Category: Judiciary - Page 32 - African News Today

Biafra: Justice Binta Orders the Arrest of Nnamdi Kanu, Trial for Treason Charges to Continue

28Mar

By admin3 Comments

Biafra, Human Rights, Judiciary, Justice, News, Nigeria

Biafra: Justice Binta Orders the Arrest of Nnamdi Kanu, Trial for Treason Charges to Continue

Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday ordered the arrest of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, and directed that his trial on charges of treasonable felony should proceed in his absence. The judge, whose decision was anchored on the provisions of Section 352(4) of the Administrative of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, said Kanu had failed to appear in court since April 25, 2017 without any reasonable explanation. The lead prosecuting counsel, Mr. Magaji Labaran, applied for the court’s orders earlier in the Thursday’s proceedings. Kanu’s lawyer, Mr. Ifeanyi Ejiofor, had opposed Labaran’s oral application, and had asked to be given more time to explain why his client had not been in court by filing all necessary papers. He insiste...

Breaking News: Tribunal Declares PDP Winner of Osun Gubernatorial Election

22Mar

By admin6 Comments

Breaking News, Judiciary, News, Nigeria

Breaking News: Tribunal Declares PDP Winner of Osun Gubernatorial Election

The Election Petitions Tribunal set up for the 2018 governorship election in Osun State has declared Ademola Adeleke winner of the election. The three-member panel said during its ruling in Abuja Friday afternoon that the rerun election that held on September 27, 2018, was illegal. The tribunal, therefore, deducted the votes scored by the APC candidate Gboyega Oyetola at the rerun after declaring the rerun illegal. The tribunal said Mr Adeleke won the election at the first ballot on September 22 and the rerun that INEC devised to reach a final conclusion a week later was illegal. “The declaration of Oyetola is null and void,” the tribunal ruled in a majority decision with one member dissenting. “The petitioner (Mr Adeleke) having fulfilled the constitutional requirements and...

Nigeria: FG Woefully Fails to Prove Its Case Against CJN Walter Onnoghen

21Mar

By admin14 Comments

Corruption, Judiciary, Justice, News, Nigeria

Nigeria: FG Woefully Fails to Prove Its Case Against CJN Walter Onnoghen

The Federal Government, on Thursday, closed its case against the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Walter Onnoghen, after it produced only three witnesses that testified before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT. Though FG initially expressed its intention to produce a total of six witnesses to substantiate all the allegations it levelled against the embattled CJN, however, shortly after the third witness was discharged, the prosecution counsel told the tribunal that it would be unnecessary to call further witnesses. The prosecution counsel, Mr. Aliyu Umar, SAN, told the tribunal that the defendant was at liberty to summon any of the listed but uncalled witnesses to testify on his behalf if he so wished. He was immediately overruled by the CCT Chairman, Mr. Danladi U...

Nigeria: Atiku, PDP Election Petition Includes Buhari’s Certificate Issue

19Mar

By admin3 Comments

Judiciary, Justice, News, Nigeria

Nigeria: Atiku, PDP Election Petition Includes Buhari’s Certificate Issue

Some details of the petition filed on Monday by the Peoples Democratic Party and its presidential candidate in the February 23 election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to challenge the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari and his All Progressives Congress, emerged on Tuesday. The 141-page petition contained five grounds, one of which resuscitates the allegation that Buhari was not qualified to run for the office of the President on the grounds that he did not possess the constitutional minimum qualification of a school certificate. The petition was filed against the Independent National Electoral Commission, Buhari and the APC as the first to the third respondents respectively. Names of 21 Senior Advocates of Nigeria and 18 other lawyers appeared on the petition. They were l...

Nigeria: Supreme Court Declares Rivers State APC’s Primaries Illegal

9Feb

By adminNo Comments

Judiciary, Justice, News, Nigeria

Nigeria: Supreme Court Declares Rivers State APC’s Primaries Illegal

The Supreme Court yesterday upheld the order of a Federal High Court in Port-Harcourt, which last year barred the All Progressive Congress (APC) from conducting any primary election pending the determination of a suit brought before it by a team of 22 aggrieved members of the party. In a swift reaction, The Rivers State chapter of the APC urged Rivers people and other lovers of democracy “to ignore Senator Magnus Abe) and his allies for misrepresentation of facts on the Supreme Court ruling,” insisting that the candidacy of Tonye Cole and others of APC was not imperiled. The apex court in a judgment yesterday set aside the ruling of the Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt, which in October last year, upturned the interlocutory order of the high court in the political case. In a unanimous j...

Nigeria: Stop Harrassing the CJN or We Will Mobilize and Shake the Country – Niger Delta Agitators

14Jan

By adminNo Comments

Judiciary, News, Nigeria, Security

Nigeria: Stop Harrassing the CJN or We Will Mobilize and Shake the Country – Niger Delta Agitators

A coalition known as the Niger Delta Agitators has issued a warning to the Federal Government regarding what they term the harassment of the Chief Justice of the federation. According to the group, this harassment was simply based on the fact that the CJN was from the South-south and not from the North. In a statement released by Niger Delta Watchdogs' General John Dukku the group stated as follows: "The General Assembly of the Coalition of Niger Delta Agitators is shocked to learn about the arraignment of the Chief Justice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Justice Walter Onnoghen over allegations of his false declaration of assets based on a petition written by one Mr. Dennis Aghanya of the Anti-Corruption and Research Based Data Initiative. The CJN is suffering just because he is ...

Nigeria: Chief Justice Onnoghen Fails to Appear before the CCT

14Jan

By adminNo Comments

Judiciary, News, Nigeria

Nigeria: Chief Justice Onnoghen Fails to Appear before the CCT

We are not just challenging jurisdiction, we are even challenging the jurisdiction of this tribunal to even snif that charge - Olanipekun (SAN) The Chief Justice of Nigeria, on Monday, failed to appear before the tribunal to be docked to enable him to take his plea to the six-count criminal charge against him. At exactly 10am when the charge marked CCT/ABJ/01/19, was called up, Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Danladi Umar, demanded to know why the CJN was not in court and if he was served with the charge. The prosecution counsel, Umar, SAN, who led five other lawyers, told the court that the CJN was served through one of his personal assistants. “When we went to his house, he directed his personal assistant to collect the charge on his behalf. His personal assistant endorsed it, s...

Nigeria: Code of Conduct Tribunal Cannot Try Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen

14Jan

By admin1 Comment

Corruption, Judiciary, News, Nigeria

Nigeria: Code of Conduct Tribunal Cannot Try Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen

In a reaction from legal practitioners, it is becoming clear that the Code of Conduct Tribunal has no jurisdiction to try the Chief Justice of the Federation. In a post published by a lawyer, the reason for this was explained. The post reads: "Serving judges can’t be tried by cct by virtue of the judgment of the court of appeal in respect of the case of Justice Hyeladzira Nganjiwa, the chief justice of Nigeria and in fact, any serving judicial officer judge, cannot be tried by the code of conduct tribunal or even court, until the national judicial council, NJC would have dealth with the matter. Though, the matter is still on appeal at the supreme court, the judgment still stands. As a matter of fact, based on that judgment, the code of conduct tribunal had to discontinue the trial of...

Nigeria: The Charge and Planned Arraignment of the Hon. Chief Justice Onoghen

13Jan

By adminNo Comments

Corruption, Judiciary, News, Nigeria

Nigeria: The Charge and Planned Arraignment of the Hon. Chief Justice Onoghen

Our attention has been drawn to the trending news that the Hon. Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onoghen has been charged before the Code of Conduct Tribunal, based on a petition submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau on Wednesday the 9th of January, 2019, and is to be arraigned before the Tribunal on Monday , the 14th January, 2019. The prosecutorial decision that has been taken by the Executive Branch of Government ( FGN / FRN) is a very grave one. It is unprecedented in the political history of Nigeria. Let us go down memory lane. During the blistering General Murtala Muhammed Military Regime, in 1975, there were massive purges in the Judiciary as well as in the public service. Many public servants were removed “ with immediate effect” . During the purges , a sitting Chief Justice...

Nigeria: Nigeria’s Chief Justice, Onnoghen, to be Arraigned at CCT Monday

12Jan

By adminNo Comments

Corruption, Judiciary, Justice, News, Nigeria

Nigeria: Nigeria’s Chief Justice, Onnoghen, to be Arraigned at CCT Monday

The Federal Government has asked the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Walter Onnoghen, to immediately vacate his exalted office as head of the nation’s judiciary over alleged sundry asset declaration issues. In a move to force Justice Onnoghen out of office, the Federal Government will on Monday January 14 arraign the CJN before the Justice Danladi Yakubu led-Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT, in Abuja on charges of failures to declare his assets as required by law and for operating Bank Domiciliary Foreign Currency Accounts. The charge sighted by PRNigeria against Justice Onnoghen has already being filed and served on him last Friday at his official residence in Abuja preparatory for his appearance at the tribunal. The Federal Government among others is accusing Nigeria’s Head of the J...