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A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Tuesday fixed April 20, 2023, to rule on a Kogi State Application seeking to vacate an interim order of court freezing 14 properties linked to Kogi State governor. 

Justice Nicholas Oweibo fixed the date after taking submissions from the Governor's counsel, Mr Abdulwahab Mohammed SAN and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Counsel, Mr Rotimi Oyedopo SAN. 

The court had on February 22, made an interim forfeiture order following an exparte motion to confiscate 14 properties and firms in Lagos, Abuja, and the United Arab Emirates as well as N400m, recovered from one Aminu Falala. 

When the matter came up on Tuesday, the Kogi state counsel told the court that he had an application dated March 9, 2023 seeking to vacate the order of the court made on February 22. 

Mohammed, while moving the application stated that about the third quarter of 2021, EFCC approached the court to freeze Kogi State's N20bn salary bail out loan that was allegedly hidden in Sterling bank. 

He said that when the Kogi State government called Sterling Bank, the bank denied that such account existed, and that they challenged the freezing order made by Justice Tijjani Ringim that the order was obtained illegally. 

Mohammed further stated that EFCC instead of apologizing, sent a press release that the money had been returned to the Central Bank of Nigeria. 

According to him, the Kogi State Government approached the state High court, presided over by the present Chief judge justice Majebi who granted an order restraining the EFCC from having anything to do with Kogi State until the substantive matter was determined. 

He argued that the order of the Kogi State High Court restraining EFCC from taking any step against Kogi State Government was still subsisting. 

"The EFCC in flagrant disregard of the said Order of the Kogi State High Court and her pending appeal at the Court of Appeal Abuja Judicial Division, arrested one Ali Bello Nephew of the Applicant herein, who is an associate of the Kogi State Government on the 29th of November, 2022. 

"That the EFCC in flagrant disobedience of the subsisting Order of the High Court of Kogi State, interrogated the said Alli Bello and coerced him to oblige them information pertaining to most of the properties listed in the Order of this Honourable Court made on the 22nd of February, 2023. 

"That the said Ali Bello aggrieved by his illegal arrest and forced interrogation, filed a fundamental rights enforcement application at the High Court of Kogi State, Lokoja Judicial Division agafnst the EFCC in Suit No: HCL/696"/2022: Ali Bello V. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) & Anor. 

"That the High Court of Kogi State in a Judgement delivered on the 12" of January, 2023 granted all the reliefs sought by the Applicant and made an Order declaring his arrest, detention and interrogation illegal and unconstitutional and further Order of perpetual injunction restraining the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, their agents, servants, privies or howsoever called from further arrest, detention, harassment and intimidation of the said Ali Bello, nephew of the Applicant herein. The Judgement of the High Court of Kogi State delivered on the 12 of January, 2022 is herewith attached and marked “EXHIBIT D” 

"That the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in continuous disobedience of the extant Orders of Court barring it from inviting or doing anything with respect to the affairs of the Kogi State Government and its officials, brought the instant application for preservation order of properties they alleged are reasonably suspected to have been derived from unlawful activity stemming from the purported misappropriation of funds belong to Kogi State Government. 

"That the Application filed by the EFCC on the 20" of February, 2023 upon which this Honourable Court made the order dated 22 February,2023, sought to be vacated herein, is a continuous disobedience of subsisting Orders of Courts of coordinate jurisdiction, that had restrained the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission from doing anything with respect to the affairs of the Applicant including the employees, appointees or associates of Kogi State Government," he said. 

Oyedepo in his response said that the applicant had brought nothing before the court to convince the court to vacate the order. 

He urged the court to dismiss the application of the applicant seeking to vacate the order earlier made by the court.

By Gabriel 

The Supreme Court, on Wednesday, adjourned till February 22, the hearing on the Naira redesign suit brought against the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, by some state governors.

The suit which was at first filed by three northern states Kaduna, Kano and Zamfara and had only the Attorney-General of the Federation as the sole defendant in the matter, got an additional joiner of nine states today.

Lagos, Cross River, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo, Katsina and Sokoto states requested to be joined as plaintiffs in the suit challenging the decision of the Federal Government to stop the use of N200, N500 and N1000 old Naira notes as valid legal tenders in the country.

While Edo and Bayelsa filed motion to join the federal government as defendants in the suit.

River State on its part, said it’s reason for joining was different as it was hinged on challenging the N5million and N100m withdrawal limits that was set by the CBN.

The seven-man panel headed by Justice Inyang Okoro, ordered an amendment of the Originating Summons.

The court noted it would consolidate all the cases, though it declined to extend the ex-parte order that barred FG from implementing the new monetary policy that was introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. 

The court also warned the parties that having submitted the matter for adjudication, they are not to take any action that would affect the subject matter of the litigation

Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello and Kaduna state’s Governor Nasir El-Rufai, were present in court for the proceedings.

Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA) on Tuesday, called for a protest if the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu is not released in the next seven days.

HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said it is undemocratic and against the rule of law for the Federal Government to continue to hold Kanu despite the ruling of the Appeal Court freeing the IPOB leader unconditionally. 

In a statement issues to newsmen by Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko

National Coordinator, HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA said the group lamented that though President Muhammadu Buhari has been in many international and United Nations conventions and summits where he pledged to oversee a peaceful, transparent, free and fair election in February so a new President and new set of legislators to be elected by Nigerians, the President has frustrated the release of Kanu and this has stoked the embers of warfare in the South-East.

Now, the Independent National Electoral Commission said it requires no fewer than 13,000 security personnel for the general elections in Enugu State. Dr Chukwuemeka Chukwu, the Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, in the state disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday in Enugu. He said that the security personnel would be deployed to the 4,145 polling units, 260 Registration Area Centres and collation centres across the 17 council areas in the state.

HURIWA’s Onwubiko said, “It is painful that a once peaceful land has turn bloody and militarised because of the misadministration and the mismanagement of the Federal Government and President Muhammadu Buhari. 

“President Muhammadu Buhari was in USA for the USA/African economic summit and he met President Joe Biden and pledged to oversee a peaceful, transparent, free and fair election in February so a new President and new set of legislators to be elected by Nigerians. 

“The President has also attended dozens of AU conferences and ECOWAS summits and made same promise to conduct free and fair poll. But he has stoked the embers of warfare in the South East with the incarceration of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu of the Indigenous People of Biafra. 

“President Muhammadu Buhari has disobeyed Court of Appeal judgment freeing Nnamdi Kanu and Nnamdi Kanu is seriously sick as revealed by his legal team amongst whom is a winner of one of the highest Nigeria's national Award Chief Ozekhome SAN.  The failure of the President to release Nnamdi Kanu has caused untold hardships in the South East even as many fringe groups have embarked on widespread attacks of police assets in the South East yet President Muhammadu Buhari has continued to detain Nnamdi Kanu. 

“Does he want the election to be disrupted in the South East by holding on to Nnamdi Kanu despite the Court of Appeal judgment and the UN human rights council's decision demanding freedom for Nnamdi Kanu? Is it true that President Muhammadu Buhari wants to destabilise South East and undermine the election in his attempt to stop Igbos from voting because he perceived that Peter Obi may win even when Peter Obi is not an Igbo Presidential Candidate but a political force with a nation-wide momentum? We demand for Nnamdi Kanu's release to ease tensions in Igboland. We also call for widespread protests in Nigeria if after 7 working days Nnamdi Kanu is not freed. HURIWA lacks the requisite resources to so mobilize the kind of Protests that would make a lot of impacts in this regard  but we are appealing to like minded non governmental individuals, people of goodwill and all lovers of peace in Igboland  to rally round this cause of orchestrating a peaceful assembly to make demands for the immediate demands for freedom of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu before the Presidential Election so as to douse tensions in the South East and check mare the high and unprecedented incidence of mass killings and attacks targeting strategic national security assets and institutions in Ignoland by fringe groups that aren't even directly linked to the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB)."

By Gabriel, Abuja

The Federal High Court sitting in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under Hon. Justice M.O. Olajuwon has declared the sack of the former managing director of  AMAC Investments and Property Development Company (IPDC) as unlawful, null, and void.

 

In a judgment delivered by Justice Olajuwon on January 16, 2023, between Hon. Yakubu Adamu and the immediate past chairman of AMAC, Hon. Abdullahi Adamu Candido and AMAC-IPDC, the court declared that they cannot lawfully remove Yakubu Adamu as director of AMAC-IPDC.

The court also declared that the decisions taken at the AMAC-IPDC board of directors meeting held on August 31, 2021, to revoke the appointment of Hon. Adamu as managing director/chief executive officer is wrongful, unlawful, invalid, null and void, and incapable of having any legal consequence. 

Also, any purported implementation of the outcome of the AMAC-IPDC board meeting of August 31, 2021, including constituting of a caretaker/interim management or otherwise by whatever name or appellation called to manage the affairs of AMAC-IPDC is unlawful, null, and void.

According to the judgment, "a declaration that the decisions taken at AMAC-IPDC Board of Directors' meeting held on August 31, 2021, revoking the appointment of Adamu as the managing director/ chief executive officer of AMAC-IPDC is null and void and of no legal consequence.

“A declaration that any purported implementation of the outcome of the AMAC-IPDC board meeting of August 31, 2021, including the constitution of a caretaker/interim management or otherwise by whatever name or appellation called, to manage the affairs of the AMAC-IPDC, is unlawful, null, and void.”

The court also gave an order of injunction restraining the former chairman and AMAC-IPDC from giving effect or continuing to give effect to any of the decisions taken at the Board Meeting of AMAC-IPDC held on August 31, 2021, which meeting has been declared a nullify by the court.

Hon. Adamu who commended the judgment expressed gratitude to Justice Olajuwon for being fair in giving justice to the case, saying that his share of the company as a shareholder has been restored by the court.

"I am happy that the court has given me victory and declared that I am still a shareholder of AMAC-IPDC and that all the benefits that I am supposed to benefit from when I was wrongfully removed till today be paid. I am very grateful to the court for the judgment," he said.

END.