Trial Judge
IPOB’s lawyer reacts to Nnamdi Kanu’s arrest, extradition
The lead counsel to the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has said the arrest and arraignment of Nnamdi Kanu earlier Tuesday was without his knowledge. “We have just confirmed through a correspondence from the Federal High Court Abuja about the arrest and the extradition of my Client- Mazi Nnamdi Kanu by the Nigerian State,” Mr Ejiofor said in a statement on Tuesday evening. “He was brought before the Federal High Court No 2 Abuja today on an Eleven count charge, though without our knowledge,” the attorney added. He said regardless of the offences or charge against his client, he is still presumed innocent of the allegation under the law. Mr Kanu, who is being prosecuted on charges of treasonable felony, was re-arrested and returned to Nigeria on Sunday, the A...
EFCC to file 800 new corruption cases in court
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has said it is set to file 800 new corruption cases in court. The chairman of the commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa, said this Thursday as part of the weekly briefing by Heads of MDAs to give an update on their performance in office. He addressed State House reporters in Abuja. He said the cases to be filed will border on public corruption and cybercrime. The cases were delayed largely because of the strike by judiciary workers who shut down courts in Nigeria for over two months and only recently suspended the strike. At the event, Bawa also vowed that former Abia governor Orji Kalu “will be prosecuted all over again.” Newsmen reported how Kalu was set free by the Supreme Court on technicalities after being convicted of stealing billions of n...
Five more suspects arrested over murder of Afenifere leader’s daughter
Five more suspected killers of Mrs Funke Olakunri, 58-year-old daughter of the national leader of Afenifere, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, have been arrested by the police. Recall that the deceased was gruesomely murdered in July, 12, 2019 by suspected kidnappers along the Ore-Lagos highway. The suspects include Lawal Mazaje, 40, from Felele, Kogi State; Adamu Adamu, 50, from Jada in Adamawa State; Mohammed Usman, 26, from Illela, Sokoto State and Auwal Abubakar, 25, from Shinkafi, Zamfara State. Four suspects had earlier been arrested by the police, in connection with the murder case and had been arraigned before the court . They include Muhammed Shehu, 26, Mazaje Lawal, 40, Adamu Adamu, 60 and Awalu Abubakar, 25. They were arraigned on three count charge of conspiracy to kill, murder and kidnappi...
ICPC drops forgery charges against ex-presidential aide
File Photo The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has amended the corruption and certificate forgery charges it filed against an ex-presidential aide, Okoi Obono-Obla. The amendment, coming less than two months after Obono-Obla and his co-defendants were arraigned by the commission, reduced the number of counts from 10 to five. The amended charges filed at the High Court of the FCT, in Apo, Abuja, on March 4 and seen by newsmen on Sunday, also revealed that the anti-corruption agency has backtracked on its allegations of certificate forgery sensationally levelled against Obono-Obla in 2019. Obono-Obla, a former special adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Prosecutions, was suspended by the President as the chairman of the Special Presidential Inv...
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...
Court remands five over Rivers PDP chairman’s murder
A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt on Thursday remanded in the Port Harcourt correctional facility five suspects allegedly involved in the murder of late Mr Nwozuruka Anele, a Peoples Democratic Party Chairman in the Alakahia community, Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of the state on September 21, 2019. The accused persons are Blessing Ogbuagu, Bright Chima-Wali, Nnamdi Emenike, Thankgod Akani and Chibuchi Solomon-Festus. Counsel for the state, Chidi Ekeh, told the court that the defendants were also members of a secret cult known as Icelanders and were illegally in possession of firearms, thereby infringing on the state’s firearm prohibition and anti-cultism laws. The defendants, who are facing five counts bordering on murder, illegal possession of firearms and cultism, p...
Kano court remands nine men for attempted murder
File Photo A Chief Magistrates’ Court sitting in Kano on Monday, ordered the remand of nine men in Correctional Centre for alleged attempt to commit murder. The principal suspect Amiru Umar, 32 was arraigned alongside eight others on two-count charge bordering on criminal conspiracy and attempt to commit culpable homicide. The Prosecutor, Ms Asma’u Ado, told the court that the defendants committed the offence on Aug.3, at Bachirawa area of Kano metropolis . Ado argued that the suspects had on the same date at about 2:30 p.m. conspired with one Tsalha Maikare, now at large and attacked Halliru Abdullahi, 29, of Bachirawa Quarters with dangerous weapons. “The defendants stabbed the victim with a cutlass and knife on his neck and stomach, as a result he sustained serious injuries. “The victim...
