Tag: Court

Court Stops Installation Of Osun Monarch

An Osun State High Court sitting in Ede has restrained the state government from the processes for the installation of one Jelili Oyedokun from Ogunwale Ruling House as the new Alaro of Aro in Egbedore Local Government Council of the state.

The court presided over by Justice A. O Oyebiyi in a ruling delivered on May 3rd 2018 said the processes should be stopped pending the determination of the suit filed by Prince Olakunle Ojo from Ojo/Lawani branch of Farinu ruling House before the court.

In an ex parte motion by Prince Olakunle Ojo on behalf of the Ojo/Lawani ruling family, the plaintiff prayed the court to order the Osun Government to maintain the status quo pending the hearing and determination of the suit.

In its ruling, the court granted an interim injunction restraining the state government from installing Jelili Oyedokun as the new Alaro.

The Judge said: “Having listened to both parties and especially the information released by the state counsel representing the state government that the government had already approved the appointment of Jelili Oyedokun and that it only awaits the installation, the state government should not proceed on the installation”.

It would be recalled that the stool of Alaro became vacant following the demise of the late Alaro in 2015 and since then, there have been contests on who to ascend the throne among the princes within the royal family.

In the motion ex-parte, Ojo through his lawyer, Mr B Siyanbola accused Oyedokun of conniving with the state government to ascend the throne through the backdoor.

According to him, the Farinu ruling house was to produce the new Alaro and out of three branches of the ruling house, two had reigned (Odefenwa and Ogunwale) leaving Ojo/Lawani.

He further explained that an enquiry was conducted by the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, between March 19, 2017 and April 3, 2018 which he said further confirmed the legitimacy of Ojo/Lawani to the throne. He however alleged Oyedokun of political manipulation.

The Judge thereafter, adjourned the case till May 30, 2018 for hearing.

Court Adjourns Trial Of Danish Man Who Allegedly Killed Wife, Daughter

The trial of a Danish man accused of killing his wife and three-year-old daughter in their upscale Lagos home was on Tuesday adjourned to next month, lawyers and court officials told AFP.

The magistrate court in Yaba also ordered the continued detention of Peter Nielsen, 53, until June 28 when his proper trial at a high court for the April 5 alleged murder of Zainab, his wife and their daughter Petra, was to start.

Zainab, a 37-year-old singer popularly known as Alizee, was a rising Nigerian star.

“He was brought to court this morning but no plea was taken. The prosecutors asked for an extension of his detention in Ikoyi prison pending his trial at the high court,” activist lawyer Christian Kolawole Love told AFP.

“The request was granted as Mr Nielsen will remain in prison until June 28,” he said.

He said the prosecution was hopeful that justice would be done in the matter.

“We are optimistic that the course of justice will be served. Nielsen is culpable in the murder of Zainab and Petra and should be brought to justice,” he said.

Court officials said the suspect had been returned to prison after the hearing.

Dozens of rights activists under the auspices of Women Arise NGO, families and friends of the victims, beseiged the court in black in T-shirts with the pictures of Zainab and her daughter.

They carried placards denouncing the growing menace of domestic violence in the country, amidst sobbings and wailings of relatives of the victims, including Zainab’s mother.

“Our campaign against domestic violence will be pursued with renewed vigour in order to stop this menace that is consuming our families,” Women Arise president Joe Okei Odumakin told AFP outside the court.

She commended the police for their prompt investigation as well as the state justice department for establishing “a prima facie case of murder against the accused”.

The Danish man was first remanded in prison when he appeared in court on April 11 as the authorities awaited legal advice from the state director of public prosecution.

He was said to have hit his wife’s head against the wall several times, inflicting fatal injuries and later poisoned his daughter and tried to cover up the murders as a domestic accident.

The case, which has generated media attention and publicity in Nigeria, a country where domestic violence is receiving more attention.

In March, the Lagos state governor Akinwunmi Ambode led a protest against domestic violence in support of a 25-year jail term for rapists.

Court Sends Serving Senator To Prison

The Federal High Court in Lagos on Wednesday ordered the remand of the senator representing Delta North in the National Assembly, Peter Nwaoboshi, in Ikoyi Prison.

The remand order was made by Justice Mohammed Idris shortly after Nwaoboshi was arraigned for an alleged fraud of N322m by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

Nwaoboshi, an ally of a convicted former governor of Delta State, James Ibori, was brought before the court amidst heavy security.

The court premises was flooded by scores of his loyalists, who trooped after the arms-bearing policemen as Nwaoboshi was being led into the courtroom for his arraignment.

The lawmaker was charged with two counts alongside two firms – Golden Touch Construction Project Limited and Suiming Electricals Limited.

The charges border on conspiracy and money laundering.

The EFCC, in the charges, claimed that Nwaoboshi and Golden Touch Construction Project Limited purchased a property known as Guinea House, Marine Road, Apapa, Lagos for N805m between May and June 2014.

The anti-graft agency claimed that N322m out of the N805m, which Nwaoboshi and the firm paid for the property, was part of proceeds of “an unlawful act, to wit: fraud.”

The EFCC alleged that the N322m was transferred to the vendor of the property on the order of Suiming Electricals Limited.

Suiming Electricals Limited was accused of aiding Nwaoboshi and Golden Touch Construction Project Limited to commit money laundering on or about May 14, 2014.

The prosecution said the defendants acted contrary to sections 18(a) and15(2)(d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011 and are liable to punishment under Section 15(3) of the same Act.

But upon their arraignment, the defendants pleaded not guilty.

Nwaoboshi’s lawyer, Mrs. Velerie Azinge (SAN), while moving an application for her client’s bail, urged the court to admit the senator to bail on self-recognisance or in liberal terms.

Azinge said besides suffering from a heart-related ailment, Nwaoboshi, a senator, would not jump bail, as, according to her, he must always attend Senate proceedings, failing which his seat would be declared vacant by the Senate President.

“This is a case of a pure commercial transaction,” she added.

Azinge stressed that should the court be unwilling to admit Nwaoboshi to bail on self-recognisance, the terms of the bail should be liberal.
She said, “Alternatively, in the event that the court is not minded to grant bail on self-recognisance, we will be craving the court’s indulgence to grant bail in the most liberal terms.

“Even the head of the Senate himself, Dr. Bukola Saraki, is before the court of law and yet he’s still presiding over the Senate proceedings.”

The prosecuting counsel for the EFCC, Abubakar Mohammed, told the court that the anti-graft filed a counter-affidavit in opposition to Nwaoboshi’s bail application.

He, however, conceded that the decision to grant the bail was on the judge’s discretion.

After hearing them out, Justice Idris adjourned till April 27, 2018 for ruling while he ordered that Nwaoboshi should be remanded in the prison custody until then.

As he emerged from the courtroom while being led by policemen towards the transit cell on the court premises, Nwaoboshi was greeted with the shouts of “Oshomiri” by a crowd of his supporters, who sat outside the courtroom, while the court proceedings lasted.

Kenyan Rugby Players Charged With Rape

Two Kenyan rugby sevens players, Frank Wanyama and Alex Olaba, appeared in a Nairobi court on Monday charged with the February gang rape of a female singer.

Wanyama, 23, who captained Kenya’s second sevens team to win the Victoria Sevens tournament in Zimbabwe in March, and Olaba, 22, are both suspended from the national squad currently in Singapore for the eighth leg of the IRB World Sevens series on April 28-29.

Both players denied the charges when they appeared before Nairobi chief magistrate Francis Andayi. If found guilty they could face up to 15 years in prison.

Wanyama and Olaba were released on bail and ordered to appear in court for the next hearing on May 16.

AFP

Court Restrains FG From Publishing Secondus’ Name In Looters List

A High Court sitting in Port Harcourt on Monday ordered the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed; and the Federal Government to stop further mention of the name of Prince Uche Secondus, National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, as one of the looters in the country pending the determination of a matter brought before it bordering on defamation of character.

Secondus had approached the State High Court presided over by the State Chief Judge, Justice I.A. Iyayi-Lamikanra, in Suit Number PHC/1013/2018, seeking the sum of N1.5bn as damages over the publishing of his name in the media as one of those allegedly involved in the looting of the nation’s treasury.

Secondus was reported to have received the sum of N200m from the office of the then National Security Adviser on February 19, 2015.

Apparently not satisfied with the claim by Lai Mohammed, Secondus sued the minister alongside the Federal Government and Vintage Press, seeking among other prayers a declaration that the defendants should retract the said publication and apologise in writing to him (claimant) for the defamatory publication.

However, Justice Iyayi-Laminkanra granted one of the prayers sought by the claimant when she restrained the defendants from further mentioning the name of Secondus in the looters’ list.

But the defendants and their counsels were absent in court when the matter was mentioned for hearing.

The trial judge, nevertheless, adjourned the matter till May 28, 2018.

Speaking with newsmen shortly after court session, lead counsel for Secondus, Mr. Emeka Etiaba, SAN, insisted that there was no truth in the claim against his client.

Etiaba said, “The prayers are that they retract the libellous material in as many media as they published it, payment of N1.5bn to Prince Secondus as damages. The judge has granted the restraining order.

“We moved our motion seeking interlocutory injunction in restraining the defendants from further publishing the libellous content. Prayer one was granted. Prayer two was not granted because the honourable court said it was at large.

 

“But we are very satisfied with (the granting of) prayer one, which effectively halts further libel.”

Mace Theft: Court Restrains Police, SSS From Arresting Sen. Omo- Agege

A Federal Capital Territory High Court has issued an order restraining the Nigeria Police and State Security Services, SSS from arresting Senator Ovie Omo-Agege.

This came after allegations that the Senator led the hoodlums who invaded the Senate chambers on Wednesday and carted away the mace.

The Police had based on the accusation, arrested and briefly detained the Senator but he was later released.

However, Mr Omo-Agege’s lawyers approached the court on Thursday seeking an interim injunction against further arrest or detention of the senator.

Senator Omo Agege’s team of lawyers led by Aliyu Umar, a Senior Avocate of Nigeria, asked for court’s protection for the embattled senator pending determination of a fundamental human rights case brought against the respondents.

The judge, Ishaq Bello granted the four-point prayers of the Senator and adjourned the matter to May 6.

The case is also reassigned to Court 30 for hearing.

Mr. Omo-Agege was suspended from the Senate on April 12 over his allegations that a bill for reordering of election sequence was targeted at President Muhammadu Buhari.

The senator later apologized to his colleagues after the Senate had directed its Ethics & Privileges Committee to investigate the matter.

The committee eventually recommended Mr Omo-Agege’s suspension.

However, on Wednesday, the suspended Senator resurfaced at the National Assembly, accompanied by some individuals who proceeded to take away the mace in a commando style.

Court Dissolves 5-Year-Old Marriage Over Wife’s Suicide Attempt

An Idi-Ogungun Customary Court, Agodi in Ibadan, Oyo on Wednesday dissolved the five-year-old marriage between Selim Osuntade and his wife, Mutiat, over her attempt to commit suicide.

The Court President, Chief Mukaila Balogun held that Selim proved his case beyond reasonable doubt.

Balogun said the court could not entertain the plea of Mutiat for reconciliation as the evidence given by both parties had revealed the truth.

He said the court would not fold its arms and wait until the respondent killed herself because her husband had made up his mind not to love her again.

 

”The marriage is hereby dissolved and the custody of the two children from the union is given to the respondent.

”The petitioner should pay N8, 000 monthly for the upkeep of the children.

”In addition, he should pay N12, 000 for the respondent’s house rent and N5, 000 for her to move her luggage,” he said.

Earlier, Selim had approached the court for the dissolution of his marriage, alleging that his wife of five years was too troublesome to live with.

The petitioner told the court that he had denied his wife sex to see if she would change her bad character instead she became suicidal.

”My lord, I decided to starve her sexually so that she can change from her bad behaviour.

 

”Though she pleaded with me and told me that she would change, but i insisted that she should turn a new leaf first, instead, she attempted to hang herself in my room.

”I see the suicide attempt as another way to put me into trouble, therefore, the court should end this marriage to save me from her troubles,” he said.

The respondent, Mutiat, denied the allegation that she attempted to kill herself and urged the court to save her marriage.

“I confirmed that my husband denied me sex for several months and I begged him to forgive me for any wrong thing I have done to him but he refused to accept my apology.

”I am not ready to leave my matrimonial home with our two kids, the court should help us reconcile,’’ she said.

NAN

63 In Jail For Alleged Homicide In Kaduna

A Daura Chief Magistrates’ Court in Kaduna has again ordered the remand of 63 persons charged with unlawful assembly and homicide in Kasuwa Magani, Kaduna State.

The accused, all residents of Kasuwa Magani, are standing trial for conspiracy, rioting with weapons, unlawful assembly and homicide, causing grievous hurt and inciting disturbances.

When the case was called for mention, the prosecutor, Inspector Sunday Baba, informed the court that the accused cannot take their plea as they still await advice from the state Director of Public Prosecutions.

Baba however urged the court to remand the accused in prison and adjourn the matter pending the DPP advice.

The Magistrate, Mrs Zainab Mohammed, after listening to the prosecutor’s oral application, ordered that the accused persons be remanded in prison custody.

She, however, handed one of the accused, an underage, to a surety, and adjourned the case till April 24.

The News Agency of Nigeria  reports that the accused were arrested and brought to court in connection with a conflict on February. 26, between locals and settlers over girl friends.

Several houses, shops and other properties were set ablaze during the incident in which 12 people died.

The police are yet to arrest the alleged gang leader and mastermind of the crisis.

The 63 accused persons are in custody for allegedly contravening the provisions of Sections 59, 67, 190 and 78 of the Kaduna State Penal Code Laws, 2017.

(NAN)

52-Year-Old Actor In Jail For Killing Animals

An Indian court on Thursday jailed Bollywood superstar Salman Khan for five years for killing endangered animals on a hunting trip.

Prosecution lawyer Mahipal Bishnoi told reporters outside the court in the Rajasthan city of Jodhpur: “The court has given a five-year jail term and fined Salman Khan 10,000 rupees ($150).”

The lawyer said an arrest warrant was being prepared for the 52-year-old actor who would be sent to Jodhpur central jail. Khan, who pleaded not guilty, can still appeal.

 

AFP

Man In Court For Obstructing Governor’s Convoy

Twenty-seven-year-old motorist, Progress Raji, was on Monday brought before an Oredo Magistrates’ Court in Benin, for allegedly obstructing the convoy of the Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki.

Raji is facing two counts of driving against the traffic, thereby obstructing the governor’s convoy and driving on the public highway with expired driver’s licence.

The Prosecutor, Mr. David Akhigbe, told court that Raji committed the offences on February 18 on Country Home Road, off Sapele Road, Benin City.

Akhigbe said the first offence was punishable under Section 18 of Road Traffic Law, Cap 148, Vol. 1 of former Bendel State of Nigeria, 1976 now applicable to Edo State.

He said the second offence was punishable under Regulation 42 of Road Traffic Law, Cap 48, Vol. 5 of the former Bendel State of Nigeria Laws now applicable to Edo State.

Raji, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Counsel to the accused, Mr. Mathew Adebola, pleaded with the court to grant his client bail due to the nature of the offences.

The Magistrate, M. O. Ojo, granted the accused bail in the sum of N20,000 and a surety in like sum.

The magistrate said the surety must reside within the court’s jurisdiction and must also have a visible means of livelihood.

Ojo adjourned the case until March 2 for further hearing.

Court Strikes Out Case As Defendant Commits Suicide

A Magistrate Court in Osogbo last Tuesday struck out a case of fraud involving a 49-year old Asimiyu Salawu after he had committed suicide on December 21, 2017.

Salawu was arraigned before court 5 in Osogbo on November 10, 2017.

He was accused of defrauding one Monsurat Adeleke of her N270,000 under the pretence to secure her a piece of land at Ijetu Area, Osogbo.

The deceased was said to have committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Sections 390(9) and 419 of the state criminal law2003.

The accused person pleaded not guilty to the two-count charge leveled against him.

However, at the resumed hearing, the police prosecutor, Inspector Olayiwola Rasaq told the court that the accused person had committed suicide by jumping into Osun River in Osogbo.

The prosecutor stated that the dead body has been confirmed with certificate issued by LAUTECH hospital mortuary.

He also said the corpse of the accused dead person has been released to his family for burial.

In his ruling, Magistrate O.T. Badmus said, “May the soul of the dead rest in perfect peace, as the case died natural death.”