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Tag: sued

  • Interbank Settlement System sued for N1.41b over wrongful termination

    Interbank Settlement System sued for N1.41b over wrongful termination

    Temidayo Adekanye, son of a former Chief Executive Officer of the defunct Commerce Bank Ltd, the late Dr Femi Adekanye, has filed a legal action before the National Industrial Court in Lagos against the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System Plc, challenging the alleged wrongful termination of his appointment.

    In the suit marked NICN/LA/56/2024 and filed by his lawyer, Wahab Shittu (SAN), Temidayo is also demanding N1.41 billion in damages for the unlawful termination of his appointment without due process.

    The claimant is also asking the court to hold that the termination of his employment on January 15, 2023, is unlawful, wrongful and unjustified and wants the court to reinstate him to his position as though he had never been terminated.

    Adekanye is further asking the court to direct the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System to pay all his salaries, allowances and or other perquisites accruable to his office from the date of the purported termination until judgment is delivered.

    He is also asking the court to hold that he is entitled to all the promotions which he would have had but for the purported termination.

    Read Also: ‘Compensate victims of rice stampede or be sued’

    Adekanye further claimed that he was employed by the Defendant, pursuant to a letter of employment dated the 7th of December, 2020, as the Chief Risk and Compliance Officer (Grade: General Manager (GM) Senior Vice President (SVP) with effect from January 15, 2021.

    He added that his employment is regulated by the rules and regulations in the Human Capital Policy of the organisation and shall be found upon at the trial.

    The claimant stated that despite the accolades and acknowledgement of his versatility and resourcefulness which endeared him to serve either as a member or chairman of various committees, his appointment was ignobly terminated through a letter dated January 15, 2023.

    He claimed that upon being offered employment, he demonstrated the required experience, expertise and highest professionalism attached to such a position that his versatility and resourcefulness endeared him to serve either as a member or chairman of committees.

    These are Information Technology Steering Committee (IT) SteerCo) – chairman; Disciplinary Committee – chairman; Enterprise Resource Planning Committee (transferred based on workload) – member; Executive Committee (ExCo) – member; Management Risk Review Committee (MRRC) – member; Service Review Committee – member; and Monthly Performance Review Committee – member.

    The claimant avers that throughout the period of his employment, he served the defendant diligently and was never involved in any disciplinary misconduct.

    No date has been fixed for a hearing.

  • ‘Why I sued Kpakpovwe and his ministry’

    A lawyer, Ms Tamara Egbedi, who sued the Chapel of Liberty Church, and its Pastor, Chris Kwakpovwe, has said her action was to underscore the fact that churches and pastors owe their members and those who attend their programmes a duty of care.

    She debunked claims that her action was an attack on the body of Christ.

    The Lagos State High Court ordered the church to pay her N9.5 million after she lost seven teeth in an accident in the church.

    The ministry had published on its website that it viewed the case as a persecution of the body of Christ.

    “It is spiritual warfare! So, all well-meaning Christians and indeed sincere souls should not treat it with levity but should see it as a stunt on the Body of Christ,” the church said, describing her demand for compensation as “ridiculous”.

    But, Ms Egbedi said the event of January 22, 2010 was one of the most traumatic in her life as she lost seven teeth, suffered a fractured jaw at a time when she had just relocated back to Nigeria due to the death of her father, the late Capt. A. K. I. Egbedi.

    Her father, a pilot, died in the ill-fated plane crash at Obudu on March 15, 2008. She was to attend the funeral in the following weeks.

    She narrated her story: “It was the lowest point in my life, as I had my father’s death to come in terms with. I organised and attended the funeral weeks after wearing removable dentures like an old person, went through series of reconstructive surgeries and had to wear painful braces to restore my dentition and save the rest of my teeth which were also affected.

    “I suffered depression as I had no one to help with the huge dental bills, thus sold my fish farm at Epe and saved every penny to pay for the bills all alone.

    “So, when Dapo Akinosun, a partner of SimmonCoopers Partners and a pastor of Redeemed Christian Church of God agreed to take up my case pro-bono, I wept as it was like a ray of sunlight in the mist of all the darkness. Mr Akinosun alongside Ms Funmilola Mesaiyete and Ayodeji Jolaoso fought the good fight insisting that such behaviour of a man of God was wrong, shameful and sad.

    “There were over five people with heart-breaking injuries like a broken leg, shoulder, skull all caused by the gutters in between the chairs provided by the church at the overflow outside the hall.

    “I was so surprised that despite these multiple accidents, no one deemed it fit to seal off the area, properly cover the exposed gutter or put a sign up alerting people of the danger and remove the chairs there in order to avoid worse a death.

    “I insisted to wait till the end of the event to see Rev. Chris Kwakpovwe with the bloodied face, fractured jaw, affected seven teeth in order that no one says that the injuries were sustained elsewhere.

    “He directed me to Mrs. St. Matthew Daniels (a pastor), who saw my injuries and told me to go to a dental clinic, be treated and inform her of the bills.

    “I was going to let this go until the defendants insulted me in a letter, calling my request for the payment of my medical bills as a gold-digging venture, daring me to go to court.

    “Worse was when Rev. Chris Kwakpovwe decided to print defamatory words against me in his Daily Manna devotional about the incident, insinuating I was an agent of the devil and being used by certain enemies!

    “He even asked devotional users to pray against me claiming that I blackmailed him and instructed his members to disregard any lawsuit about this matter. It was at this point, I resolved to go to court…”

  • Septuagenarian, others sued

    Three men, who allegedly forged the documents of a land title, have been arraigned at an Osogbo Chief Magistrates’ Court, Osun State.

    The defendants, Alarape Sariyu, 70, Rauf Balogun, 60 and Abdul Hazeem, 34, are facing a four-count charge of conspiracy, forgery, unlawful entry and breach of public peace.

    The prosecutor, Joshua Oladoye, told the court that the defendants committed the offences last month at 1, Obelawo Estate, Osogbo.

    He said the defendants forged documents of a piece of land belonging to Lawal Obelawo.

    Oladoye said the defendants unlawfully erected a building on the land without consent of the complainant.

    “This led to the breach of public peace, as there was a fracas between the defendants and the complainant,’’ the prosecutor said.

    He said the matter was reported to the police and the defendants were arrested.

    Oladoye said the offences contravened sections 81, 249 (d) 456 and 516 of the Criminal Law of Osun State, 2003.

    The defendants pleaded not guilty.

    The defence counsel, Mrs. Olubukola Ademola, urged the court to grant her clients bail in liberal terms.

    The Magistrate, Mrs. Fatima Sodamade, granted the defendants bail at N500,000 each, with one surety.

    She adjourned the case till December 20 for mention.

  • Mimiko sued over obaship tussle

    Ondo State governor,  Olusegun Mimiko and the Chairman of Akoko NorthWest Local Government Area of the state have been dragged before a state High Court sitting in Ikare to stop Alhaji Yisa Olanipekun from parading himself as the Zaki of Arigidi-Akoko as directed by the Court of Appeal.

    The suit(marked HIK/15/2015) was filed on behalf of Prince Tunde Olanipekun, by a lawyer, Olalekan Akinrinsola of Emmanuel Emodamori & Co.

    The state Deputy Governor; state Attorney General; Alhaji Yisa Olanipekun; Pa Salau Olanipekun (Head of Irara family) and A.O. Oloruntoba (Head, Arigidi kingmakers) were joined in the suit as defendants.

    The plaintiff wants the court to compel the governor, council chairman, kingmakers and others to respect the two separate  judgements of Justice Olasehinde Kumuyi headed High Court on July 25, 2011 and that of the Court of Appeal presided over by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun on June 19, 2013 that nullified the selection and appointment of Alhaji Yisa as the Zaki, a first class traditional ruler of Arigidi.

    Prince Tunde Olanipekun prayed the Ikare High Court to set aside the October 3rd 2014 judgement of Justice Bode Adegbehingbe of the State High Court as it did not supersede the superior verdict of the appellate court.

  • Wike sued for restoring Omehia’s rights, privileges

    Wike sued for restoring Omehia’s rights, privileges

    •‘Governor’s action violates subsisting Supreme Court’s verdict’

    A lawyer, ThankGod Nwugha, has sued Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike at the State High Court in Port Harcourt for restoring the rights and privileges of a former Governor Celestine Omehia.

    Wike’s action is said violate a subsisting Supreme Court judgment.

    Nwugha is also the principal solicitor of T. G. E. Nwugha and Co., a firm of legal practitioners in Port Harcourt, the state capital.

    The defendants in the suit are: Wike, the state’s Attorney-General and Omehia.

    Nwugha averred that Wike, by mere proclamation and announcement on June 25, restored the rights and privileges of Omehia and hung his portrait in public offices, despite the landmark judgment of the Supreme Court on October 25, 2007.

    A former House of Assembly’s Speaker Rotimi Amaechi, then of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was replaced as the governorship candidate of the party on February 2, 2007 by Omehia, his cousin, from the same Ubima in Ikwerre Local Government Area.

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration said Amaechi’s candidacy had “K-leg”.

    Omehia took part in the election on April 14, 2007, won and was inaugurated as governor on May 29, 2007.

    But he was sacked on October 25, 2007 by the Supreme Court, which held as follows: “In the eyes of the law, Omehia was never a candidate in the election, much less the winner.”

    Amaechi was inaugurated on October 26, 2007.

    Nwugha said: “I know …that the judgment of the Supreme Court is final and is binding on all other courts, persons, governments, principalities and powers.

    “To my greatest consternation, the first defendant (Wike), on Thursday, June 25, 2015, proclaimed that he had recognised and restored the third defendant (Omehia) as a former governor of Rivers State with all the appurtenant benefits, privileges, entitlements and rights…”

     

  • NASS crisis: Dogara, FCC sued

    NASS crisis: Dogara, FCC sued

    A cultural group, Igbo Youth Democrats has sued the Federal Character Commission (FCC) and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara for disregard of the FCC principle on House leadership.

    Group President Okere Kingdom in a statement yesterday said people from the Southeast were not slaves and  should be recognised in driving the country’s affairs.

    Kingdom sought to know the interpretative jurisdiction of the Federal High Court on equitable zoning of political offices.

    The plaintiffs, Kingdom and Comrade Eze Chigbu, on behalf of the group contended:

    • Whether or not zoning of elective political or appointive offices is constitutional and should be strictly followed in the appointment, election, selection, nomination or endorsement of principal officers of the House and other political offices in Nigeria, in view of Section 14 (3) and (4) and Paragraphs 7 and 8 of Part One of the Third Schedule of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Sections 5 and 6 of the Federal Character Commission (Establishment ETC) Act.

    • Whether or not the FCC Act and the establishment of the FCC was to ensure fairness, equality and justice in the distribution of political offices and in the composition of the government at all levels and the need to avoid domination of one ethnic group over the other(s).

    • Whether or not it complies with the FCC for one geo-political zone to produce two principal officers of the House when other zones have produced nothing.

    • Whether or not the programmes, activities, as well as aims and objectives of political parties, especially in the nomination, selection, election and endorsement of candidates for the principal positions of the NASS and other political offices at the State and Federal levels must comply with section 14 (3) and (4) of the 1999 constitution as mandated in sections 223 (1) (b) and 224 of the 1999 constitution.

    He noted that the combined effects of the sections of the constitution are zoning, and the Igbo should not be zoned out of the principal positions in the House of Representatives.

    “That is why we are in court, as the last hope of the oppressed,” he added.

     

  • Traditional rulers sued over land dispute

    An Ogun State High Court, sitting in Shagamu, has adjourned till January 12, next year, the trial of two traditional rulers in Mowe, Ogun State over a disputed land in Alahun, Shagamu.

    The court, presided by Justice E.A. Osinuga, ordered the defendants, the Baale of Mowe, Chief Babatunde Ojelade and his counterpart at Imedu-Nla, Chief Jimoh Adebayo and other parties, “the named and the un-named”, to maintain the status quo pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit filed against them by the claimant,.

    In an application filed before the court by his counsel, Yemi Omodele, the claimant, Chief Olorunjuwonlo Bankole Otasanya and the traditional ruler of the disputed land, sought  injunctive reliefs against the defendants.

    He asked the court for an order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants from trespassing on the  disputed land.

    He asked for an order of the court to declare that the defendants, their servants, agents and/or privies do not have any portion of the land covered by survey plan no. AP1245 dated 12/08/1985, the land being at Alahun Village Sagamu Local Government Area (LGA).

    He averred that the defendants have caused a lot of confusion in Mowe and its environs by turning to land speculators.

    He alleged that the defendants facilitated his being charged to the Magistrates’ Court in Sagamu on a frivolous charge that their family, Otasanya Bankole, as the owner of the land in dispute from time immemorial,

    He claimed that the defendants were chased from Abeokuta and came to his community to disturb him.

    The defendants, in their statement of defence, claimed to be agents of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG).

    They averred that the church has bought the land in dispute from the claimant and his family.

    According to them, the RCCG paid money to the claimant in respect of the land.

    They said, in view of this, the claimant do not have land in the place, having sold same to the church and that they have the authority and consent of the RCCG to enter the land.

    In his reply to the defendants’ statement of defence, the claimant alleged that the traditional rulers  have turned their stools to land speculating avenue and do not respect their offices .

    He alleged that they have been duping people, who wanted to buy land in the area.

    The claimant also maintained that the defendants do not have any land in the disputed area and do not have any authority/ or consent from the RCCG to send him away from his father’s land.

    He stated that he was deceived to sign an undated MoU, which was attached to the defendants’ counter affidavit and their statement of defence.

    The RCCG, he stated, did not sign the document, but that the defendants brought it to him to cajole him, claiming that he collected money from the church.

  • Imo baby factory operator sued for N21.2m

    Doctor” James Ezuma, who was paraded by the Imo State Police Command for operating a baby factory, where 16 expectant teenagers were rescued, has been sued at the Owerri High Court for converting the land where he built and operated the illegal motherless babies’ home.

    The claimant, Mr. Theophilus N. Obidike, said the land on Plot 40, New Market Layout, Owerri, belonged to him.

    He said it was forcefully taken over by the defendant, who converted it to the headquarters of his Non-Government Organisation (NGO), Ezuma Women and Children Rights Protection Initiative (EWCRPI).

    Obidike addede that before the defendant invaded the land, he had built and furnished a bungalow on the plot, which served as a lodge for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members, but it was demolished by the defendant.

    According to the statement of claim, “the claimant started building a house on the plot, which was completed and equipped in 2009. He let it out to NYSC members, who belong to the Deeper Life Bible Church, at no cost.

    “Since then, corps members who worship at Deeper Life Bible Church have lived in the building.

    “But the defendant (Ezuma), without the warrant or authorisation of the claimant, instigated his agents, privies and thugs and a bulldozer to invade the plot, thereby destroying his fence, property and crops. The invasion resulted in economic loss and damage for the claimant.

    “The defendant has continued to trespass on the plot and when confronted, could not produce any lawful authority or warrant.”

    It was learnt that the claimant’s ownership of the land was founded upon a December 29,1989 Certificate of Occupancy registered at the Ministry of Lands, Owerri, in the name of Umello Oguike, an original allottee of the plot from the Imo State government and the head predecessor-in-title.

  • National Assembly sued over state creation

    National Assembly sued over state creation

    Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu at the weekend said one of the groups agitating for state creation has sued the National Assembly for its failure to create new states.

    Ekweremadu spoke in Abuja when a group seeking the creation of Bori State from Rivers State met him.

    The Bori State Movement, led by a Second Republic Senator Gbene Nunieh Cyrus, met Ekweremadu on the update of the group’s records for the creation of the state.

    Another prominent member of the group, Senator Magnus Abe, noted that Cyrus had been instrumental to the creation of Bori State.

    Abe said the proposed Bori State comprises seven local government areas – Oyigbo, Eleme, Andoni, Gokana, Kana, Tai and Okpoponkoro.

    Though Ekweremadu did not name the new state movement, a source said it was Adada State Movement, as the group has reportedly gone to court.

    The Deputy Senate President said the group went to court to compel the National Assembly to create new states.

    He stressed that going to court to seek an injunction to compel the National Assembly to create new states was not the way to go about state creation.

    Ekweremadu said: “I am told that one of those agitating for states has taken the matter to court. I think they are from my state.

    “Instead of doing the right thing, they preferred to go to court to waste the state’s resources in the name of getting the court to compel us to do our work. It does not work that way.

    “The issue of state creation for us is very fundamental, and because we are lawmakers, we believe in obeying laws and doing things the way they are written in the law. We are persuaded mostly by the principle of self-determination, which is an international law principle.

    “We believe that people should have the opportunity to decide where they want to live and how they want to live. It is a fundamental human right that has been recognised in almost all treaties.

    “More importantly, our constitution makes provisions for state creation and we are given the responsibilities to ensure that this happens. So, we will continue to do our best in that regard.

    “Regrettably, during the last exercise we did, we discovered that out of sheer enthusiasm, most of the states’ requests did not meet the requirements of our Constitution, especially Section 8, which talks about those who are to sign the requests.

    “In most instances, we discovered that traditional rulers quickly signed this, maybe out of love and enthusiasm, without looking at the content of the Constitution about who should sign.

    “In some instances where parliamentarians, who the Constitution requires to sign this, signed many years ago before this particular dispensation. I believe some of those requests did not meet the requirements of the Constitution.”

    The Deputy Senate President noted that the Bori State Movement was on the right course, saying: “So, you have taken the right step by looking at your papers, updating them and bringing them today.”

    He reminded others who might take a legal action that “anybody who goes to court, we have to wait until the court has finished its processes before we process their papers”.

    Ekweremadu advised groups seeking the creation of new states to take a cue from what Bori State Movement had done.

    He urged them “to look at their papers, update them and if they still want the state, they should as much as possible send their requests and we will be happy to process them and do what we have to do”.

    To the new state agitators, he said: “Now that you have brought your papers, we assure you that very shortly, we will meet to consider your request and if it meets the positions of Section 8 of the Constitution in respect of the signatories to this request, we would be will to have it sent to INEC for referendum to be conducted.”