The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Lawyer

  • Lawyer seeks seafaring training for Lagos youths

    The Director-General,  Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has been urged to involve more youths from Lagos State in the agency’s seafarers’ training to prepare them for the future.

    A maritime lawyer and university don, Mr. Sunday Adetoye, said there were many job opportunities in the maritime sector, lamenting that they are not open to some youths in the state because they lacked requisite training.

    He spoke at an empowerment programme organised  for more than 2,000 youths in Badagry.

    The call, Adetoye said, was necessary considering the “army of jobless youths roaming the streets of Lagos.” He urged the Federal Government and NIMASA to reverse the trend.

    The lawyer said Lagos had the highest number of jobless youths in the country and urged NIMASA to help solve the problem by involving the youth in its seafarers’ training.

    NIMASA, Adetoye said,  has the approval of the National Assembly to train youths to become qualified seafarers in various universities across the world, to fill the knowledge gap in the sector.

    He decried the neglect of youths from the state in the overseas raining programmes of NIMASA unlike their colleagues from the Niger Delta, under the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP).

    He said one way Nigeria could bridge the gap in indigenous professionals in the sector was for the government to develop capacity in the field by sending youts across the 36 states abroad for training.

  • Lawyer accuses police of frustrating court order

    Lagos lawyer, Kayode Fasetire, has accused the police of preventing the execution of a court order.

    Fasetire appealed to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, to call the concerned individuals to order.

    Fasetire, who is counsel to Redorn Realtors Limited, told journalists that his client obtained a court order for the possession of a property located at 31a & b, Gafar Animashaun Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.

    He claimed that since the firm took possession, some mobile policemen have been trying to illegally reinstate the former owner into the property.

    Fasetire said his client bought the said property from Sterling Bank Plc in 2015, but that all efforts to gain entry into the property has been continuously frustrated by the police “on the orders of someone within the top echelons of the police force”.

    He explained that the former owners of the property, Tonique Oil Services Limited, lost its ownership after failing to pay back a N2billion loan facility it secured from Sterling Bank Plc.

    He said his client subsequently decided to buy the said property, which was on sale from Sterling Bank Plc at a cost agreed by both parties.

    Fasetire further noted that his client duly obtained a court order from a Lagos Magistrate’s Court for possession of the property, which was served on the occupant.

    He said: “On August 18, we took possession of the property only for the Managing Director of Tonique Oil Service Limited, Tony Adejuigbe, to storm the property three days later with some policemen and some persons suspected to be thugs.

    “We reported the matter to Maroko Police Station and he was subsequently arrested, but later released on bail.

    “We were shocked when on Friday another set of Mobile police officers again stormed the property. We have been unable to know who sent them and what their mission is on the property. But we believe someone high up in the police is using them to undermine the court orders.

    “Currently, some guards, who were mandated to secure the building by my client are being held hostage by the mobile policemen stationed in the building.”

    He urged the IGP to investigate the matter to aviod a break down of law and order.

     

     

  • Dismantle Ekiti panel for alleged bias, says lawyer

    •Commission: counsel bungled his client’s case

    A lawyer, Adeoye Aribasoye, has called for the dismantling of the Judicial Commission of Enquiry investigating finances of Ekiti State government between October 2010 and October 2014.

    Aribasoye is representing CASA Nigeria Limited, the contractor that built the Ado-Ekiti Civic Centre during the tenure of former Governor Kayode Fayemi.

    The lawyer said the panel could no longer be trusted on fairness, hence the need for its members to withdraw.

    According to him, the seven-member panel, led by a former Acting Chief Judge, Justice Silas Oyewole (retd), was “biased and grossly partisan and working towards a predetermined conclusion”.

    The lawyer alleged that the panel, at its sitting on October 6, prepared a ruling before hearing the matter of the day, when it allegedly shut out his client and delivered a bench ruling.

    But the panel denied Aribasoye’s allegation, insisting that the lawyer should be blamed for allegedly bungling his client’s case.

    It accused Aribasoye of failing to file the application to reopen his client’s case on time, despite the opportunity allegedly given to him.

    An examination of the commission’s time table showed that CASA Nigeria Limited was supposed to make “conditional appearance” before the panel on September 5, as a witness.

    CASA’s Project Manager Mr. Apata Ayodele, according to an affidavit sworn to on September 5, appealed for an extension of time for him to appear because the information about the time table was received late.

    Addressing reporters yesterday in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, Aribasoye accused the panel of preventing his client from giving evidence, as contained in its preliminary objection, which touches on integrity of the panel to be fair.

    He said: “When I appeared before the panel on September 5, I told them that my client would not be available on September 6. They asked me to formally apply for an extension of time with which I would reopen the case. They said I should file all applications regarding this on or before September 11, and I did.

    “But to my surprise, on October 6, the matter came up for argument, and the panel gave a bench ruling on an issue that was argued for about 30 minutes.

    “They didn’t even rise for a second to prepare the ruling. This suggested that they had already written the ruling before the appearance.

    “This confirmed our fear that this panel had a predetermined mission. It was set up for a sinister motive and the members must disqualify themselves, in line with the law.”

    Aribasoye tendered a letter, dated September 11 and addressed to the commission’s chairman to buttress his point that he applied for an extension of time.

    The lawyer cited the cases of Kenom Vs Tekan, 2001, 14 Nigeria Weekly Law Report (NWLR), Part 732, page 12 at 41 and FG Vs MKO Abiola, to substantiate his claim that the panel can no longer proceed on moral grounds.

    He said: “The Supreme Court’s members in the case of Abiola disqualified themselves, based on allegation raised by G. O. K. Ajayi (SAN) that the justices could not exhibit fairness. I want the panel to toe the same line.”

    But a ruling delivered by Justice Oyewole dismissed the application for CASA’s conditional appearance on the strength that the application was filed out of time.

  • Lawyer to Fayose: stop attacking Falana

    Lawyer to Fayose: stop attacking Falana

    Human rights lawyer and National Coordinator of Ekiti Redemption Group (ERG), Mr. Morakinyo Ogele, has warned Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose against attacking Lagos lawyer Femi Falana (SAN).

    Speaking with The Nation in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, Ogele noted that Falana is “an eminent son of Ekiti who should not be pilloried by the governor of his home state but should be celebrated and appreciated for entrenchment of democracy in Nigeria”.

    The ERG coordinator was reacting to a comment the governor made last Thursday while appearing on Politics Today, a programme on Channels Television, where Fayose accused Falana of being among those behind the latest Economic and Financial Crimes (EFCC) investigation of his administration.

    Fayose said Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), was aggrieved by his 2003 governorship election loss when he was candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP) and lost to him (Fayose), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate.

    Ogele advised the governor to tell EFCC investigators how the bailout funds given to his administration to pay workers and pensioners were spent, rather than blame Falana for his tarvail.

    He said: “Falana’s personality and integrity cannot be called to question by anybody. He is one of those who fought for democracy being enjoyed by people like Fayose, who was nowhere when people like Falana were in the trenches.

    “Falana has not been accused of looting Ekiti or being a security risk. Fayose cannot compare himself with Falana because he (Falana) has been fighting for democracy, which earned him detention alongside the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi.’’

    “Falana cannot be aggrieved because of the 2003 election; the only thing Falana is craving for is that Ekiti should be ruled within the purview of our constitution. So, Fayose should stop insulting Falana.

    “Falana has earned himself various prominent awards in Nigeria, Africa and other parts of the world, for his persistent fight for the freedom of Nigerians, respect for human rights and good governance.

    “What Falana is saying is that Fayose should pay salaries and entitlements of workers and should account for all the funds received from the Federal Government on behalf of Ekiti people.”

     

  • Workers, lawyer hail EFCC’s arrest of Ekiti officials

    Workers, lawyer hail EFCC’s arrest of Ekiti officials

    Human rights lawyer, Mr. Morakinyo Ogele, has described the arrest of the Ekiti State Commissioner of Finance, Chief Toyin Ojo, and the Accountant General, Mrs. Yemisi Owolabi, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as “the beginning of the recovery of the stolen commonwealth of Ekiti people.”

    An interest group in the state workforce, the Enlightened Workers’ Forum (EWF), also urged the anti-graft agency to beam its searchlight on the internally generated revenue (IGR) accounts “which are shrouded in secrecy.”

    Former Trade Union Congress (TUC) Chairman in Ekiti State, Mr. Kolawole Olaiya, said he had been vindicated by the EFCC swoop on Governor Ayo Fayose’s aides over alleged mismanagement of the first tranche of the bailout funds collected in 2005.

    Olaiya, who was a legal officer in the Ministry of Justice, had raised the alarm that the first tranche was diverted, but he was dismissed from service by the Fayose administration in February 2016.

    They all reacted to Thursday’s arrest and detention of Ojo and Owolabi by the anti-graft agency, following their refusal to respond to invitations earlier extended to them to come and explain how the bailout funds were spent by the government.

    Speaking with The Nation on the development on yesterday, Ogele, who is also the National Coordinator of Ekiti Redemption Group (ERG), said the EFCC acted within the law by arresting the officials to explain why monies meant for the payment of arrears of salaries, allowances of civil servants and pensions and gratuities of retirees were allegedly diverted.

    Ogele said: “We welcome the arrest of the Finance Commissioner and Account General by the EFCC. This is the beginning of the recovery of the stolen commonwealth of Ekiti people by an administration that has been serially playing games and lottery with their funds.

    “It is not justifiable that an administration that has collected three tranches of bailout funds including Paris Club refunds, is still owing salary arrears of between six and eight months, and pensioners’ benefits for which the cash was meant to defray.

    “The probe of the mismanagement of the bailout cash is just a good step to deliver Ekiti people from systematic looting of their treasury. We want the EFCC to investigate how the ongoing construction of the flyover at the initial cost of N5 billion has been secretly jacked up to N14 billion.

    “We want the EFCC to look into how the Oba’s Market in Ado-Ekiti initially awarded at the cost of N3.3 billion has been secretly re-awarded to another contractor at N2.8 billion.

    “Ekiti’s redemption has just started and it will not stop until all looted funds are recovered.”

    EWF Coordinator, Mr. Mike Bamidele, said the EFCC crackdown was long overdue because “it is unbelievable that an administration that has been given financial relief could still be owing workers many arrears of pay.”

    “Bamidele said: “We welcome the EFCC probe, which is long overdue. We have at various fora and press statements insisted that the government has failed to appropriately utilise the bailout funds.

    “How can a government that collects monthly allocation up-to-date, N9.6 billion first tranche of bailout, N8.8 billion second tranche of bailout, N4.9 billion first tranche of Paris Club refund, N9.8 billion second tranche of Paris Club refund and N1.3 billion monthly budget support fund for 13 months still be owing seven-month salary arrears, ten-month pension arrears and no gratuity since 2014?

    “Apart from the bailout funds, we want the EFCC to launch a probe into the secret IGR accounts. Nobody knows what Ekiti State generates every month and nobody knows the revenue that has been generated since the administration came to power.

    “This is because the government operates secret IGR accounts which are only known by the ‘oga at the top’ and the collaborating bank officials.

    “The account numbers are only known to them and we want EFCC to invite the officials of the bank and the Internal Revenue Service officials to explain.

    “We also want the probe of local government funds, especially the so-called joint account. The councils only exist in name. We want the EFCC to invite the local government chairmen to shed light on how the council funds are spent.”

    Olaiya said Fayose, rather than heed his warning that the bailout should be spent for the payment of workers’ salaries and pensioners’ benefits, instigated his ouster from the civil service.

    Olaiya said: “There is an adage that says when falsehood travels for over 20 years, it takes the truth just one day to catch up with it. That is the way I want to summarise the EFCC ongoing probe of the Ekiti share of the bailout fund.

    “I was victimised, I was accused of being partisan when I am not a member of any political party. A kangaroo panel was set up with a mandate to punish an innocent man. The panel had even found me guiltybefore beginning its work.

    “The panel demoted me from Grade Level 12 to Grade Level 10 before unjustly sacking me from civil service. The truth has come to light now. The EFCC has justified my position that the bailout cash was mismanaged.

    “I want the EFCC to extend the probe to the current set of labour leaders who are accomplices in the misapplication of the bailout, because the money belongs to Ekiti people and not to a tiny group that has failed to justify the trust of the people.”

  • Who’s the greater danger to society, the politician or the lawyer?

    The question provokes controversy; but why not?

    Given past and current happenings in our country, these classes of citizens hold the levers of a nation’s survival and they can use it, for ill or for good, for the remainder of citizens including those in whatever other professions.

    I’m privileged to be in politics, more as a partisan and less as a professional in politics. That is quite deliberate because in whatever profession or vocation I’m involved in, I apply myself totally to it almost to the exclusion of any other thing; such that I can talk authoritatively when the issue of that profession or vocation is being discussed.

    I have seen enough in politics for some 40 years to admit that there are some terribly bad ones among us for which integrity is an anathema. They lie without caution, malign without measure and enjoy putting out other people’s candles as if that will make theirs burn brighter.

    Such people learn little from the leaders who prop them up, forgetting that, as posited by Jim Rohn, their life does not get better by chance, but by change.

    Showbiz personality, Oprah Winfrey expatiated on that by saying that the greatest discovery of all time is that a person can positively change his future by merely changing his attitude.

    This category of politicians are beyond redemption and they have indulged in such callous and un-Godly attitudes to others for too long that to expect them to behave naturally and normally to others, is simply alien to their being.

    And, you also have another category of politicians who believe in propriety, and orderly behaviours, that many observers believe they are in the wrong profession or vocation. They may be agitated occasionally by the tantrums of their colleagues who make all politicians to be lumped together as evils that must be exorcised from society.

    But bad as some politicians are, they constitute lesser danger to society than some of those in the legal profession. You do not need to look far, for examples. Only recently, a man said to be a lawyer approached a court seeking legal protection for Citizen Evans who was said to have confessed to have masterminded high-profile kidnapping and murder of innocent citizens across the land.

    We are yet to hear from the appropriate organs of the law if they approve of such untoward conduct and, if not, what sanctions are being contemplated.

    The rot is not confined to the Bar as recently revealed that the Bench is not also immune from it. Midnight meandering in the legal jungle culminating in Jankara judgements were commonplace up till sometime in the most recent past. The point must therefore be made that it is of paramount importance that the judiciary and all other law officers should not only be integrous but must also enjoy the absolute confidence of the people.

    Mercifully though, the Temple of Justice has not yet been violated with such foul manners as some of the lawless lawmakers across the land had turned the hallowed chambers of the states’ Houses of Assembly and the Upper Chamber into boxing and wrestling arenas. May that day never come when judges and Justices will have to take cover from fiery fists and deadly upper cuts from litigants and their lawyers alike!

    Whereas an aberrant political class can be whipped back to line by a Judiciary that is upright and impartial, once the Judiciary is compromised, the last hope of the citizenry is dashed and society inexorably becomes endangered.

    Some of the worst constitutional and political crises in our country’s history were either created or aggravated by some discreditable members of the Bar and Bench, from the First Republic to the present time. As someone succinctly put it then: “they betrayed the sacred trust of the people, sold their conscience for a mess of pottage and plunged the nation into darkness”

    Amenhotep IV, Pharaoh of Egypt once said that “the peace of society dependeth on justice”. By necessary implication, there can be no lasting peace where there is no justice.

    Put another way, an irresponsible political class we may yet endure, but a rapacious Bar and a heavily compromised judiciary the nation can ill-afford.

  • Lawyer faces N2m fraud charge

    Lawyer faces N2m fraud charge

    A self-proclaimed lawyer, Segun Harrison, who allegedly converted N2million belonging to his client to his personal use, was Thursday brought before an Igbosere Magistrates’ Court, Lagos.

    Harrison, 53, of Isheri-Osun, Lagos, is standing trial on a two-count charge of fraud and misrepresentation before Mr B. I. Bakare.

    Prosecuting Inspector Ingobo Emby told the court that Harrison committed the alleged offences sometime in July 2015, at Power Line Road off Ajiboye St, Orile-Agege, Lagos.

    He said the defendant falsely represented himself as a lawyer and defrauded the complainant, Mrs Omolola Dawodu.

    “Harrison fraudulently sold a two-bedroom bungalow valued at N5 million, belonging to the complainant and converted N2 million to his personal use without the consent of the complainant.

    “The said bungalow was situated at Power Line Road off Ajiboye St, Orile-Agege, Lagos,” Emby said.

    According to him, the offences contravened Sections 287 (7) and 380 (2) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

    Harrison pleaded not guilty.

    Magistrate Bakare, granted him N500,000 bail with two sureties in the like sum.

    The sureties must be gainfully employed, be resident in Lagos State, and have their addresses verified.

    The case continues on October 5.

  • Lawyer faces forgery charge

    Lagos High Court in Igbosere yesterday fixed October 25 for the arraignment of a lawyer, Kole Bello, for alleged conspiracy and forgery.

    First defendant Bello, and three others – Chukwuka Victor, Friday Palmer and Osumah Joseph Terry – appeared in court yesterday following a bench warrant issued for their arrest by Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo on July 10.

    But their arraignment was stalled following the prosecution’s inability to present the case file.

    Prosecution counsel R. O. Aroyewun, told Justice Taiwo that there were new developments.

    “A petition was forwarded to the Attorney-General’s office in respect of the matter. The A-G called for the case file yesterday for a further review. So we are not with the file here,” Aroyewun said.

    Following an application by defence counsel, Mr F. O. Udokeorah, Justice Taiwo granted the defendants, except Bello, N1million bail with two sureties in the like sum.

    When the judge asked Bello, who his lawyer was, he explained that he was a counsel.

    “But I’m still in custody for another matter, that’s why I didn’t prepare my bail application,” Bello said.

    Justice Taiwo adjourned their arraignment till October 25.

    According to a temporary charge brought by the prosecution last March 1, the defendants committed the alleged offence sometimes in December 2001.

    They allegedly forged a C-of-O with Ref. No. 63/63/1989s “with the intent that it may be used or acted upon as genuine.”

  • Attempted abduction: Lawyer blasts Aba Policemen

    Attempted abduction: Lawyer blasts Aba Policemen

    Aba based lawyer, Barr. Emperor Gabriel Ogbonna has narrated how he narrowly escaped death by the whiskers in the hands of gunmen who had wanted to abduct him from his residence located at Ogbor Hill, off the heart of Aba, Abia State.

    Ogbonna, though could not disclose the hospital where he was receiving medical attention, in a facebook post on his wall thanked members of the public for praying for his quick recovery but however blasted policemen in Aba for not “doing their job.”

    He also dismissed reports that has been making wave in the commercial city that the gunmen were assassins, but a failed kidnapped attempt.

    The post on his timeline with the caption “stronger than the will to live is the will to thrive” read “On Monday the 28th day of August 2017, I closed work and I was driving home.
    As usual, I called my wife to inform her that I was coming home so that the gate can be opened.

    “Before I could reach my home, the gate was already opened so as soon as I drove in, about four to six men armed with AK47 guns and pistols pounced on me, trying to abduct me.

    “I didn’t know who they were so I was confused. They were shooting sporadically both at me and in the air and one of them aimed at me and shot me at the back.

    “The Ak47 bullet entered my back, passed through very close to my stomach cavity or sac and came out through the front. I instantly collapsed and my right leg was broken, broken into three pieces.

    “The gunmen wanted to carry me into their vehicle but due to the fact that my body was heavy, my leg shattered and I was bleeding from my stomach, they were arguing whether to take me with them or leave me in a pool of my blood.

    “They then drove off and the boys in my street took me to the first hospital then rejected me but the second hospital accepted me and both surgeries and treatment of the eight inches long bullet was been done on me.

    “I went to the land of the dead and came back. But I made up my mind that I shall not die. I under that almost everyone in the social media was praying for me.

    “My church was praying, the government was praying, friends were praying, lawyers were praying, my family was praying.

    “All-over the world calls were coming, the Aba community were praying, my classmates were coming. Some wanted me to come over to America or Europe for treatment. Never have I see such an outpouring of love.

    “So any people who came to see me in the hospital were turned back, big men, prominent men, we turned back. Some managed to see me at least. When I recover fully, I will dedicate a piece to tell the world that played what role toward my recovery.

    “But I was not just determined to live, I was determined to thrive. I saw that stronger is the will to thrive than the will to live, and that when you desire to thrive, life comes naturally.
    Today, I am recovering. It is a slow process but a steady process.

    “I read several persons and website insinuating that what happened to me was an assassination attempt. I make bold to state that what happened to me was not an assassination attempt, no. It was a kidnap attempt gone badly.

    “The Nigerian police are highly incompetent. They will stay few metres away collecting money from transporters and would run away when they hear a gun shot.

    “The other day I was on TV program and the Abia State commissioner of police called, I advised him to cause his boys from search vehicles instead of collecting Rogers and let vehicles pass at hot areas.

    “The Nigerian police in Abia state is just interested in collecting money from motorists and bail money without doing anything.

    “If you have a bomb in your car and ten men with Ak47, and police stop you and you give them N100, they will allow you pass. And if they hear a gunshot, they will run away instead of coming to help the victim; Shameless people.

    “The money spent on maintaining the police is a waste, complete waste. So many people have identified with me at this time, and more are still. I am grateful. I shall recognize you soon when I get better.

    “I have going through the internet and i never knew I was this loved by Nigerians. Only few people have the privilege of reading their eulogies while alive. I thank you all. I am still the same person you know I have not changed, and shall not change.”

  • Lawyer petitions IGP over sack of three cops

    ALaWYER, Aiyewunmi Remilekun, has petitioned the Police Service Commission (PSC) and Inspector-General of Police (IGP), over the alleged unlawful dismissal of three policemen attached to Igbeba Police Division of Ogun State Police Command.

    Mufutau Olaosun, an Inspector; Adebayo Temitope, a Sergeant, Adesoye Ayokunlehi and Bakare Taiwo who are corporals, were dismissed last June for allegedly extorting N50,000 from Akala Oluwatobi.

    But Olaosun, Ayokunlehi and Adebayo, through their lawyer, described their dismissal as “illegal and unlawful.”

    In an August 27 petition , they complained of “intimidation, harassment, political manoeuvering of orderly room proceedings and conducts unbecoming of a police officer” against the officers who conducted their orderly room trial.

    The lawyer stated that sometime in June 2017, information was lodged at the Area Commander’s office, Igbeba, information reached the Igbeba Police Division that 10 youths were conducting themselves in a manner likely to cause breach of the peace at Molupa.

    Remilekun said: “Upon this information, the three cops and one other were drafted to the area to prevent breakdown of law and order, and for possible arrest, which the affected officers immediately booked at the charge room before leaving for the area.

    “On getting to the area, the affected policemen were able to arrest two of the boys while others ran away on sighting them.

    “One of the boys when asked to identify himself but could not give a satisfactory explanation, upon which the officers became suspicious and the boy was taken to their office for interrogation and investigation.”

    The lawyer said when his clients conducted a search on the arrested boy named Akala Oluwatobi, “N50, 000, was recovered from him but he could not give a satisfactory account of the money.”

    He said when the money was recovered it was registered with the Exhibit keeper in register 084/2017, of June 6, and a case file was opened and the statement of the arrested boy was taken.

    Remilekun also stated that instead of the arrested boy to present himself the next day with his father whom he claimed to be his boss, as directed by the policemen, he opted to call Police Complaint Rapid Response Unit (PCRRU), following which the Officer-in-Charge of the Unit directed the Divisional Police Office (DPO) of Igbeba Police Division to investigate the matter and report.

    Remilekun added that the DPO’s report exornorated his clients, “but this did not go down well with the Area Commander,” who directed that his clients be tried in an orderly room.

    According to him, the orderly room trial proceedings was then altered against his clients.

    The lawyer claimed that his clients were not given fair hearing as no memorandum of appearance was issued to them before their trial and they were also denied the right of Appeal.

    This, he added, contravened the 1999 Constitution,” which guarantees the right to fair hearing and the Police Act.

    He demand an “immediate retraction of the police wireless message DTO: 291121/06/2017, the publication purporting to dismiss of our clients from the Nigerian Police Force and their immediate reinstatement to their position without any loss of Rank, status and remuneration, with a letter of apology to each of them.”