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Tag: sue

  • Mum threatens to sue LASPOTECH over son’s assault

    Mother of a student of Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) allegedly assaulted by the school’s security men on July 11 for wearing earrings has threatened to go to court.

    Ms Folake Sokoya said she was injured when she went to enquire why her son, Boluwatife Olowu, was beaten up.

    She described as false LASPOTECH’s claim that she attacked its security men.

    In a statement, she said she had video and photographs to prove her case.

    Boluwatife is a National Diploma II student in the Hospitality Management Technology Department.

    The statement reads: “Reading through the purported press release, I find it misleading and false as the narrative of the Public Relations officer (PRO) does not depict the true account of what happened that day.

    “It may interest the general public to know that there are pictorial and video evidences on the true account of what transpired between both parties that fateful day.

    “The pictures of how I was battered with my son are enough evidence that their publication is false and misleading. My son and I were not in an accident but were battered mercilessly by LASPOTECH guards. I have resorted to seeking legal redress in quest for justice and my lawyer has been consulted and briefed on the matter.”

    In a petition, Sokoya said she lost some valuables to the attack.

    She said her son’s $300; stud earring, N70,000 earrings, a gold chain and pendant worth $800, a swatch wristwatch ($250) were lost. She claimed that her two Samsung J3 prime phones worth N40,000 each got damaged.

    The school denied the allegations in an earlier statement by its Deputy Registrar (Information and Public Relations) Olanrewaju Kuye.

    It described Ms Sokoya as the aggressor, alleging that she attacked its security men when she came to the school over the seizure of her son’s earrings.

  • …. Ngige threatens to sue INEC

    …. Ngige threatens to sue INEC

    Labour and Employment Minister, Chris Ngige, may head to court over the inclusion of his name on the list of the candidates for yesterday’s rerun election in the Anambra Central Senatorial  District.

    Ngige threatened, yesterday, to sue the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for deliberately listing his name with a view to humiliating him.

    The minister said he had, in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, informed INEC of his withdrawal from the rerun election on the 13th of January, 2016 when the election was originally  scheduled for March 2016.

    He wondered what the commission was up to after rejecting the name forwarded to it by the APC as his replacement after monitoring the primary that produced the candidate.

    He accused INEC of working for the candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) to emerge unopposed.

    He described yesterday’s election as a charade.

    He said: ” I’m not participating in the said election which can be described as a charade.

    ‘I have since, by a letter dated 11th January 2016, withdrawn from this rerun  election when it was earlier scheduled for March 2016 in accordance with the provisions of sections 33 and 35 of the Electoral Act 2010 for personal and Family reasons.

    ‘My party, the APC, accepted and promptly wrote INEC for my substitution. It went ahead and communicated its intention to organise a primary election for my substitution.

    “The primary monitored by INEC was organised at Awka and the name of a new candidate that emerged was promptly submitted, only for INEC to reject the new candidate on 29 January.

    “My party, the APC and INEC are in the Court of Appeal, Abuja, over this obnoxious and illegal action of INEC with hearing on the matter fixed for 23rd of January which is still within the armbit of 90 days ordered by court, only for the INEC to fix an ‘election’ for 13th in order to give an unfair advantage to the APGA candidate to go ‘unopposed’.”

     

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

    Why Nigerian victims of slavery cannot sue Libya, by Falana

    •Fed Govt urged to accept African Court’s jurisdiction 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Expelled Bayelsa APC chairman, others sue party

    Expelled Bayelsa APC chairman, others sue party

    The ousted Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bayelsa State, Chief Tiwe Oruminighe, and two former members of the State’s Executive Committee (SEC) have filed a suit challenging their expulsion and suspension at the state High Court, Ogbia Division, in Yenagoa.

    The claimants, in the originating summons, which was served the party, are asking the court to interpret the section of the APC’s Constitution, which the party relied upon to sack them.

    Other claimants in the September 8 suit are former Deputy Chairman Eddy Julius and  former State Secretary, Mr. Marlin Daniel, suspended by APC for alleged anti-party activities.

    Those joined in the suit are the Acting Chairman,  Mr. Joseph Fafi, Acting Secretary, Mr. Alabo Martins, National Vice-Chairman, Southsouth, Mr. Hilliard Eta, and members of Southsouth Zonal Executive Committee.

    Others are National Secretary of the party Alh. Mai Mala Buni, and APC’s National Working Committee.

    They are asking the court to make a declaration that by virtue of the the party’s constitution, Mai Buni (second respondent), has no powers to discipline them.

    They are demanding a further declaration that the disciplinary powers of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) could not be delegated to Buni or any other organ of the party.

    The claimant’s asked the court to make an order setting aside their punishment, and issue a perpetual injunction restraining the respondents for interfering in their functions.

    Other reliefs sought by the claimants are: “An order setting aside the purported expulsion of the first claimant (Oruminighe) by the second respondent as being unlawful, illegal, null and void by virtue of APC’s Constitution, 2014.

    “An order setting aside the appointment of the first respondent (Fafi) as acting chairman, acting deputy chairman and acting secretary of APC, Bayelsa State chapter.

    “An order of perpetual injunction restraining the respondents from interfering with, or abridging the duties, functions, privileges and rights of the claimants during the subsistence of their tenure as state chairman, state deputy chairman and state secretary of APC, Bayelsa chapter”.

    Fafi, yesterday, said the state chapter was being restructured to unseat the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the next election.

    He said the party, under his leadership, would overcome its challenges and emerge as the only platform for the people.

    Speaking when the Bayelsa Federated Newspaper Publishers Association (BAFENPA) visited him at the party’s secretariat in Yenagoa, the chairman said the PDP failed to develop the state despite being in power since beginning of the current democratic dispensation.

    He lamented that the state has nothing to show for occupying the Presidency for over six years under the PDP.

    “It is high time the people of Bayelsa State joined the ‘change wagon’. The collaboration among APC states has brought  much dividends to respective states in terms of agricultural production, manufacturing and other areas.

    “Bayelsa State cannot afford to continue to play opposition politics.  That is why APC is the only viable option we have today in Bayelsa State”, he said.

    He thanked BAFENPA  for the visit, saying the APC was ready to embrace everybody.

    He said the party would organise a ceremony to receive various groups and individuals already showing interest to defect to the APC.

    The Chairman, BAFENPA, Mr. Ayebaitari Easterday congratulated Fafi on his new position and pledged to support him.

  • NSITF threatens to sue employers for breaking its law

    The Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) may henceforth sue employers which refused to register with it in line with the law, its Managing Director /Chief Executive   Adebayo Somefun, has warned.

    He said in Abuja that for too long, many employers had defaulted in registering with NSITF.

    The penalty  for defaulters, he said, was too light, adding that  the NSITF would seek an amendment to its Act and the Employees Compensation Act (ECA) in order to enforce compliance.

    “Dialogue is very important, we will try to persuade them and also use the apparatus of  the government and the law. We must mandate them because it is mandatory.

    “Where persuasion has failed, I believe we can try to mandate them. We have written circulars but we still have some recalcitrant employers.

    “We will still try and persuade them and enforce where necessary, unfortunately, the penalty is so small.

    “So, I believe that this Act also has to be amended to give stiffer penalties,”Somefun said.

    He said he was discussing with his management on how  to pursue the Act’s amendment to ensure stiffer penalties.

    Somefun said part of his plans for NSITF the fund was to make Nigerians aware of its core functions.

    The statutory responsibility of the NSITF, he said, was to compensate employees who suffer from occupational diseases and sustain injury or disability from accidents in work place.

    “NSITF provides compensation to the dependants of an employee who dies in their workplace.

    “NSITF helps the employer to save for the rainy day,” he said.

    He described ECA as a no-fault scheme since it is a social fund which intends to ensure speedy compensation of employees.

    Any injured employee could be trained or rehabilitated under the NSITF in any vocation suitable for his condition.

    He said the fund had made it a duty to complete any request for compensation within two weeks, adding that he would work to bring the processing time down to days.

    “Compensation has started, that is why you have not seen people carrying placards saying that they have not been paid.

    “There is no request for compensation that has been brought to us here that has not been treated speedily,” Somefun said.

  • Vigilance group threatens to sue leader’s impostor

    The Southwest Command of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria (VGN) has vowed to sue a former member, Usman Mohammed Jahun, who allegedly impersonated its Commander General, Ali Sokoto, at the Senate’s public hearing of the VGN bill.

    Seeking advice at the Falana and Falana Chamber in Lagos, the crime fighters were miffed because Jahun, who left in 2009, reportedly appeared at the public hearing of the VGN bill last year and tried to hijack it.

    The command vowed to resist every internal and external intrigue aimed at subverting Sokoto’s position and authority, saying every member must be loyal to the man who has provided enabling environment and good leadership for the security outfit over the years.

    They were led to the Chamber by the National Chief of Staff, Chief Jimoh Aliu.

    An address by the Ondo State Commandant, Pastor Akinwunmi Oluwole Gideon, sought legal advice from Barrister Femi Falana (SAN) towards bringing Jahun to book.

    The human rights lawyer collected their documents and promised to peruse them. He advised that the VGN should always publicise its worthwhile activities so that individuals and establishments would know the steps its strengths and steps taken and use their services.

    Falana said: “Nigeria is under-policed, you should take advantage of the security lapse and popularise your activities through adequate publicity.”

  • Xenophobia: Falana threatens to sue South Africa

    Xenophobia: Falana threatens to sue South Africa

    Lagos lawyer and activist Femi Falana  has asked  South African President Jacob Zuma to identify perpetrators of criminal acts and xenophobic attacks against Nigerians and other Africans living in South Africa and bring them to justice.

    The request was contained in a letter yesterday, titled: “Request to identify perpetrators of xenophobic attacks against Nigerians, bring them to justice and provide adequate compensation to victims”.

    Falana urged Zuma to promote and ensure access to justice and the right to effective remedy and reparations to victims.

    He said he would sue the South African government if it failed to stop the xenophobic attacks as requested.

    “Take notice that if the xenophobic attacks continue, we shall be compelled to sue your government.

    “Since 2008, the xenophobic violence and other criminal acts have continued to occur across South Africa claiming lives, displacing tens of thousands of people and leaving countless victims injured and robbing them of their property.

    “Although some arrests have reportedly been made, many perpetrators are yet to be brought to justice while the victims continue to be denied access to justice and their internationally recognised right to effective remedy and reparations.

    “We believe that it is the failure of your government to bring perpetrators to justice and protect the victims that has resulted in a vicious cycle of attacks and impunity.

    “These xenophobic attacks and violence are not only human rights violations but also criminal acts, and the  failure to address the problems is a serious affront to the rule of law and directly breaches your government’s international human rights obligations.”

    The lawyer, therefore, said the South African government should identify and arrest perpetrators and bringing them to justice and publicly provide access to justice and effective remedy to victims.

    Falana urged Zuma to put measures in place to protect non-nationals, including Nigerians, living in South Africa.

    He argued that the prosecution of perpetrators and provision of reparations to victims would prevent future attacks.

  • Patients can sue for malpractices, says lawyer

    Patients can sue negligent doctors and demand damages for  malpractices, the Head of Legal Department, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Mr Sesan Olajide, has said.

    Patients, he said, have the right to sue and get justice when their rights are trampled upon.

    Olajide spoke at a seminar organised by the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital in Yaba, Lagos Mainland, and Scell Media Resources. The theme was Medical law and ethics, as it affects mental health.

    Olajide, the guest lecturer, said patients were becoming aware of their rights.

    ‘’This is why the rates of petitions are getting higher,’’ he added.

    Moreover, medical litigation in Nigeria is also increasing and courts are awarding monetary damages to claimants.

    “Many cases are settled out of court through payment of compensation to patients or their relations. These are attributed to several factors,” he said.

    He said litigation does even worse damage to the reputation of the institutions or caregivers when the issues are tried in the court of public opinion through the regular and social media.

    “The reality is that many health care-givers are not familiar with the medical law and ethics of practice of their respective professions, yet in terms of responsibility, ignorance of the law is not an excuse,” he said.

    He took participants through the governing laws of their professions and the roles of the professional regulatory bodies, especially  professional discipline. Patient’s rights, responsibilities and the rights of health care personnel were also discussed.

    For him, Nigeria lacks adequate laws to regulate patient care and even hospitals do not have policies and protocols on many significant matters.

    Mental health, he said, fared worse because “The Extant law in Nigeria was still the Lunacy Act of 1958, a colonial legacy that is to all intents and purposes archaic and incapable of meeting the challenges of and developments in mental healthcare today”.

    Quoting the World Health Organisation (WHO), he said, about 20 percent Nigerians are suffering from one form of mental illness or another, adding that mental health constitutes about 14 percent of the world disease burden. This, he said, underscores the need for the Eighth National Assembly to consider the proposed Mental Health Bill, which was introduced to the Assembly in 2003 and re-introduced in 2013.

    According to him, globally, mental health care has shifted tremendously towards the protection of the human rights of the patients, such as right to freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment and strict regulation of voluntary, emergency and involuntary admission for treatment.

    Olajide took participants through ethical/legal issues in patient care, such as confidentiality, privacy and informed consent.

    Others are charting, assault, elopement, suicide, blood transfusion, patient leaving against medical advice, HIV, test result mix-up, use of restraints/fall, clinical trials/experimental treatment and liability of healthcare institutions and caregivers for negligence.

    The hospital’s Acting Medical Director, Dr Richard Adebayo, said the hospital considers training and retraining of its staff a priority so that they could give patients the best service possible.

    He said the event, which is the second in the series, was aimed at enhancing their understanding of the law and ethics binding healthcare givers in the discharge of their duties.

    At the end, the participants expressed gratitude to the management of the hospital for organising the seminar which they found very educative, enlightening and informative, urging that it should be a continuous for the benefit of all staff.

    Solagberu resumes as LASUCOM Provost

     

  • 11 Reps sue Dogara over House rules

    11 Reps sue Dogara over House rules

    •We still united, says spokesman 

    Another round of crisis is brewing in the House of Representatives as Speaker Yakubu Dogara has been sued over the new Standing Orders.

    The Clerk of the House, Sani Omolori, was also joined in the suit at an Abuja High Court.

    The House rules were adopted on October 8, last year after the report of an ad hoc committee, which reviewed the House Standing Orders (2011), was considered.

    The aggrieved lawmakers are Mohammed Musa Soba (APC, Kaduna); Yusuf Bala Ikara (APC, Kaduna); Abubakar Lado Suleja (APC, Niger); and Lawal Yahaya Gumau (APC, Bauchi).

    Others include Rotimi Agunsoye (APC, Lagos); Aminu Ibrahim Malle (APC, Taraba); Sunday Adepoju (APC, Oyo); Ahmed Babba Kaita (APC, Katsina); Philip Shuaibu (APC, Edo); Abubakar Chika Adamu (APC, Niger).

    The lawmakers were concerned about the power vested in the Speaker  to suspend any member who approaches the mace.

    The new Standing Order also provides that the Speaker can suspend a member for 30 plenary days for failing to obey the presiding officer’s directive.

    In their written summons of December 14, the 11 lawmakers, led by Aliyu Sani Madaki (APC, Kano) urged the court to declare the new Standing Orders null and void as well as unconstitutional.

    In addition, the aggrieved lawmakers urged the court to restrain Dogara, the House or any of its agents from exercising the purported amendments vested on them in the new rules pending the determination of the matter.

    Also, the court was asked to declare as repressive, susceptible to abuse and breaches of their rights Dogara’s powers to present any proposal for the suspension of any member.

    Reacting to the development, House spokesman Abdulrazak Namdas, told The Nation on the phone that such the development would not affect the unity of the House.

    He said.”First and foremost I’m not aware of this but if it is true I won’t be able to make any comment on it since it is in court, we have to allow the court to decide.

    “We always have one or two differences and that will not hinder the smooth running of the House

    “There are 360 lawmakers in the House and as you said 11 people took the Speaker to court out of 360, I don’t think that can affect our unity.

    “We are in a democracy and we cannot stop people from making their views known but the truth is that we are still a group and will continue to work together.”

  • Dutch court clears Nigerian farmers to sue Shell

    Dutch court clears Nigerian farmers to sue Shell

    Claims jurisdiction in pollution case  against oil giant

    A Dutch Appeal Court ruled on Friday that Royal Dutch Shell may be held liable for oil spills at its subsidiary in Nigeria, potentially opening the way for other compensation claims against multinationals in the Niger Delta and elsewhere.

    The ruling was hailed by rights groups as a victory for victims of environmental pollution worldwide, while Shell said it was disappointed.

    Judges in The Hague ordered Shell to make available to the court documents that might cast light on the cause of the spills and whether leading managers were aware of them.

    A lower Dutch court in 2013 had ruled that Shell’s Dutch-based parent company could not be held liable for leakages of oil at its Nigerian subsidiary.

    The legal dispute dates back to 2008 when four Nigerian farmers and campaign group Friends of the Earth filed a suit against the oil company in the Netherlands, where its global headquarters is based.

    “Shell can be taken to court in the Netherlands for the effects of the oil spills,” the court said yesterday.

    “Shell is also ordered to provide access to documents that could shed more light on the cause of the leaks.”

    The court still has to decide if Royal Dutch Shell is in fact responsible for the spills. The court will continue to hear the case in March 2016.

    Judge Hans van der Klooster said the court had also found that it “has jurisdiction in the case against Shell and its subsidiary in Nigeria.”

    Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC), said in a statement: “We are disappointed the Dutch court has determined it should assume international jurisdiction over SPDC.

    “We believe allegations concerning Nigerian plaintiffs in dispute with a Nigerian company, over issues which took place within Nigeria, should be heard in Nigeria.”

    Shell has always blamed the leakages on sabotage which under Nigerian law would mean it is not liable to pay compensation. But the Dutch court said yesterday, “It is too early to assume that the leaks were caused by sabotage.”

    “The ruling is unique and can pave the way for victims of environmental pollution and human rights abuses worldwide to turn to the Netherlands for legal redress when a Dutch company is involved,” Friends of the Earth Netherlands said in a statement.

    In January 2013, the district court in The Hague ruled that one of the farmers in the original suit was eligible for compensation from Shell’s Nigerian division for spills on his land in the Niger Delta.

    The farmer appealed over whether the parent company should also be liable.

    In a separate case, Shell agreed in January to pay out 55 million pounds ($82 million) in out-of-court compensation for two oil spills in Nigeria in 2008 after agreeing a settlement with the affected community in the Delta.