The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Mike Ozekhome

  • UPDATED: Melaye gets bail on ground of ill-health

    A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Maitama, Abuja has granted bail to Senator Dino Melaye currently being held in a police health facility in Abuja.

    In a ruling on an application by Melaye, argued by his lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN) Justice Yusuf Halilu granted bail to Melaye on health ground.

    The judge asked him to produce three sureties, one of who must be the Clerk of the National Assembly, who must undertake to produce him when he is to be arraigned in respect of a charge already filed against him.

    The judge said the other two sureties must be owners of properties within the Abuja metropolis.

    Justice Halilu agreed with Ozekhome that the filing of a charge against Melaye by the police should not stop the court from exercising its discretion to grant bail.

    READ ALSO: Police relocate Melaye to SARS headquarters

    The Judge said since the police has exhibited a copy of the formal charge filed against Melaye, it was obvious that the prosecution has concluded plan to arraign him before a court.

    Justice Halilu noted it was only the living that stands trial and impracticable to arraign Melaye either on stretcher or on his hospital bed, it was rational to allow him on bail.

    Justice Halilu said since the issue of bail is a constitutional one it was for the prosecution to provide sufficient evidece to sustain it’s objection.

    The judge adjourned to a later date next week for his ruling on the substantive suit, in which Melaye is praying the court to among others, declare unlawful police’s siege on his Abuja home.

    He also wants the court to order the police to render a public apology to him.

  • Breaking: Court grants Melaye bail on ground of ill-health

     

    A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Maitama, Abuja has granted bail to Senator Dino Melaye currently being held in a police health facility in Abuja.

    In a ruling on an application by Melaye, argued by his lawyer, Mike Ozekhome (SAN) Justice Yusuf Halilu granted bail to Melaye on health ground.

    READ MORE: Police relocate Melaye to SARS headquarters

    Justice Halilu was of the view the Senator must be healthy to stand trial.

    He said since the Senator cannot be arraigned on the stretcher or ‎on his hospital bed, he should be allowed on bail to attend to his health.

    The judge asked him to produce three sureties, one of who must be the Clerk of the National Assembly, who must undertake to produce him when he is to be arraigned in respect of a charge already filed against him.

    The judge said the other two sureties must be owners of properties within the Abuja metropolis.

     

    Details later…

  • Court orders police to show cause for detaining Melaye

    An Abuja High Court sitting in Maitama on Thursday ordered the police to show cause over it’s continued detention of Sen. Dino Melaye.

    Melaye, the senator representing Kogi West in the National Assembly, who has been in police custody since Jan. 4, approached the court for enforcement of his fundamental right.

    Justice Yusuf Halilu gave the order after Melaye’s counsel, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) informed the court that his client has been in police custody since Jan. 4 against what the law stipulated.

    “We are talking about the liberty of a citizen not because he is a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, but a citizen, this is contrary to sections 35 and 36 of the Constitution of Nigeria.

    “If you keep a man for 13 days you have already presumed him guilty, ” he submitted.

    Mr Simon Lough, the respondent counsel, told the court that he only got the motion on notice on Jan. 16, and needed five days according to law to reply.

    He added that he was and not aware of the order to show cause.

    He said though Melaye was in the police custody, he as the counsel, does not have the power to effect his investigation which was ongoing, preparatory to charging him to court.

    Lough therefore prayed the court for an adjournment to enable him file and serve his reply before Jan. 18.

    The judge explained that the police was put on notice to come and show cause why the detained senator should not be granted bail.

    “The court was approached by the police for his custody and the court granted it, and now the court ordered that the police should come and explain why he would not be released.

    Read Also: DSS denies abducting Melaye

    “I granted an order on Jan. 14, that the police should come and show cause,’’ the judge said.

    He, however, adjourned hearing till Jan. 18, to enable the respondent file his reply on the applicant.

    Both parties agreed to the application for adjournment prayed by the respondent.

    The judge further ordered the respondent to serve the applicant all the processes today.

  • Court admits bank’s documents as evidence against Jang

    Plateau State High Court on Wednesday admitted banks documents tendered as evidence of fraud against former governor of Plateau state Jonah Jang.
    The court said it relied on section 83 and 84 of Evidence Act to admit a bank documents.
    Counsel to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) and that of the accused Jonah Jang has urged reverently for two days trying to convince the court to accept the bank documents or dismiss it as evidence in the anti-corruption case.
    Jang is standing a trial in the court on charges of misappropriation of funds during his tenure as the Governor of the state.
    The case had come up on Wednesday with the third prosecution witness, from Zenith Bank, Emmanuel Anja, a banker and marketer, led by the EFCC prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN) to testify.
    Anja told the court that he did not know the account of Plateau State government but he admitted knowing that of the Office of the Secretary to the State Government. He also admitted that his main pre-occupation in the bank is relationship management whose basic duty is to manage the accounts on behalf of customers.
    He added that he was aware that his bank was asked to supply details to EFCC concerning transactions with the Plateau State Government and he identified all the documents presented as his.
    But Counsel to Jang, Mr. Mike Ozekhome (SAN) had objected to the admissibility of the documents presented by Prosecution Witness (PW3), Emmanuel Anja, saying that no foundation was laid by the prosecution as to why Anja was the one tendering the documents before the court, adding that his name was not even written on the letter.

    Read Also: EFCC traces N500m assets to Jang

    Ozekhome said, “The signature on the document is that of John Olorundare of Compliance Department of the bank. In his evidence-in-chief, he told the court that he was a compliance officer but that he was in compliance department. So, tendering the documents put themselves in computer-generated evidence. It is a direct assault on Sections 83 and 84 of the Evidence Act.”
    He argued that it was wrong for the Prosecution Counsel to neither seek to tender document through a witness that was not a party to it nor know the content of the document.
    “My Lord, although the document appears to be the original, there is no foundation for the Prosecution Counsel to seek to tender it through the witness whose name is not on it neither does he know the content. This is a direct assault on Sections 83 and 84 of the Evidence Act. I therefore urge the court to reject the document in its entirety.”
    He urged the court to reject the documents, citing many legal authorities to buttress his arguments.
    Also rejecting the document, Sunny Odey, Counsel to the second accused, Mr Yusuf Gyang Pam told the court that the person qualified to be the maker of the documents should be capable of taking responsibility of his contents. Odey pointed out that the documents cannot be tendered for the purpose and therefore urged the court that the documents be rejected.
    Having listened to the parties, the judge, Mr. Justice Daniel Longji adjourned ruling on the matter to Wednesday.
    Longji overruled the 1st and 2nd accused, saying he was relying on section 83 and 84 of the Evidence Act to rule that he document is admissible.
    He said the law is not ignorant and must not shut its eye to the mysteries of the computer in the modern days. He said not admitting the document will be like throwing a baby with the bathwater.
    Having admitted the document, the witness was then called up to testify.

  • Buhari’s anti-corruption fight a window dressing – Ozekhome

    Human rights activists/constitutional lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) has scored the President Muhammadu Buhari administration low on anti-corruption fight, describing it as “mere window dressing”.

    Ozekhome also surmised that Nigeria would be in trouble if it was not restructured, adding that “Nigeria will restructure us”.

    He spoke on Tuesday at the 2018 Bar Week, currently going on in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital with the theme; ‘The Ideology of Restructuring in Nigeria: Legal, Political and Socio-Economic Imperative’.

    In his paper entitled; ‘The Bar, Bench, Investigating Agencies and Anti-Corruption Campaign in Nigeria’, Ozekhome critically examined the anti-corruption war under Buhari, and concluded that the campaign was a ruse.

    He, however, attributed the genesis of corruption to military incursion into the Nigeria’s political space, lamenting that the malaise has become hydra-headed and well entrenched to the extent that successive governments lack the courage to fight to a standstill.

    “Corruption is not limited to the payment and receipt of bribes; it takes various forms and is practiced under all forms of government including established democracies”, he noted, adding that the vice permeate every strata of Nigeria’s public and private life.

    Read Also: Ozekhome, free speech and Fawehinmi lecture

    According to Ozekhome, the Federal Government has continued to paint a picture of anti-corruption war being waged in the country, but pointed out that such action would only amount to nothing when the same system wallow in corruption and other vices.

    He chided the Federal Government for what he described as fragrant abuse of human rights and frequent disregard to the rule of law, saying such act of impunity runs counter to the anti-corruption mantra of the President Buhari-led administration.

    The Senior Advocate recalled that the wholesale introduction of corruption into the body politics of Nigeria by military governments forced former President Olusegun Obasanjo, to establish the two anti-corruption agencies (ICPC and EFCC), but regretted that such fight may never be won, after all.

    “One thing that gained prominence during these many years of military rule in Nigeria was widespread corruption, assassinations, killings, money laundering and human rights abuses and gross unaccountability and impunity which became a culture well entrenched in Nigeria.

    “Wanton corruption is unfolding in different shapes daily, but this has been given a new name in the shape of ‘corruption fighting back’, a term the government of the day prefer to adopt to explain away the violent disregard to the principle of separation of power and fragrant violations of fundamental human rights and rule of law…”, he said.

    He noted that the widespread trampling on the rule of law has made nonsense of the anti-corruption war, pointing out that “democracy must float with the rule of law”.

    The impunity of the Federal Government and the desecration of the temple of justice as could be seen in the disobedience to Courts orders, he explained, have hamstrung the judicial process not to be able to play its role as the hope for justice for everybody.

    For instance, he pointed out that in the case of the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Alhaii Sambo Dasuki, currently languishing in detention, Ozekhome, “the Federal Government has disobeyed the Court order for him to be released on bail for five times”, adding that such impunity has combined to make the judiciary a lame duck.

    He, therefore, called for Nigeria to immediately be restructured to for every sections of the country to have a sense of belonging.

  • Melaye: Case commences in illegal possession of firearms, other charges

    The alleged accomplices that alleged Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West), in the alleged offences of criminal conspiracy, illegal possession of firearms and arms dealing, on Monday, at the commencement of the case, declared the charges as false.

    Kabiru Seidu aka Osama, 31, aka and Nuhu Salihu aka Small, 25, aka who along with the federal lawmaker appeared before the Kogi State Senior Magistrate Court, Lokoja, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

    The alleged offences according the lead prosecution counsel, Alex Izinyon (SAN), are contrary to section 97(1) and the Penal Code and section 27(1)(a) (1) of the Firearms Act CAP P28, Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2004.

    It would be recalled that the Kogi State High Court presided over by the Chief Judge, Justice Nasir Ajanah had earlier granted Melaye bail, chiefly on medical grounds.

    Iziyon said that the status of first and second defendants remained same in police custody as ordered by the Senior Magistrate Court, on May 3, noting that their pleas were not taken on arraignment.

    He submitted that the court had jurisdiction to try the case and should therefore go ahead to take their pleas.

    When the charges, seven in all were read afresh to the accused, they pleaded not guilty.

    Read Also: I have bounced back , says Melaye

    The prosecution thereafter applied for the leave of the court to have their depositions of his witnesses forwarded to the defense.

    The deponents, he urged, would then attend the court to adopt the depositions and be cross examined.

    Holding brief for Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), lead counsel to the 3rd defendant (Melaye), Yemi Mohammed, objected to the application saying that the case being a criminal one require that witnesses give their testimonies in the open court.

    He said the front loading system the prosecution was urging the court to adopt amounted to a short cut, and would be prejudicial to his client and reduce the chances of the public getting to know the truth.

    According to him: “It amounts to closure of the trial by about 50 percent. Justice is a three way traffic – the prosecutor, the accused and the society and that is why trials are done in the open court”.

    In his ruling, the Senior Magistrate, Mr. Sulyman Abdullah said he would “wholeheartedly” want trials in his court to be concluded speedily but that he would have to look at the rules of the court.

    His words, “Where their are no such rules, I harken to look at the provisions of section 479(4) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Kogi State.

    “This is a case that this court will appreciate that everyone put what they have on the table. I am not comfortable with sworn depositions replacing oral testimonies of witnesses.

    “The application of the prosecution is refused and I want this trial to be concluded in the normal ways trials are done and will be ready to take evidence day-to-day if need be”.

    The case was adjourned to July 26, for commencement of hearing.

  • I have bounced back , says Melaye

    The senator representing Kogi West, Dino Melaye, on Monday boasted that he has bounced back after his travails.

    Melaye in a tweet noted that though he was taken to the “dead end”, blackmail could not prevail over him.

    Melaye who had been battling to save his political career insisted that attempts to seal his lips from speaking against “tyranny, politics of oppression and blackmail” have failed.

    It was not clear whether Melaye twitted from his hospital bed at the National Hospital, Abuja where he had been recuperating after jumping out of a police van that was taking him to Lokoja, Kogi State capital to face trial for alleged gunrunning.

    He said in the tweet “Someone once said, that, rock bottom is good solid ground and a dead-end street is just a place to turn around. In the last few weeks, I have been taken to the good solid ground at the rock bottom and they couldn’t go further. I have been brought to the dead-end street but with you standing by my side, I have turned around and bounced back to the chagrin of those who sought to seal my lips from speaking out against tyranny, politics of oppression and blackmail.

    “They, unleashed an endless barrage of physical, psychological, metaphysical and emotional torture and assault on me, but, through the power of the Most High, and you the good people of Nigeria, we have once again, seen the triumph of truth over lies and good over evil.

    “ It was Edmund Burke who was quoted as saying that when bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, … in a contemptible struggle. I am of all men, a blessed man, to have courageous and dependable people like you as my fellow soldiers in the struggle to free us from the shackles of political strongholds and tyranny. It is to you and my most wonderful and ever knowledgeable people of Kogi State, especially Kogi West, that I owe my deepest gratitude. You stood by me against the state and your own ‘best political self-interest’.

    “The state unleashed its raw power on me and released 200 man-strong fully armed policemen – on a man without a knife nor a bullet. It did this because I called injustice by its name and called for accountability. For this they sought to break my spirit and destroy me permanently. In their moment of reign, I was fully shackled. With my hands tied to my back, and hurled into a dark solitary confinement waiting for the butchers knife, you, my people stood by me.

    “You came against a raging fire and stood up against tyranny, lies, filthy lucre, injustice, persecution and greed. While in the dark and unable to fight for myself, they sought to take my mandate, which you had freely given to me. But you answered back and quenched deceit in its wake. You stood resolute and unflinching and defended your mandate to me. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. In their attempt to break me, they have made me stronger.

    “To you my indefatigable leaders; my irremovable President of the Senate, a man of immeasurable vision for Nigeria and true fighter for the enthronement of true democracy and the rule of law, Sen. (Dr.) Abubakar Bukola Saraki.

    “The fearless Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, I thank you both for your steadfastness in the defence of the Nigerian Constitution and the enthronement of the Rule of Law, justice and equity and the emasculation of anti-democratic forces and tyranny everywhere in Nigeria. I am eternally grateful to you.

    “To the entire National Assembly Membership, especially my colleagues in the Senate, I am eternally indebted to you for not playing politics but standing courageously against oppression and terror. You have shown yourself leaders on whom Nigeria’s hope for tomorrow can be assured.

    Read Also: Dino’s trials

    “To you our governors, ministers, my dear Okun people and leaders, the National Chairman and Kogi State Executive of the PDP, leaders of the Diplomatic Corps, opinion leaders, Chief Mike Ozekhome SAN, Chief Ricky Tarfa SAN, human rights lawyers and activists, and all my well-wishers and lovers of democracy in Nigeria; the Christian and Muslim Community, all of you that visited me in the National Hospital, after I was injured and subsequently detained at the hospital. I thank you all for your steadfastness in the defence of due process and the rule of law. I also thank you for your courage and solidarity.

    “Our ever foresighted and courageous civil society leadership, the media, leaders of thought across the country, our hard-working youth for whom I will give my last blood, our loving mothers and sisters, I lack words to express to you my profound gratitude for the unbreakable chord of love that binds me to you through thick and thin. You have strengthened my resolve and hardened my flesh against those who seek to devour and make meat of me. You have once again proven to me the axiom in the saying that “in prosperity, our friends know us; in adversity, we know our friends.” I am very grateful. For your sake, I remain unbowed.

    “I know many of you worry about my safety and life in this new dispensation where life is no longer sacred in Nigeria. But do not be troubled. My bond of love for you, my good people, makes it impossible for me to consider my self-risk, safety, comfort or opportunity in my unflinching commitment to stand up for you, to stand up for truth and if necessary die for the truth and the emancipation of our people from the chains of poverty and oppression. Though they raise spurious allegations against me, bear false witness against me, though they seek to frighten me and lure me into their bounty of evil, I will fear no foe.

    “Yes, my traducers and torturers wish that I keep quiet; though they seek to seal my lips, to silence my voice forever, I remain ever more resolute and committed. I am committed to this cause for which I am a politician; the cause of the down trodden, to speak truth to power and stand against oppression and injustice. On these issues there will be no compromise. I owe no apologies and I tender none.

    “Like I have always said, you speak the truth, you die, you don’t speak the truth, you die. I have chosen to speak the truth, dead or alive. Rev. Martin Luther King Jnr., once said, “Cowardice asks the question – is it safe? Expediency asks the question – is it politics? Vanity asks the question – is it popular? But conscience asks the question – is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular; but one must take it because it is right.”

    “To my people, I promise you this and this only. I have taken my position, I will not hold back, I will not hold my peace, I will not be shut down, neither will I shut-up, not as long as injustice and falsehood continues to reign, as long as I will live, I will not bow to Baal.

    “May the Almighty continue to keep you all and be your bulwark until victory is assured. Once again, I thank you all so much. God bless you. God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

  • Melaye: Ruling on bail application fixed for May 18

    The Kogi State High Court, sitting in Lokoja, has adjourned ruling on an application for bail brought by Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West), to next week Wednesday.

    Justice Nasir Ajanah on Thursday after listening to arguments by Melaye’s counsel, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) and the government’s lead prosecutor, Alex Iziyon (SAN), fixed ruling on the bail application for May 18.

    The two applications before the court, from the two counsels, were consolidated.

    Moving the application for bail, Ozekhome described the motion for variation by the prosecution as uncalled for, arguing that the judge could not reverse himself on the matter.

    Read Also: Court orders Melaye’s remand at Abuja hospital

    “Since the trial judge had already ruled according to Section 166 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law…the section did not say the court should vary an order it earlier made”, he argued.

    He noted that the prosecution failed to appeal the ruling of the court that Melaye be taken back to the National Hospital, Abuja.

  • Court orders Melaye to be moved to Abuja

    The Kogi State High Court sitting in Lokoja, on Friday ordered that the Senator representing Kogi West be moved the National Hospital Abuja.

    The judge also adjourned till Monday 7th May, for continuation of hearing in a written bail application filled by his counsel, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), asking for variation of the remand order placed him.

    This followed Thursday’s refusal to grant bail to the Senator Melaye, when he was arraigned before the Senior Magistrate Court 2, sitting in Lokoja on a seven-count charge bothering on criminal conspiracy and illegal possession of fire arms.

    The Chief Justice of Kogi State, Justice Nasir Ajanah who presided over the proceedings, said that in view of the critical health conditions as espoused by the counsel to the applicant, he should be moved to the National Hospital, Abuja for proper medical attention.

    Earlier, counsel to the defendant, Chief Ozekhome had argued that Senator Melaye is a chronic asthmatic patient who gasped for breath on Thursday while being arraigned and had to be given his inhaler right there in the courtroom and in the presence of the trial magistrate, Sulyman Abdaklah.

  • Patience Jonathan’s $15.5m: companies’ seek guilty plea reversal

    Four companies which pleaded guilty to laundering $15.5million allegedly belonging to former First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan Wednesday urged the Federal High Court in Lagos to reverse their guilty plea.

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned them with a former Special Adviser on Domestic Affairs to President Jonathan, Dr Waripamo Dudafa, a lawyer Amajuoyi Briggs, who is the companies’ secretary, and a banker, Adedamola Bolodeoku.

    Unlike the companies, Dudafa, Briggs and Bolodeoku pleaded not guilty to the 17-count charge.

    The companies’ lawyer Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) told Justice Babs Kuewumi that his clients were not given a fair trial before their conviction because they had no legal representation of their choice.

    “Throughout the trial, they did not have any counsel or counsel of their choice,” the SAN said.

    He added that had the judge’s attention been drawn to it, he would have ordered the prosecution to provide a counsel for the defendants.

    Ozekhome said he was briefed to represent the companies after its directors pleaded guilty despite not being authorised by the board to do so.

    Moving his motion seeking to set aside the companies conviction, Ozekhome said the y were convicted “in gross violation” of the 1999 Constitution, which he said occasioned a miscarriage of justice.

    He prayed that the trial be done de novo (afresh) and that the previous proceedings be declared null, void and unsustainable in law.

    The application, he said, is on the ground that the court failed to pass a sentence on the convicted companies, as the judge reserved sentence until end of the other defendants’ trial.

    “The lapse in time between the conviction and expected sentence amounts not only to torture but breach of right to be tried within a reasonable time. Because there was no sentence, they cannot exercise their right of appeal,” he said.

    Besides, Ozekhome said the directors who pleaded guilty were not authorised by the board to defend the companies, adding that his clients were denied the right to cross-examine the purported directors.

    “They’re just busybodies and interlopers who were pressure to come and plead guilty. They had no mandate to do so,” he said.

    The defence counsel said the companies’ conviction was “grossly unfair” and amounted to “justice crushed” due to non-compliance with Section 36 of the 1999 constitution which requires than an accused be given adequate facilities to defend himself.

    “We urge my lord to set aside this manifest, manifold travesty of justice. We need a trial de novo. We are crying on bended knees. The companies want to be tried, but they want to be defended in this trial, not ‘nicodemusly’, but in the public,” he said.

    But, prosecuting counsel Rotimi Oyedepo urged the court to refuse the application for being an abuse of court process.

    According to him, it amounted to asking the judge to revisit his ruling and to assume the position of an appellate court.

    “Your Lordship is functus officio (a doctrine which prevents the re-opening of a matter before the same court),” he said, adding that the companies have a right to appeal their conviction.

    “Re-inviting my lord to change his earlier findings is like asking him to return to Egypt when he has crossed the red sea. This application is asking my lord to constitute himself into an appellate court. This application is a violent abuse of process of this court and should be frowned at,” Oyedepo said.

    He denied that the directors who pleaded guilty were not authorised to do so, saying there was evidence that they were indeed the companies’ directors from the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and from the companies’ bank accounts.

    Justice Kuewumi adjourned until July 3 for ruling and hearing of a pending by Briggs.