Tag: Judiciary

Probe Motive Behind Siege To Odili’s Residence, Wike Tells IG
Judiciary, News, Nigeria

Probe Motive Behind Siege To Odili’s Residence, Wike Tells IG

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has charged the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, to unravel the real motive behind the recent invasion of the residence of a Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Mary Odili. The governor said it was curious that weeks after the obnoxious invasion of Justice Odili’s residence, the magistrate who issued the search warrant had not been interrogated to account for his action. Wike stated this when he led a delegation of Rivers’ elders and elected representatives to the IGP at the Force Headquarters, Abuja. This was contained in a statement issued by the governor’s Special Assistant on Media, Kelvin Ebiri, made available to our correspondent in Port Harcourt on Tuesday. Wike commended the IGP and his team for the arrest of some of the sus...
VAT Row: FG Eyes Out-Of-Court Settlement
Finance, Judiciary, News, Nigeria

VAT Row: FG Eyes Out-Of-Court Settlement

The Federal Government has hinted that it may explore an out-of-court solution to the lingering legal battle between its agency, Federal Inland Revenue Service, and Rivers and Lagos states over the collection of Value Added Tax. The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, noted that efforts were ongoing on the issue but she did not give details as the matter was subjudice. Speaking in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday night, Ahmed said she hoped there would be a political solution to the issue rather than a protracted court case.× The Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, had on August 9 ruled that Rivers State and not the FIRS should be the authority collecting VAT and Personal Income Tax...
Court Fines Kanu Nwankwo, Hotel For Stalling Trial In Alleged Debt Of N924million
Finance, Judiciary, News, Nigeria

Court Fines Kanu Nwankwo, Hotel For Stalling Trial In Alleged Debt Of N924million

former Super Eagles captain, Kanu Nwankwo and his hotel, Hardley Apartment, have been fined N30,000 by the Federal High Court in Lagos State. According to Daily Post, the Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke-led Federal High Court on Friday, ordered Kanu and his hotel, Hardley Apartment, to pay the sum. They were fined for stalling the scheduled hearing of debt recovery suit brought against them by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON. Recall that AMCON had dragged the former Arsenal star, his hotel and its directors, Ayoola Gam-Ikon before the court over alleged debt of N924.7 million. But at the hearing on Friday, T. A Idelegbagbon, lawyer to Kanu and Hardley Apartment told the court that she is withdrawing all motions earlier filed in response to the suit in 2017. Read...
Nobody In IPOB Directorate Was Responsible For My ‘Abduction’ In Kenya – Nnamdi Kanu
Judiciary, News, Nigeria

Nobody In IPOB Directorate Was Responsible For My ‘Abduction’ In Kenya – Nnamdi Kanu

Ifeanyi Ejiofor, lead counsel to the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, has urged the followers and supporters of his client to be peaceful on Wednesday when the hearing resumes. He assured that Kanu is firm and prepared for the court hearing, adding that his freedom was imminent and his supporters should remember him in their prayers. He stated these in a release made available to SaharaReporters on Monday night following the legal team’s visit to Kanu in the detention of the Department of State Services (DSS). The lawyer also disclosed that Kanu was displeased with some IPOB members pointing accusing fingers at Mazi Kanunta Kanu, Carolyn Okoroafor, Madam Nnennaya Anya and some people in the Directorate of Services (DOS), noted that they shoul...
Ortom to FG: Mary Odili is Unblemished — Stop Harassing Judicial Officers
Judiciary, News, Nigeria

Ortom to FG: Mary Odili is Unblemished — Stop Harassing Judicial Officers

Samuel Ortom, governor of Benue, has asked the federal government to stop harassing judicial officers. Condemning the raid on the home of Mary Odili, a judge of the supreme court, Ortom described the invasion as “unwarranted and repressive”. Last Friday, security operatives besieged the Abuja residence of Odili. The security operatives had a search warrant purportedly signed by a judge and granted to one Lawrence Ajodo, identified as a chief superintendent of police and member of the investigation team under the asset tax recovery panel of the ministry of justice. The document also showed that the panel comprises the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), and the ministry of justice. But the EFCC and Abubakar Malami, attorney-genera...
Terrorist Groups Don’t Have Addresses All Over The World Like IPOB—Nnamdi Kanu’s Lawyer Refutes Terror Claims
Judiciary, News, Nigeria

Terrorist Groups Don’t Have Addresses All Over The World Like IPOB—Nnamdi Kanu’s Lawyer Refutes Terror Claims

Aloy Ejimakor, special counsel for the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu has said it is not a crime to demand self-determination as it is a way to create new countries. The lawyer also disclosed that IPOB is neither a terrorist nor a violent group, adding that a terrorist organisation does not have addresses across the world. According to the lawyer, the pro-Biafra group has fixed addresses in countries around the world. Ejimakor disclosed this via his Twitter page, @AloyEjimakor on Sunday. Read Also: Igbo Monarchs, Clerics Ask Buhari Government To Release Nnamdi Kanu, IPOB Members For Peace To Reign In South-East Kanu is facing charges of treasonable felony and terrorism levelled against him by the Nigerian government. His lawyers includin...
Fuel Subsidy: Why Buhari Should Be Impeached – Sanusi Lamido
Finance, Judiciary, News, Nigeria

Fuel Subsidy: Why Buhari Should Be Impeached – Sanusi Lamido

The dethroned emir of Kano and former Central Bank of Nigeria’s Governor, Muhammadu Sanusi, has stated that the constitution allows President Muhammadu Buhari to be impeached for paying millions of dollars on fuel subsidies without appropriation. Sanusi stated this while speaking virtually as a panelist on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the just concluded Nigerian Economic Summit held in Abuja. “Every year, the government spends millions upon millions of dollars on fuel subsidies without appropriation. Under the constitution, this is enough ground to impeach the President. “But nobody is holding them to account. The National Assembly is not holding them to account,” he said. The former CBN governor said the federal government’s populist approach was hurting the nation....
SAN, South-East Lawyers Seek To Join Northern Elder’s Suit On Secession
Judiciary, News, Nigeria

SAN, South-East Lawyers Seek To Join Northern Elder’s Suit On Secession

Some legal practitioners from the South-East geo-political region of Nigeria have applied to a Federal High Court in Abuja to join them as defendants in a suit filed by a group of northern elders praying for the secession of the Igbo out of Nigeria based on the agitations of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafran and its leader, Nnamdi Kanu. The legal practitioners led by Chief Chuks Muoma (SAN), Ukpai Ukairo, Ebere Uzoatu and Obi Emuka are asking for an order of the court to allow them to join in the suit as representatives of the people of the southeastern region. The applicants in their application for joinder filed by Victor Onweremadu and obtained by our correspondent on Monday in Abuja, they claimed that the case of the northern elders seeking the exit of South-East from N...
Nnamdi Kanu Pleads Not Guilty to Treason Charges
Judiciary, News, Nigeria

Nnamdi Kanu Pleads Not Guilty to Treason Charges

The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, on Thursday pleaded not guilty to seven counts filed against him at a Federal High Court in Abuja. Kanu was also challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear the matter on the grounds that the alleged offences were committed in the United Kingdom and not in Nigeria. His lawyer, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, made the disclosure shortly after his re-arraignment before Justice Binta Nyako. Kanu was in June re-arrested in Kenya and extradited to the country to face trial. He was first arrested in a Lagos Hotel in 2015 by operatives of the Department of State Service and was arraigned alongside four others in 2016. During Thursday’s re-arraignment, Kanu, was sported wearing a white Fendi clothe and was ushered into the courtroom...
Amended Charges: ‘We Are Prepared For Fireworks’, Nnamdi Kanu’s Lawyers Tell FG
Biafra, Judiciary, News, Nigeria

Amended Charges: ‘We Are Prepared For Fireworks’, Nnamdi Kanu’s Lawyers Tell FG

Ifeanyi Ejiofor, lead counsel to the embattled leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, has asked the Federal Government and others to expect “legal fireworks” on Thursday. He also said the IPOB legal team is “eminently prepared”. He said this while reacting to the amended charges by the Federal Government against his client. In an update posted on his Facebook page, Ejiofor also said his client is in high spirit ahead of the arraignment. Ahead of his arraignment on October 21, the detained leader of IPOB had asked millions of his supporters to embark on a dry fast. The Federal Government had filed an amended seven counts against Nnamdi Kanu, according to one of his lawyers, Maxwell Opara. Opara stated this in a short interview with journalists on the premi...