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Tag: Attorney-General

  • State Attorneys-General drag Buhari’s minister to court over remittance of recovered funds

    State Attorneys-General drag Buhari’s minister to court over remittance of recovered funds

    The 36 states of the country have filed a suit at the Supreme Court against the Federal Government on the status of recovered funds and failure to remit same to the federation account.

    Through their Attorneys-General, who are listed as plaintiffs in the suit, the 36 states instituted the action against the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami.

    In the suit, the plaintiffs are seeking a declaration by the provisions of 162 (1) and Section 162(10) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), all income, returns, proceeds, or receipts derived from confiscated, forfeited and/or recovered assets constitute revenue must be remitted to the federation account for the collective benefit of the Federal, State and Local Governments.

    Amongst other things, they are also seeking a declaration that the failure and/or refusal of President Muhammadu Buhari, the Minister of Finance, the office of the AGF, and the Accountant-General of the Federation, and all her relevant authorities and/or agencies of the federation to remit the receipts, income, returns or proceeds derived from all assets recovered, seized, confiscated and forfeited into the federation account to be distributed in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution” is unconstitutional.”

    They also asked the court to declare that “it is unconstitutional for the President, through the federal Minister of Finance, the AGF, or any other authority whatsoever, to utilise, apply, allocate, expend and appropriate same to itself or distribute same in any other manner howsoever without due allocation from the federation.”

  • Joe Biden makes attorney general pick

    Joe Biden makes attorney general pick

    U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has formally announced judge Merrick Garland as his nominee for attorney-general, a role that amounts to being the nation’s top law enforcement officer.

    Garland, a Justice Department veteran, currently serves on the powerful U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

    He came to prominence in 2016 as former president Barack Obama’s choice to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative icon.

    But the Republican-controlled Senate at the time blocked the appointment of Garland, who is considered a political moderate, and he never had his nomination considered.

    Republicans wanted to prevent Obama, a Democrat in the final months of his eight years in office, from filling the lifetime post.

    Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had declared any appointment by Obama as invalid because it came in an election year, and used his influence to block a vote on Garland, infuriating Democrats.

    Attorney-generals wield broad power in the U.S., where they are traditionally seen as non-political actors in highly polarised Washington.

    Over the course of his four years in office president, Donald Trump has come under fire for seeming to expect his attorney- generals to do his personal bidding.

    In a statement on Thursday, Biden said Garland would help “restore the independence of the [Justice] Department so it serves the interests of the people, not a presidency.

    “And also to rebuild public trust in the rule of law, and work tirelessly to ensure a more fair and equitable justice system.”

  • U.S. Attorney General, Barr resigns

    U.S. Attorney General, Barr resigns

    U.S. Attorney General William Barr is resigning from the top cabinet position with effect from Dec. 23, confirming the resignation rumours.

    Barr did not give reasons for the decision in his two-page resignation letter posted by President Donald Trump on Twitter on Monday evening.

    “Just had a very nice meeting with Attorney General Bill Barr at the White House. Our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job!

    “As per letter, Bill will be leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family,” Trump said in the tweet.

    The president named Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen, whom he described as an outstanding person, as Barr’s successor in acting capacity.

    Barr’s resignation came as the Electoral College formally confirmed Joe Biden’s presidential election victory.

    Trump had yet to concede defeat and is challenging the election results for alleged widespread voter fraud, but his efforts to overturn the outcome had been unsuccessful in court.

    In the letter, the outgoing attorney general thanked the president for the opportunity to serve in his administration and the American people.

    He said he was proud to have contributed to the “many successes and unprecedented achievements” delivered by Trump for the American people.

    “Your record is all the more historic because you accomplished it in the face of relentless, implacable resistance.

    “Few could have weathered these attacks, much less forge ahead with a positive programme for the country,” he wrote.

    Barr went ahead to outline the president’s achievements in areas such as economy, immigration, border security, Middle East and protection of competition in the tech sector, among others.

    “As discussed, I will spend the next week wrapping up a few remaining matters important to the Administration and Depart on Dec. 23,” he said.

    Trump recently began to criticise the Department of Justice for “missing in action” on the voter fraud probe launched by Barr in November.

    On Dec. 1, Barr told the Associated Press that the investigation had found no evidence of widespread fraud in the Nov. 3 elections as alleged by the president.

    “To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election,” he said in the interview.

    The declaration did not go down well with Trump who accused Barr of having done nothing because he had not looked hard enough.

    He declined to say whether or not he still had confidence in the attorney general, and simply said: “Ask me in a couple of weeks from now.”

  • Akeredolu sacks Ondo attorney-general

    Akeredolu sacks Ondo attorney-general

    The Ondo State governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has sacked his Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Kola Olawoye.

    Akeredolu who didn’t state reasons for the removal of Olawoye, immediately appointed a human rights lawyer, Mr. Charles Titiloye, as the new Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice.

    Akeredolu’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr Segun Ajiboye in a statement on Monday said Titiloye’s name would soon be forwarded to the state House of Assembly for confirmation.

    The governor expressed his appreciation to the sacked commissioner for services rendered to the state, while wishing him success in his future endeavours.

  • AmericaDecides2020: Trump’s Republican Party submits ‘3,062 instances of electoral fraud’ to Attorney-General

    AmericaDecides2020: Trump’s Republican Party submits ‘3,062 instances of electoral fraud’ to Attorney-General

    The Republican Party in Nevada has sent a criminal referral of what it described as “at least 3,062 instances of voter fraud” to US Attorney General, William Barr.

    The party explained that the alleged electoral fraud involved people who are no longer residents in the State but had voted after they had moved away from the State.

    “Our lawyers just sent a criminal referral to AG Barr regarding at least 3,062 instances of voter fraud. We expect that number to grow substantially,” the party said.

    It added, “Thousands of individuals have been identified who appear to have violated the law by casting ballots after they moved from NV.”

    However, counting has continued in Nevada which currently shows Democrat Joe Biden slightly ahead of Republican Donald Trump by just over 11,400 votes, with 89% of ballots counted.

    President Trump had earlier accused the Democrats of trying to steal the election, adding that there was “tremendous litigation going on” to stop the vote-counting in several key states.

  • BREAKING: Nigeria’s former Attorney-General, Richard Akinjide is dead

    BREAKING: Nigeria’s former Attorney-General, Richard Akinjide is dead

    Former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Chief Richard Akinjide, is dead.

    The 88-year-old legal icon died in his Ibadan, Oyo State, home.

    Born in Ibadan, in the early 1930s to an influential family of warriors, the late foremost lawyer and Ibadan High Chief attended Oduduwa College, Ile-Ife from where he passed out in Grade One (Distinction, Aggregate 6).

    The frontline Yoruba leader was a Minister of Education in the First Republic and Minister for Justice in the Second Republic.

    He was a member of the Judicial Systems sub-committee of the Constitutional Drafting Committee of 1975-1977 and later joined the National Party of Nigeria in 1978.

    He became the legal adviser for the party and was later appointed the Minister for Justice.

    Details shortly…

  • Buhari mourns former Kano Attorney-General, Umar

    Buhari mourns former Kano Attorney-General, Umar

     

    President Buhari, in a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, noted that the late Umar dedicated his life to the service of the country and humanity.

    The President, however, sent his message of condolences to the Kano State government, the people of the state, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the family of the deceased.

    “President Muhammadu Buhari joins the government and people of Kano State in mourning former Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Alhaji Aliyu Umar, SAN, who passed on Friday, recalling his sacrifices, dedication and commitment to pursuit of justice in the country.

    “The President commiserates with family members of the erudite lawyer, Nigerian Bar Association and all professional colleagues, especially in the public service, affirming that the deceased dedicated his life and intellect to the service of the country and humanity.

    “President Buhari believes Umar’s investment of time and resources in handling some of the most sensitive criminal cases in the country will always be remembered, and his willingness to prosecute for benefit of the state and downtrodden had left an indelible mark on Nigeria’s justice system.

    “The President prays that the almighty God will grant the departed a peaceful rest, and comfort his family”, the statement said.

  • Police will no longer handle prosecutions in courts – Attorney General

    Henceforth, Police in Kano state will now be disallowed from handling criminal prosecutions on behalf of the state in magistrates’ courts in the ancient city.

    Kano state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Ibrahim Mukhtar, who made this known on Sunday in Kano, explained that, “The criminal justice system in Kano has witnessed a major leap from the 24th day of December 2019 because we have put machinery in place to gradually take over the entire criminal prosecution from the police in the state.”

    “We have started with 14 magistrates’ courts in No-man’s-land, where we have deployed three lawyers (state counsel) to prosecute cases before each of the 14 courts.

    “In the same vein, we have also three lawyers to the three shariah courts at Kofar Kudu to prosecute shariah criminal cases.”

    The commissioner said his office relied on section 211 of the constitution of the Federal republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, as well as the provisions of the newly promulgated Administration Of Criminal Justice Law of the state to relief the Nigeria Police from prosecuting criminal cases henceforth.

    According to him, the police are well trained and competent in crime prevention, detection and investigation and the new arrangement will give them all the needed space to assist the system with their expertise in that regard.

    The Commissioner, noted that the new arrangement is meant to boost diligent prosecution and ensure that every party to a criminal case has adequate representation in court for quick dispensation of justice.

    “You find that defendants in criminal matters are always at liberty to engage the services of lawyers, even senior advocates while the state has to make do with police prosecutors whose knowledge of the law is limited. We hope to see that this trend is changed.

    “We want all parties to have what would be seen to proper representation. We feel it is better to have legal practitioners on the two sides of every criminal prosecution in the state”, he explained.

    He affirmed that, “This would assist in ensuring that all parties have justice in the spirit of equality before the law. We plan to gradually take over the entire criminal prosecution in the state from the police

  • Lagos courts to go digital in 2020 — Attorney General

    Lagos courts to go digital in 2020 — Attorney General

    As part of measures to ensure speedy dispensation of justice in Lagos, the administration of Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu is to oversee a digital reform of courtrooms in the state.

    Speaking during a media parley on Tuesday at the Ministry of Justice, Alausa, Lagos, the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN), said that the reforms would take place in 2020.

    He said the digital reforms would make the Lagos courtrooms first class in Africa.

    “We are going to support the judges by using the latest technology to assist them in their work.

    “Our goal is that before this administration leaves office, the courts should be completely paperless as well as deploying technology which is available in other parts of the world.

    “We do not want to see our judges writing down in longhand again. We also want to ensure that when people go to court, relying on audiovisual evidence will not be a difficult thing.

    “This administration wants to ensure that Lagos has the best digitally enhanced courts in Africa.

    “The governor is totally committed to doing this and we should be rolling out our plans in the next quarter of 2020,” onigbanjo said.

  • Alleged N25bn fraud: Attorney-General takes over Sen. Goje’s case from EFCC

    Alleged N25bn fraud: Attorney-General takes over Sen. Goje’s case from EFCC

    The Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) on Friday took over the case of alleged N25 billion fraud filed against Former Gombe State Governor Danjuma Goje from the EFCC.

    The News Agency ofNigeria (NAN) reports in Jos that for almost eight years, the EFCC had been prosecuting the former governor until Friday.

    The case, which is before Justice Babatunde Quadiri of Jos Federal High Court II, has even gone to the Jos Court of Appeal over the remaining two count charge out of 21 filed against him by EFCC.

    The Appellate Court is yet to fix a date for the hearing of the appeal.

    When the case up for an emergency hearing before Justice Quadiri, the EFCC Counsel,Mr Wahab Shittu, told Court that the agency was withdrawing from the case and handing it over the office of the Attorney-General for continuation.

    “My Lord, this case was earlier adjourned for June 20 for continuation of hearing, but then we are here today on the latest development on the matter.

    “We as EFCC counsels are withdrawing from the matter and handing it over to the office of the Attorney-General for continuation with the prosecution.

    “As you can, in Court today is a State Counsel from the AG’F’s office to formally take over this case from us, “ Shittu declared.

    Responding, Mr Paul Erokoro (SAN), did not object to the EFCC withdrawal and handing over of the case to the Attorney-General.

    “My Lord we not objecting to the anti-graft withdrawal and handing over the prosecution to the AG’s office, “ Erokoro said.

    Mr Pius Asika, Counsel from the office of the attorney general, however, announced his appearance for the case.

    Asika then applied for an adjournment to enable him prepared for the case proper “having come into the matter today (Friday).

    Justice Quadiri then adjourned to the case to June 21, 2019 for continuation of hearing.