Plaintiff
Court restrains Ondo governor from sacking chief judge
A Federal High Court in Abuja, on Thursday, stopped Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) of Ondo State from removing the Chief Judge (CJ) of the state, Justice Oluwatoyin Akeredolu, from office. Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a ruling, restrained the governor and five others seeking to remove the Chief Judge from office on the grounds that they lacked constitutional powers to do so. Justice Akeredolu had approached the court for an order restraining the defendants from illegally removing her from office without recourse to the National Judicial Council (NJC). Delivering ruling in the application, Justice Ekwo held that the powers to investigate, probe and indict any judicial officer for any misconduct in the discharge of duties is constitutionally vested in the NJC only. According to the judge, b...
Court urged to restrain Nigerian government on £4.2 million James Ibori loot
The Federal Government has been sued over its planned use of the £4.2million linked to former Delta State Governor James Ibori. The President, League of Ndokwa Professionals (LNP), Chief Tony Amechi and Legal Adviser, Evans Ufeli, on behalf of the people of Delta State, are challenging the Federal Government’s plan to deploy the funds to projects outside Delta. The Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and the Minister for Finance are the defendants. In their originating motion, the plaintiffs seek a declaration that the first and second defendants’ decision to deploy the yet to be repatriated sum of £4.2million belonging to Delta State government (when repatriated) for Federal Government’s projects is unconstitutional and repugnant to natural justic...
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...
Court dismisses case against CBN’s directives on bank charges
The Federal High Court sitting in Abeokuta, Ogun State Capital, has dismissed a suit instituted by a legal practitioner, Olumide Babalola, challenging the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) policy on Current Account maintenance Fee contained in the Guide to the Charges by Banks and other financial Institutions of January 2020. Babalola had instituted the action in the name of his law firm, Babalola LP, in which he contended that the policy and guidelines of the CBN violated his fundamental human rights. The CBN, through its Counsel, Adeleke Agbola, of Cheakley Chambers, however challenged the suit on the ground that the plaintiff lacked the legal capacity to institute the suit on a policy that affects the public. In his Notice of Preliminary Objection to the Suit, Agbola had contended that the ...
Edo APC to appeal Abuja high court judgement
The chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the Edo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Col David Imuse (rtd), has said that the party would appeal Saturday’s judgement by the Federal High Court, Abuja, which dismissed the alleged certificate forgery suit filed against Governor Godwin Obaseki by the party. The presiding judge, Justice Ahmed Mohammed, had on Saturday dismissed the suit filed by the APC and a chieftain of the party, Williams Edobor, on the conclusion that the plaintiffs failed to prove their allegations of forgery against Governor Obaseki as it is expected in every criminal matter. “Allegation of forgery borders on crime which must be proved beyond reasonable doubt. In the instant case, no iota of evidence talk-less of a proof beyond reasonable doubt was bro...
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 ...
Cross River bye-election: Court affirms Stephen Odey as PDP candidate
A Federal High Court sitting in Calabar on Thursday affirmed Dr Stephen Odey as candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the Cross River North Senatorial bye election. Ruling in the suit with number FHC/CA/CS/87/2020, presiding judge, Justice S.A. Amobeda held Odey was the validly nominated candidate of the PDP for the said bye election. Relying on relevant provisions of the the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), provisions of the Electoral Act 2020 and Articles of the PDP guidelines for conduct of its primaries, Justice Amobeda ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to publish the name of Odey as the duly nominated candidate of the People’s Democratic Party to contest the election. Citing the relevant provisions of the const...
Arabic inscriptions on naira doesn’t threaten Nigeria’s secular status – central bank tells court
The Central Bank of Nigeria has vehemently opposed a suit before the Federal High Court in Lagos praying that the Arabic inscriptions on naira notes be removed. A Lagos-based lawyer, Chief Malcolm Omirhobo, who filed the suit before Justice Mohammed Liman, contended that having Arabic inscriptions on the naira notes portrays Nigeria as an Islamic state, contrary to the country’s constitutional status of a secular state. Omirhobo, who said he does not know what the Arabic inscriptions mean, is praying the court to order the CBN to replace the Arabic inscriptions with either English language, which is the country’s official language, or any of Nigeria’s three main indigenous languages – Hausa, Yoruba or Igbo. According to the lawyer, with the Arabic inscriptions on the naira note, the CBN ha...
Zamfara APC sets up seven-man disciplinary committee
The Zamfara chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has set up a seven-man disciplinary committee to look into activities of party members working against the resolution of the APC National Executive Committee (NEC). The state party’s Chairman, Alhaji Lawal Liman, made this known in a statement in Gusau on Tuesday. Liman said that the committee was set up in line with the directive by the National Secretariat of the party. He said the committee, headed by the Zonal Vice Chairman, Zamfara North, Alhaji Abdullahi Ja’o, has Mr Bello Umar as Secretary. “Other members are Ahmad Maradun, Nasiru Magayaki, Babangida Abdullahi, Aliyu Kagara and Umar Abbas. “The committee has 19 days to submit its report as directed by the National Secretariat of the party,” he said. Liman said that Zamfara A...
