Court of Appeal
Court dismisses appeal filed by Imo government on seizure of Senator Okorocha’s properties
Rochas Foundation A three-man panel of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, Wednesday, dismissed the appeal filed by the Attorney General of Imo State and forty others challenging the ruling of an Owerri Federal High Court, which granted Senator Rochas Okorocha the leave to amend processes filed before the Court. Presiding Judge in the Suit with Suit No:CA/ABJ/CV/942/2020, Justice Dattijo Yahaya, dismissed the appeal, following a notice of discontinuance dated and filed on March 16 by the Attorney General of Imo State, Cyprain Akaolisa, on behalf of the appellants. Counsel to Senator Rochas Okorocha, Oba Maduabuchi, opposed the withdrawal of the appeal on the ground that the appellants want to deceive the Court by pretending to discontinue the appeal and go back to Imo State and complete what the...
ASUSS lauds Nigerian government over recognition as legal trade union
The Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools (ASUSS) has commended the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity for granting recognition to the trade union in spite of an alleged deregistration plot against it by a rival union. ASUSS also saluted the Supreme Court of Nigeria for proving the judiciary as the last hope of the common man by upholding its appeal in a judgment delivered on January 15, where it held that ASUSS’ registration did not contravene the trade union statutes. This was contained in a statement entitled “A Woeful Cry; Agony Of A Loser” signed by ASUSS National Secretary Sola Adigun and made available to reporters in Ado-Ekiti on Saturday . Adigun, who doubles as the ASUSS Chairman in Ekiti, upbraided the national leadership of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) for m...
Appeal Court strikes out Facebook’s appeal against trademark judgment
The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos, Tuesday, dismissed Facebook’s appeal challenging the judgment of a Federal High Court, Lagos, which awarded N10 million against it (Facebook) in favour of a Nigerian firm, Double Paws Enterprise, as damages for unlawfully interfering with the use of the firm’s trademark. The appellate court justices that decided the matter were Justices Haruna Tsammani, Oluwayemisi Williams-Dawodu, and Abdullahi Bayero. Justice Bayero read the lead judgment. Facebook had appealed the lower court judgment through its counsel, Jackson Etti. However, counsel to the respondent, Double Paws Enterprise, was Mr Gideon Okebu. Facebook challenged the competence of the appeal and urged the Appeal Court to dismiss the same for being fundamentally flawed. Justice Bayero in the lea...
Imo North bye election: Appeal Court upholds Frank Ibezim’s disqualification as APC candidate
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, on Saturday, upheld the disqualification of Sir Chuwuma Ibezim as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the Senatorial by-election held in Imo North on December 5, 2020. The appellate court, in a unanimous decision by a three-man panel of Justices, affirmed the judgement of the Federal High Court in Abuja which ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to remove Ibezim’s name from the list of candidates for the by-election, after it found him guilty of submitting falsified documents. The high court judgement followed a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1229/2020, which was filed against Ibezim by Asomugha Elebeke. Trial Justice Inyang Ekwo had in the judgement delivered on December 4, 2020, barely 24 hours to the by-election, ...
Edo election: Court annuls Osagie Ize-Iyamu, Gani Audu’s APC candidacy
An Edo State High Court sitting in Benin, has nullified the candidacy of the Deputy Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the September 19, 2020 governorship election in the State, Mr. Gani Audu. The court presided over by Justice Courage Ogbebor, by extension, also nullified the candidacy of the party’s governorship candidate for the election, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu. Audu is a former member of the State House of Assembly. The Plaintiff, Sunday Kadiri, from Ogbona ward, in Etsako West Local Government Area of the State, had asked the court to disqualify Audu from participating in the election on account of having given false information to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to aid his qualification for the election. Kadiri further prayed the ...
Olisa Metuh leaves Kuje prison
Former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, has been released from Kuje prisons following the court judgment that upturned his conviction. Newsmen gathered that Metuh left the prison about 4.46pm. on Thursday. Metuh was joyful, according to one his close aides who spoke with newsmen after he left the correctional faciility at Kuje where he had been held since February 25, 2020. “Yes, Oga has just left about two minutes ago,” one of Metuh’s aides told newsmen. He was seen off by the FCT Comptroller of Correctional Facilities and the head of Kuje Correctional Facility. Metuh was sentenced by Justice Okon Abang to seven-year imprisonment on the allegation of money laundering on February 25, 2020. However, the Court of Appeal penultimate Wednesd...
Court admits Senator Ndume to bail citing ‘good behaviour’
Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja, yesterday, on grounds of “good behaviour”, admitted Senator Ali Ndume to bail over his suretyship for former Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina. Maina, who is standing trial on a 12-count charge of alleged N2 billion money laundering, was assumed to have jumped bail following his failure to appear in court for his trial on four different adjournments. It would be recalled that Justice Abang had admitted Maina to bail in the sum of N500 million and a surety in like sum, who must be a serving Senator and must attend every court proceedings relating to the matter. Ndume had stood surety for Maina in his alleged money laundering trial and was consistent in attending Maina’s trial until sometime in Septem...
#RevolutionNow: Appeal court strikes out Omoyele Sowore’s appeal
The Court of Appeal in Abuja, on Wednesday, struck out the notice of appeal that convener of the 2019 #RevolutionNow protest, Mr. Omoyele Sowore, filed to challenge his bail conditions. Sowore, who was the presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, AAC, in the last general election and publisher of an online news outlet, Sahara Reporters, is facing treasonable felony charge the Federal Government preferred against him before the Federal High Court in Abuja. Though he was initially arraigned alongside his co-defendant Olawole Bakare (A.K.A. Mandate) on September 30, 2019, on a seven-count charge that bordered on conspiracy, money laundering, cyber-stalking and for allegedly insulting President Muhammadu Buhari, the prosecution subsequently reduced the charge to two counts. Meanw...
36 states sue federal government, demand funding of state courts
The 36 states governors, through their respective Attorneys General and Commissioners for Justice, have dragged the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN, before the Supreme Court over the failure of the Federal Government to fund the courts in the country with recurrent expenditure since May 5, 2009. It will be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari, had in May 2020, signed Executive Order 10, which gave financial autonomy to the legislature and judiciary at the state level. The state governors argued that the Federal Government should also fund state courts if the president must make such order. The plaintiffs in the suit against the AGF, through their counsel, Mr Augustine Alegeh, SAN, are contending that the respondent refused to fun...
Bayelsa election: Governor Diri, INEC ask appeal court to reverse tribunal’s judgment
Governor Duoye Diri of Bayelsa State on Thursday in Abuja asked the Court of Appeal to reverse the decision of the Bayelsa Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which nullified the November 16, 2019 governorship poll in the state. Similarly, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have also approached the appellate court asking it to reverse the tribunal’s judgement. In their separate appeals, the appellants prayed the court to uphold that the conduct of the governorship election and its outcome which produced Mr Diri as governor complied with relevant laws. Arguing on behalf of Mr Diri, his counsel, Chris Uche, (SAN), told the court that the case of the first respondent (Advanced Nigerian Democratic Party (ANDP)) was statute barred as ...
Kano chief judge appoints Abdullahi Ado-Bayero as acting chief registrar
The Kano State Chief Judge, Justice Nura Sagir, has approved the appointment of Abdullahi Ado-Bayero, as the acting Chief Registrar of Kano High Court. Mr Baba Jibo-Ibrahim, the Public Relations Officer (PRO), Kano State Judiciary, made the disclosure in a statement issued to newsmen on Monday in Kano. It said Ado-Bayero will act the Chief Registrar pending the ratification of the appointment by the state Judicial Service Commission. “Justice Sagir approved the redeployment of Ado-Bayero, from Shari’a Court of Appeal to the High Court of Justice Kano as the acting Chief Registrar pending the ratification of the appointment by the Judicial Service Commission Kano.” According to the statement, the approval was sequel to the elevation of the Chief Registrar, High Court of Justice, Kano, Jamil...
Supreme Court upholds Kogi governor’s election
File Photo The Supreme Court, on Monday, affirmed the election of Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State. The apex court, dismissed an appeal the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its candidate, Musa Wada, lodged to challenge the outcome of the gubernatorial election that held in the state on November 16, 2019. It upheld the earlier judgement of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, which had on July 4, dismissed the case of the PDP and its candidate, and validated the majority decision of the Kogi State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal that affirmed governor Bello’s election victory. Though the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Ibrahim Tanko, led the seven-man panel that heard the case of the appellants, the lead judgement was however prepared by Justice Inyang Okoro and r...
