.

    He said despite the fact that the police report showed that there is no basis for the arrest of the applicant any more, one Sergeant Tanko Mohammed, who is under the control of the IGP was still insisting that Kasahmu must appear before the investigating panel, which he (Mohammed) is a member.

    Oluyede, who noted that the DSS has said, in its counter-affidavit, that it was not part of the plot to arrest Kashamu, urged the court to hold the assertion as undertaking against the 2nd def (DSS) that they are not going to join the conspiracy to arrest the applicant.

    After the lawyers adopted their written submissions, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba adjourned to July 6 for judgment.

     

  • Justice Ademola resumes duties

    Justice Ademola resumes duties

    Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja resumed duties Wednesday in line with a recent directive by the National Judicial Council (NJC) directing six suspended judges to resume duties.

    The judges were those suspended last year following their investigation by the Department of State Services (DSS) on allegations of corruption.

    They include Justices Ademola (of the Federal High Court), John Okoro (of the Supreme Court), Hydiazira A. Nganjiwa (Federal High Court), Musa H. Kurya (Federal High Court) and  Agbadu James Fishim (National Industrial Court of Nigeria).

    Of the six judges, The Nation has been able to confirm Justice Ademola”s resumption. He sat at exactly 9.30am and has been sitting since then, attending to cases.

    One of the early callers in Justice Ademola’s court this morning was Joe Agi (SAN), whose case was taken first.

    Agi stood trial with Justice Ademola in the alleged corruption case brought against them, including the judge’s wife, before a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), which freed the defendants on the ground that the prosecution failed to prove its case.

    The prosecution said it has since appealed the judgment of the High Court of the FCT.

    Meanwhile Justice Babatunde Quadri (also of the Federal High Court, Abuja, will rule on July 7 on an application by Agi seeking the return of the case involving former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido to Justice Ademola.

    Lamido, who is being tried with seven others, including his two sons and five firms on 27-count charge, is accused of engaging abuse of office and money laundering involving about N1.3billion.

    They were being tried before Justice Ademola until the judge’s suspension late last year, following which the Chief judge of the Federal High Court; Justice Ibrahim Auta transferred the case to Justice Quadri.

    Rather than allow the trial to start afresh before the new judge, Agi queried the transfer of the case and asked that it be returned to Justice Ademola for the trial to continue, a request the prosecution objected to.

  • Boko Haram: Court rules on Ndume’s no- case submission July 4

    Boko Haram: Court rules on Ndume’s no- case submission July 4

    The Federal High Court, Abuja, has fixed July 4, to rule on a no-case-submission filed by Sen. Ali Ndume (APC-Borno),who is standing trial for allegedly sponsoring terrorism.

    The Federal Government arraigned Ndume in 2011 and re-arraigned him in 2013 on a four-count charge of allegedly sponsoring the Boko Haram sect.

    The offence according to the Federal Government, contravened Sections 3, 4 and 7 of the Terrorism Prevention Act 2011.

    Ndume , however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

    When the matter was called on Tuesday for counsel to adopt their addresses, Mr Ricky Tarfa (SAN), counsel to Ndume , told Justice Gabriel Kolawole that the Federal Government had not established a prima facie case against his client.

    He also stated that the government was unable to link Ndume to the said crime.

    Tarfa maintained that the prosecution had failed to proof beyond reasonable doubt, the charges brought against him since Nov. 30,2011.

    He admitted that he had contact with the Boko Haram sect but that the contact was established when he was appointed into the Presidential Committee on Security Matters to negotiate for peace with the terrorist group.

    He said that the charges against him were unjust and unfair since he gave the former Vice President, Namadi Sambo and the then Director-General of the Department of State Service (DSS), all the information he got from the sect.

    He also told the court that the charge of failure to disclose information on the workings of Boko Haram could not be sustained against him.

    “Clearly, from the totality of the evidence adduced by the prosecution, the ingredients of the charges have not been proved as required by law.

    “The analysis of the mobile phones seized from the defendant and subjected to forensic examination by the prosecution did not reveal any offence committed,” Tarfa said.

    He asked the court to strike out the charges against Ndume on the grounds that no prima facie case had been established against him to warrant him defending himself.

    On her part, the prosecuting counsel, Mrs Geraldine Okafor, urged the court to compel Ndume to open his defence on the grounds that government’s witnesses had effectively linked him to the crime.

    Okafor said that the charges against the senator had to do with the failure to disclose material information to security agents on Boko Haram and rendering support to the terrorist group.

    She said that Ndume, in his own statement tendered and admitted in court, confirmed that he had enormous information on Boko Haram, but refused to disclose the information to the government.

    According to her, credible evidences adduced by the prosecution witnesses have been corroborated by the defendant himself in the three statements he made to security agents.

    “His admission that he was a member of the Presidential Committee on Security Matters also corroborates the evidence of the prosecution that he had volumes of information on the terrorist group which he refused to give to the government.

    “The volume of information found on him was revealing and warranted his being charged to court.

    “The prosecution is not fishing for information but in law, the defendant has to offer information being a member of the Presidential Committee on Security Matters.

    “Let the point be made here that witnesses of the government have by one way or the other linked the charge against the defendant to him and this court, as an impartial court, should order the defendant to open his defence.

    “It is even in the interest of the defendant and justice that this case be heard on its merit, instead of upholding the no-case submission.”

    The judge fixed July 4 for ruling on the matter.

     

  • Nyako: Judge orders EFCC to deposit N12.5m judgment debt in court

    Nyako: Judge orders EFCC to deposit N12.5m judgment debt in court

    …Faults EFCC’s approach to investigation

     

    Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court in Abuja Tuesday ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to pay into an account to be opened by the Chief Registrar of the court, the N12.5million judgement given in favour of Senator Abdulaziz Nyako.

    Justice Kolawole had, in a judgment on June 22, 2016 awarded the N12.5m against the EFCC. The judgment was on a fundamental rights enforcement application filed by Abdulaziz on February 17, 2015.

    In the judgment, the judge held among others, that Abdulaziz’s arrest and detention by the EFCC, and its freezing of his account for over two years, amounted a gross abuse of his fundamental rights as a serving senator and a responsible citizen.

    The judge said it was wrong for the EFCC to arrest and detain Abdulaziz for three days and freez all his bank accounts for over two years without a court order, or charging the senator to court.

    Rather than obey the judgment, the EFCC claimed to have appealed and applied to the trial court for stay of execution of the judgment pending the determination of the appeal.

    The EFCC complained that it will not be able to undertake its statutory functions if it pays the N12.5m judgment sum.

    Ruling on the application yesterday, Justice Kolawole struck out the EFCC application and ordered it to, within 30 days, deposit the N12.5m in an account to be opened by the court’s Chief Registrar.

    The judge said that there was no circumstantial situation to warrant the stay of the judgment since no cogent reason was placed before the court by the EFCC to enable the court exercise its discretion in the agency’s favour

    Justice Kolawole said should the EFCC fail to deposit the bank draft within 30 days, Abdulaziz shall have the right to apply for garnishee order nisi.

    The judge agreed with Senator Nyako that the motion filed by EFCC was a ploy to deny him the fruit of his success arising from the court case against the EFCC and that there was no special circumstance to warrant the grant of stay.

    The court agreed with Abdulaziz that more than a year after the judgement, the EFC was yet to compile records for transmission to the Court of Appeal and that the period allowed by law had expired.

    Earlier in the ruling, Justice Kolawole faulted the conduct of the EFCC and its investigation procedure.

    He said the EFCC, being an organisation established by law, should learn how to conduct its statutory functions within the ambits of the law

    He frowned at the habit of the security agencies in rushing to magistrate courts to obtain detention warrants in the matters where magistrate courts have no jurisdiction adding that such habit amounts to nothing but corruption on its own.

    “In this instant case, EFCC cannot be said to be a diligent party having just filed notice of appeal in a judgment delivered over a year ago and did not raise any grounds of special circumstances to granting of the stay of the execution of the judgment.

    “The EFCC should wake up and realise that the law that established it is not a cosmetic law, but designed to protect the Nigerian citizens from acts of recklessness in the name of performing statutory functions,” the judgment.

    He said it is a political slogan that security agencies cannot be subjected to court order when it goes out of its way to infringe on the fundamental rights of the citizens. He said the practice of arresting and detaining suspects before investigation is bizarre and must not be condoned by any law court.

    The judge also said dumping suspects on remand through Magistrate Court’s orders in matters where Magistrate Courts have no jurisdiction was not only tragic, but unfortunate. He asked that security agencies realise that the nation was a democracy and desist from such unlawful conduct.

     

  • Three jailed for drug trafficking

    Three jailed for drug trafficking

    Justice Nathaniel Ayo-Emmanuel of the Federal High Court, Ibadan, on Thursday, sentenced three men to 29 months imprisonment for dealing in Indian hemp.

    The convicts are Azeez Olagboye, Kehinde Saheed and Taofeek Ajadi.

    In three separate judgments, Ayo-Emmanuel held that he convicted the trio based on the evidence before him.

    The judge sentenced Olagboye and Ajadi to one-year imprisonment while  Saheed bagged three months in jail.

    He said that the sentence would  run from the date of their arrest.

    Ayo-Emmanuel, however,  warned them to refrain from crime after serving their jail terms.

    Mr Musbau Olapade, counsel to the convicts, had prayed the court to temper justice with mercy in his judgment.

    Earlier, NDLEA counsel, Mr Raphael Himinkaiye, said that the convicts were arraigned on a one-count charge of unlawful dealing in Indian Hemp.

    Himinkaiye added that Olagboye, Saheed and Ajadi committed the crime on May 17, April 10 and April  12 respectively at various spots in Oyo State.

    He said the offence committed by the trio was contrary to and punishable under Section 11 (c ) of the NDLEA Act Cap N30 Law of Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

  • Court to hear suit challenging marriage registration June 8

    Court to hear suit challenging marriage registration June 8

    A Federal High Court in Lagos on Thursday fixed June 8 to hear a suit challenging the registration of marriages by the Federal Ministry of Interior.

    The suit, marked FHC/L/CS/1760/16, was filed before Justice Chuka Obiozor by four local government areas in the country.

    They are: Egor in Edo, Eti-Osa in Lagos, Owerri Municipal in Imo and Port Harcourt in Rivers States.

    The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare that it is the local government areas that have the exclusive right to conduct and register marriages.

    The Minister of Interior; and the Attorney General of the Federation are joined as respondents in the suit.

    The local government areas, through their lawyer, Mr Michael Roger, are contending that by virtue of Section 1(5) of the 1999 Constitution, the Federal Ministry of Interior, an agency of the Federal Government, has no business registering marriages as it currently does.

    Roger had exhibited before the court an earlier judgment of the Federal High Court declaring that only local government areas had powers to register marriages by virtue of Section 30 (1) of the Marriage Act and Section 7(5) of the 1999 Constitution.

    However, in the said judgment delivered on June 8, 2002, Justice Oyindamola Olomojobi, clarified that other lawful authorities could, “celebrate or contract marriages.”

    Relying on Justice Olomojobi’s judgment, the local government areas are urging Justice Obiozor to declare that the minister of interior has no power to register marriages.

    Besides, the plaintiffs also alleged a misinterpretation of May 15, 2017, judgment of Justice I.O. Harrison of the Lagos State High Court that the judge did not declare local governments’ marriage certificate illegal.

    In the said judgment, the court declined the prayer to perpetually restrain the Registered Trustees of Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), and their agents from further issuing the Local Government Unified Marriage Certificate.

    Meanwhile, in response to the plaintiff’s instant suit, the AGF filed a preliminary objection and urged Justice Obiozor to dismiss the plaintiffs’ suit for being an abuse of court processes.
    The AGF argued that the issue raised by the plaintiffs had been settled by the judgment delivered on June 8, 2002, by Justice Olomojobi.

    In a five-paragraph affidavit, a lawyer from the AGF’s chamber, Mr Lawrence Ilop, said Justice Olomojobi, “has settled, once and for all, the question of who can contract marriages and did not vest that right solely in the local government councils.”

    He said that the marriage registries, as contemplated in the Marriage Act, “are designated places of the celebration of marriages and not strictly for keeping registers of marriages.’’

    He urged Justice Obiozor to dismiss the suit, adding that the plaintiffs were forum shopping and abusing the processes of court.|

    Justice Obiozor adjourned hearing in the case until June 8.