Tag: lawyer

EFCC opposes plans by Maina’ s lawyer to withdraw from trial

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Wednesday, opposed the plan by Sani Katu, SAN, counsel to Abdulrasheed Maina, Chairman, defunct Pension Reformed Task Team (PRTT), to withdraw his appearance in the ongoing trial.

The EFCC counsel, Farouk Abdullah, urged Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court, Abuja, to reject the oral application by Katu on the ground that it failed to comply with relevant section of the law.

Katu notified the court of his intention to withdraw from the trial.

“The matter is for continuation of hearing for us to bring another witness.

“Before then, we have a very simple application to make.

“It is to seek from this honourable court to specially withdraw from this matter.

“In making this application, we have all it takes to appreciate the court’s indulgence,” he said.

However, Abdullah opposed the prayer, saying the senior counsel did not comply with Section 349(8) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015 in making the request.

“As rightly stated by the senior counsel, the matter is slated for continuation of defence.

“My lord, the defendant has a constitutional right to a counsel of his choice and a counsel in a matter can also withdraw at any time he deems fit.

“My only reservation is the noncompliance with Section 349(8) of ACJA 2015.

“In view of the noncompliance of senior counsel with the provision of extant law on withdrawal of counsel, we pray the court to refuse the application and direct that the business of the day be done,” he said.

Katu, who acknowledged that the section of the law provided that an application for notification to withdraw had to be made to the court not less than 3 days before hearing, said he had a discussion with the prosecution counsel “off record” on the issue before the sitting.

He, therefore, prayed the court for a short adjournment to enable him file necessary papers in compliance with the law.

Responding, Abdullah said the law did not give the court the avenue to use its discretionary power on the matter.

“The operative words: ‘shall notify the court’ is mandatory to rob the court of the discretion to direct otherwise.

“We therefore urge the court to discountenance his application for adjournment,” he added.

In his ruling, Justice Abang, who held that “what is off record is not before the court,” said the application for adjournment lacked merit.

“Obviously, he did not comply with Section 349(8) of ACJA,” he ruled.

The judge also said that Katu had not offered any explanation on his intention to withdraw from the case.

He said his plan to withdraw was to compound the issues before the court and to hold the court to ransom.

Abang, who refused the application, ordered the proceeding for the day to continue.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that in the course of the trial, Joe Gadzama, SAN; Adeola Adedipe, were among Maina’s lawyers who had withdrawn their services in the matter.

Maina and his company, Common Input Limited, are being prosecuted by the EFCC on charges bordering on money laundering to the tune of N2.1 billion.

March 10, 2021
Zoom Meeting Gone Wrong: Lawyer caught having s3x during virtual court hearing [Video]

A Peruvian lawyer is now facing an investigation after being caught stripping naked and having sex during a Zoom court hearing.

Hector Paredes Robles was branded a disgrace to his profession by the judge presiding over the virtual hearing after launching into his X-rated performance while his camera was on.

Extraordinary footage showed him stripping off and sitting on his chair so a naked woman could straddle him as astonished court officials and other lawyers looked on in Peru.

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Judge John Chahua Torres who presided over the virtual hearing, described Hector Paredes Robles as a branded a disgrace to his profession and summoned a police officer as a female aide tried to alert Paredes Robles that his sex session was being watched and recorded on a public live feed.

Ruling on the case as the lawyer who was expected to defend one of the detainees held after an operation against an organised crime gang was still having sex, Judge Torres said;

“We are witnessing obscene acts which represent a violation of public decency and are aggravated by the fact they are being recorded nationally.”

January 31, 2021
Court frees, dismisses EFCC’s $2m fraud allegation against Atiku’s lawyer

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has freed Uyiekpen Giwa-Osage, a lawyer to former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.

Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Lagos High Court on Monday dismissed the $2million money laundering charge filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against the lawyer.

The judge held, among others, that the EFCC failed to establish that the money was obtained illegally.

The EFCC had filed a three-count against the senior lawyer for allegedly laundering $2million in the build-up to the 2019 general elections.

Also named in the charge was Erhunse Giwa-Osagie, who is said to be his brother.

The EFCC alleged that the two defendants conspired with each other to make a cash payment of $2million on February 12, 2019, without going through a financial institution.

The offence is said to be contrary to Sections 18(a) and 1(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011 and were liable to be punished under Section 16(2)(b) of the same Act.

Both men had pleaded not guilty at their arraignment before the court in August 2019.

January 25, 2021
Maina sick, suffered partial stroke in prison – Lawyer

Abdulrasheed Maina, former chairman of Pension Reform Task Team (PRTT), suffered a partial stroke at the Kuje correctional center where he is being detained, his lawyer, Anayo Adibe, has said.

Adibe, who spoke in an interview with a radio station, said his client is in a “very bad shape” and needs adequate medical attention.

“I visited him at the prison about a week ago and from the visit, he was not looking fine at all,” Adibe said.

“I was told he had suffered a mild stroke, his blood pressure has been very high and his sugar level has risen astronomically. He is in a very bad shape.”

He said although the resident doctor at the correctional facility has tried to keep Maina’s health under control, the facility is not equipped enough to give him adequate medical attention.

“The resident doctor has written several letters to the authorities asking that he be taken to a better and well equipped medical facility. Those letters have not been responded to,” he said.

“As his lawyers, we have taken a step further. We have written the comptroller-general, informing him of the dire situation our client finds himself presently and that except he is afforded quick medical attention, the story might change very soon because the truth is that we fear for his life,” he added.

His counsel also added that he has filed an application for his client to be granted bail on health grounds which the court has fixed Wednesday, January 20, to hear the application.

Maina, who is currently standing trial after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) prosecuted him on 12 counts bordering on money laundering to the tune of N2 billion, had jumped bail in September.

However, he was re-arrested in the Niger Republic and extradited to Nigeria to continue his trial before Okon Abang, judge of a federal high court in Abuja.

January 19, 2021
Panic in Benue community as suspected herdsmen slaughter lawyer, wife in their apartment

There was panic in the Agboughul area of Makurdi, Benue State when residents discovered the corpses of a lawyer, Barrister Udam, and his wife, Nkechi.

According to reports, the victims were murdered by suspected Fulani herdsmen brutally murdered them in their apartment.

Udam, who was a Managing Partner at Orkar, Udam and Associates (Attorneys and Legal Consultants), and his wife were reportedly slaughtered on Tuesday night.

Their corpses had cuts on the head and necks.

Apart from the two, a third person identified as Elder Nyikyor Mazugu was also murdered while three people are being treated for severe injuries sustained during the attack.

The state governor, Samuel Ortom, who confirmed the incident on Wednesday, said the state under his watch would not succumb to attacks by “terrorists whether they are jihadists or militia herders whose sole target is the occupation of the state and destruction of lives and property.”

The governor made this position known while addressing journalists when he visited the scene of herders’ attack on Agboughul community.

He stated that the pattern of the attack and killings barely four days after a similar incident at Tse-Angbande was unfortunate and bore the handwriting of mindless jihadists who had set out to overrun the state.

The governor noted that the series of attacks was a grand plan to whittle down operations of Livestock Guards and Agro Rangers who are doing very well in containing attacks on communities and enforcing the ranching law of the state.

Ortom lamented that developed climes globally with a higher number of cattle compared to Nigeria have no cases of conflicts between herders and farmers due to ranching which is also being practised in Benue, stressing that he would continue to speak against impunity in the country.

Udam had in 2015 contested for the Makurdi Local Government Chairmanship seat on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

December 16, 2020
#EndSARS protesters’ lawyer ask panel to summon Sanwo-Olu, Fashola, Tinubu’s son, others

The counsel for the #EndSARS protesters, Mr. Adesina Ogunlana has asked the Lagos State Judicial Panel of Enquiry and Restitution for Victims of SARS related abuses and other matters to summon Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu and 12 others.

He made said this in a December 9 application to panel chairman, Judge Emeritus Doris Okuwobi.

The application said the proposed invitees could provide information concerning the Lekki shootings of October 20 or its aftermath.

The Nigerian Army has denied #EndSARS protesters allegations that it shot at, injured and killed several peaceful protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate.

Besides the governor, the others named in the application include Minister of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing Mr. Babatunde Fashola SAN; Chief Executive Officer of Loatsad Promomedia Ltd, Mr. Seyi Tinubu; Managing Director, Oriental Hotel; Divisional Police Officer, Maroko Police Station and Lekki Concession Company Officials in charge of information Technology Intelligence and Security.

Ogunlana also requested that the panel invite officials of seven private and government-owned hospitals.

They are: Chief Medical Director, Lagos Island General Hospital; Chief Medical Director, Reddington Hospital, Lekki and Victoria Island; Chief Medical Director, Grandville Hospital, Ajah; General Hospital, Ikeja; Chief Pathologist, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja.

The rest are: The Provost, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH); The Chief Medical Director, Orthopedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos.

They “have played certain roles to qualify as being part of those who can give relevant and useful information to the Panel for use to it purpose as regards the ‘LEKKI SHOOTING’.

“We intend to interview such before the Panel by the kind permission of the Panel,” Ogunlana said in the application.

December 11, 2020
Trump personal lawyer, Giuliani tests positive for COVID-19

U.S. President Donald Trump says Rudy Giuliani, his personal lawyer and former Mayor of New York, has tested positive for COVID-19.

“@RudyGiuliani, by far the greatest mayor in the history of NYC, and who has been working tirelessly exposing the most corrupt election (by far!) in the history of the USA, has tested positive for the China Virus.

“Get better soon Rudy, we will carry on!!!,” Trump announced in a tweet on Sunday.

He did not say when Giuliani, 76, tested positive or if he was experiencing symptoms.

The former mayor heads the president’s legal team seeking to overturn Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in the Nov. 3 election, through lawsuits in battleground states.

He has joined the list of no fewer than 40 people in the president’s inner circle who have contracted the virus since September.

Trump himself tested positive in October along with his wife, Melania, her son, Barron, and later the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.

The U.S. is currently experiencing a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and has recorded no fewer than 14.6 million cases and 280,979 deaths.

Johns Hopkins University recorded 213,875 new COVID-19 cases and 2,254 new deaths in the country on Saturday.

Experts are blaming the worsening situation on Thanksgiving travel and gatherings, whose full impact is yet to be ascertained.

Giuliani has appeared at several gatherings across the country in recent weeks without masks.

December 7, 2020
#EndSARS protests: Lawyer drags Falana before ICC

A lawyer, Joseph Nwaegbu of Pathfind Attorneys, has filed a criminal complaint against Femi Falana (SAN) before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Hague, for allegedly instigating the #EndSARS protests, which he claimed, led to the killing of innocent citizens, destruction of property, among others.

The complaint dated 4th November 2020 was addressed to the Office of Madame Fatou Bensouda, the Prosecutor ICC by Nwaegbu, who claimed to be acting for his group, Make Nigeria Better Initiative (MNBI).

Nwaegbu alleged the role played by Falana before, during, and after what he described as “the mother of all protests in Nigeria” is not only ignoble but criminal.

”On the recent #EndSARS protests which turned violent across the country, we beg to submit that the role played by Mr. Falana before, during, and after what observers described as “the mother of all protests in Nigeria” is not only ignoble but criminal.”

He accused Falana of spreading fake news to further incite the youths in the country against the government which killings and destructions of properties.

Nwaegbu added: “We have seen how the type of incitement spearheaded by Mr. Falana worked in Rwanda and other parts of the world and the resultant effect was genocide.

“In the case of Nigeria, the misguided youths who acted based on Falana’s posture, character and utterances employed crude methods to illegally murder about 22 (Twenty Two) police officers in cold blood during the #EndSARS protests that lasted between the period 3rd October, 2020 till 21st October, 2020.

“We strongly believe that Mr. Falana is a highly placed Nigerian citizen, senior lawyer, and politician that without the timely intervention of the ICC he will get away with justice in this case.

”At Oyigbo Police Station in Lagos alone, a total of 3 (Three) police officers were killed and roasted like Christmas goats with their facilities destroyed,” he said.

”It is our further submission that what Falana is doing gives room for suspicion that another brand of the terrorist group may be created to hide under the cover of “human rights activists” whilst sustaining the evils already bedeviling our people through the activities of the disbanded Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Boko Haram and Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

”Overall, we submit that prima facie cases of instigating violent protests that led to the killing of innocent citizens, wanton destruction of properties and other heinous crimes against humanity have been established against Femi Falana SAN vide this Criminal Complaint for which the ICC can investigate, prosecute and mete out appropriate sanctions to him.”

He urged the ICC Prosecutor to open an investigation of Femi Falana, SAN, on her own accord under Article 15 (1) of the Rome Statute;

Nwaegbu urged the ICC Prosecutor to compel Femi Falana SAN upon conviction under the Rome Statute to pay the sum of $2,000,000,000 (Two Billion US Dollars) as punitive damages for causing death, injury and maiming of several citizens as well as wanton destruction of public and private properties through his instigation of the violent #EndSARS Protests across Nigeria from the period 3rd October, 2020 till 21st October 2020.

The ICC has acknowledged the receipt of the complaints in reply signed by the Head of Information and Evidence Unit of the ICC, Mark P. Dillon.

Dillon said the communication has entered the Registry of the Court and will be considered accordingly with the procedure and Rome Statute of the ICC.

He however added: “Please note this acknowledgment letter does not mean an investigation has been opened, nor that an investigation will be opened by the Office of the Prosecutor.

“As soon as a decision is reached, we will inform you, in writing and provide you with reasons for this decision.”

November 11, 2020
Delay in judges’ appointment: Court okays lawyer’s plea to institute suit against President Buhari

The Federal High Court, Abuja, on Wednesday, granted an Abuja-based lawyer, Mr Oladimeji Ekengba’s application to institute a suit over the delay in appointment of the 33 nominees recommended to him by the National Judicial Council (NJC) as judges of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Ekengba had, in an ex parte application brought before Justice Inyang Ekwo, asked the court to grant his prayer, seeking an order of mandamus to compel the president to appoint all the nominees as judges as recommended by the NJC.

While the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria is the 1st respondent, the Attorney-General of the Federation is the 2nd respondent in the application.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) observes that an applicant is required to seek and obtain the leave of court, otherwise referred to as the permission of court, before filing the main suit seeking an order of mandamus to compel the president or any public officer to carry out an official duty.

NAN reports that President Buhari in April, appointed 11 of the nominees on the NJC’s list sent to him, but the remaining 21 are yet to be appointed.

Ekengba had insisted in his ex parte application filed in July this year that the president was duty-bound to appoint all the 33 nominees by virtue of Section 256 (2) of the Constitution.

Ruling, Justice Ekwo held that the applicant placed sufficient materials before the court to warrant granting him the permission to pursue the suit.

“I am satisfied that he has placed sufficient materials of persuasive value before this court,” the judge said.

He, however, noted that granting permission to the applicant to take an action “is not the action itself.”

“I, therefore, grant leave to the applicant to seek an order of mandamus directing and/or compelling the the President to act on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council by appointing thirty-three persons as honourable judges of the High Court of the FCT, pursuant to Section 256 (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as Amended),” he said.

NAN reports that Justice Ekwo had, in Sept., ruled in another suit filed by Ekengba that the president acted in contravention of the law when he sent the names of 11 persons recommended to him by the NJC to the Senate for screening and confirmation.

The judge agreed with plaintiff that only the appointments of a head of court, like the Chief Judge, required Senate confirmation.

November 11, 2020
Funke Akindele’s state pardon won’t stop court case against Lagos– Lawyer

Funke Akindele’s lawyer, Olukoya Ogungbeje has averred that the state pardon granted to the actress, will not stop him from pressing on with the lawsuit he filed against the Lagos State Government.

TheNewsGuru recalls that Akindele, together with her husband, Abdulrasheed Bello, aka JJC Skillz, were sentenced to community service in April for holding a packed house birthday party in breach of the government’s COVID-19 prevention rules.

Though the couple had served their punishment, Ogungbeje had gone to court to contest the constitutionality of the Lagos State law pursuant to which the couple and other residents arrested for flouting COVID-19 guidelines were convicted and sentenced.

Fans of the actress were shocked when the Lagos State Ministry of Justice announced on Friday that Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Governor had granted state pardon to Akindele and her husband, as well as 56 inmates from various correctional centres in the state.

The statement by the Director of Public Affairs, Lagos State Ministry of Justice, Kayode Oyekanmi, said the governor acted based on the advice of the state’s Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy.

In his reaction to the development Ogungbeje, told Punch that the move was preventive of his lawsuit coming up for hearing on October 13.

“They know the case we filed is coming up on Tuesday, so the government quickly pardoned them today (Friday). They have agreed with us after all, that the process was flawed. They had seen the handwriting on the wall.

“It shows that we must continue to hold government accountable but that doesn’t stop us from continuing our case because other people are involved. This will not stop our case, which has been fixed for Tuesday.”

October 10, 2020