A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to freeze all transactions in 65 bank accounts linked with 12 firms and a man suspected to be involved in the manipulation of the nation’s foreign exchange market.

Justice Ahmed Mohammed gave the order while ruling was on the motion ex-parte marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/979/2020 filed in the name of the Governor of the CBN and argued by former Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mike Aondoakaa (SAN).

Justice Mohamed, in the ruling, granted the CBN 90 days, in the first instance, to investigate the activities firms, who the CBN Governor alleged were involved in the importation of goods not eligible for foreign exchange.

The CBN Governor further alleged t activities of the firms and an individual identified as Adekunle Olusola Alonge are “the cause of the current volatility and imbalance in the foreign exchange regime in Nigeria with the attendant negative impact on the economy.”

In the ruling, Justice Mohammed said: “An order is made freezing all transactions in the bank accounts of the defendants/respondents listed on the motion paper, for a period of 90 days in the first instance, pending the outcome of the investigation currently being conducted by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

“It is also directed that, if the applicant could not conclude investigation and its inquiry within the 90 days given by the court, it can seek an extension of the order, upon an affidavit filed to show the extent of the investigation and the need for the court to extend the period.

“It is further ordered that any person who is affected by this freezing order may apply to the court to be heard in this matter.”

Justice Mohammed then adjourned till November 25 for report of investigation.

Listed in the motion as owners of the affected accounts are: Adekunle Olusola Alonge; Armadillo Integrated Services; FTM Capital Management Limited; Sonora Asset Management Limited; Sonora Capital & Inv Ltd; Sonora Capital Investment Limited; Sonora Capital & Investment Limited and Sonora Capital and Investment Limited.

Others are: Sonora Capital Investment Limited; Sonora Consult; Sonora Energy & Allied Services Limited; Sonora Energy and Allied Services Limited; VIP Impress Hollywood Limited and Vlisco Nigeria Limited.

Aondoakaa had, while arguing the motion, said the affected firms belonged to some Chinese nationals, who were able to access foreign exchange with the invention of the highest levels of governments in Nigeria and China with the promise to engage in the production of textile materials in Nigeria.

He stated that after accessing the foreign exchange, the firms allegedly resorted to smuggling textile materials from neighbouring countries into Nigeria.

The ex-AGF said the investigation being conducted by the CBN was in collaboration with authorities of the Benin Republic, which he said, were also conducting similar investigation.

Aondoakaa had prayed the court for 180 days but had 90 days granted in the first instance by the judge.

A Deputy Manager in the Governor’s Department, CBN, Innocent Okocha stated, in a supporting affidavit, that “the investigation being carried out concerns what has been discovered to be serious infractions by the defendants/respondents in connection with some transactions, and non-documentation by the defendants/respondent in violation of the CBN circular TED/FEM/GEN/01/010 on “Inclusion of some imported goods and services on the list of items not valid for foreign exchange in Nigeria’s Foreign Exchange Market” of June 23, 2015.

“More specifically, there is a grave allegation that the defendants//respondents are engaged in accessing/procuring of foreign exchange from the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market in furtherance of the smuggling/importation of goods which fall under goods and services prohibited under the circular referenced in paragraph (b) above.

“The aforesaid transactions undertaken by the defendants/respondents using their bank accounts can cause significant financial loss to members of the public if Ieft unchecked.

“A freezing order of this honourable court in respect of the defendants/respondents’ aforesaid accounts would also enable the CBN to investigate the activities of the defendants/respondents to a logical conclusion.

“The activities of the defendants/respondents being investigated are the cause of the current volatility and imbalance in the foreign exchange regime in Nigeria with the attendant negative impact on the economy.”

A cleric, Bishop Godfrey Onah, has blamed Christians in the National Assembly (NASS) for recent passage of the 2020 Companies and Allied Matters Bill (CAMA) signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Onah, who is of the Nsukka Catholic Diocese, said in a remark during the Sunday Mass that if Christians in NASS had opposed the bill it would not have been passed into law.

President Muhammadu Buhari had on Aug. 7, signed the CAMA bill into law, giving provision for religious bodies and charity organisations to be regulated by the registrar of the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), and a supervising minister.

“The question many Christians have been asking is, where are Christian legislators during the debate of this bill and its passage in the National Assembly?

“Because, if they had opposed this bill on the floor of the house it will not have been passed and sent to the president for assent.

“I blame Christian legislators for doing nothing and allowing the passage of the 2020 CAMA Act,” he said.

The cleric, however, wondered what Federal Government wanted to achieve in monitoring how the finances of churches in the country are managed when it contributed no dime to the church.

“Government should focus and monitor its ministries, agencies and other government institutions where it budgets billions of Naira annually and not church offerings.

“Had it been that government gave allocations to churches and decided to monitor its usage, nobody will question government,” he said.

Onah urged government as a matter of urgency to withdraw the law and amend it, since the 2020 CAMA posed a threat to churches in the country.

“It is unfair that the church is grouped among Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), in the country that should be monitored and controlled by Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

“The most annoying part of it is that the act empowers the CAC to suspend board of trustees including those of churches suspected to have mismanaged its finance and appoint interim managers to manage their affairs.

“If this law is implemented, what it means is that churches in the country have been reduced to ordinary secular organisations,” the cleric noted.(NAN)

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at the weekend said it would continue to sustain the ongoing strike until the Federal Government addresses all its demands.

Speaking at the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, President of ASUU, Biodun Ogunyemi, said the government must first implement the report of the need assessment it conducted in 2012.

Ogunyemi, who spoke during ASUU’s interactive session with critical stakeholders to enlighten public on the struggles of union, said their demands were genuine and in the interest of the nation.

He said students would be the major beneficiaries of their demands and appealed to them to show understanding.

He said: “Students who are our children and partners in progress should show understanding, what we are asking from the government are in their interest and the interest of the nation, good hostel accommodation, good classroom blocks that can engender effective learning, laboratories where cutting edge research can be carried out and offices that can drive the process of quality university education.

“So what we are asking of the government are not baseless things, but those things that in 2012, the government conducted during a needs assessment survey and found out that there is widespread rot and decay in the university system. We are asking that the government implement its own report of 2012.”

Ogunyemi lamented lecturers were still receiving the same salary scale of 2009 in 2020, vowing if such issues were not addressed, the strike would continue.

He said: “Salary issues are still there, we have not fully addressed that, it appears that some forces in government are bent on suffering our members by withholding their salaries. But we believe that once we sort out the issues of Universities Transparency and Accountability Solution, other issues will fall in place.

“The 2009 agreement we had with government stipulates that that agreement would be reviewed every three years, but since then, we have not been able to review the salary scale and that is why we are saying that the negotiation we started with government in 2017 ought to have been completed and with the completion of that negotiation process.

“A new salary scale should be in place and we are insisting that the process is completed before this ongoing strike is suspended among other things.”

A revered Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. JHC Okolo, turned 85 on Friday 21st August, 2020 and is also celebrating his 60th and 58th Call to the Irish and Nigerian Bars respectively.

The Legal luminary who is the Principal Partner, JHC Okolo, SAN & Co. is a trailblazer with a bag of accomplishments. He was the first African to win Queen Victoria Prize as the best overall student at the Irish Bar exams in 1960.

After his Call at the Nigerian Bar in 1962 Mr Okolo, SAN, taught for many years at the Faculty of Law, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus. Among his students at UNEC are Prof Ilochi Okafor, SAN, Prof Osarenren Osunbo, Dr Ibe Kachikwu among others. He was a Member of Council of Legal Education (1980-1995) and Chairman, Council of Legal Education (1985-1999) having taken over from late GCM Onyiuke, SAN who died in 1995.

Prof. Ilochi Okafor, SAN, while paying tribute to his former teacher testified that Okolo is highly skilled in cross-examination and was his teacher and mentor. He said further :

“Wow! At 85, still going strong, alert, brilliant, courtroom wily, devastating in cross-examination, a profuse linguist and looking 60 years. The celebration of J. H. C. Okolo SAN rightly is my priority. I happily celebrate my lecturer, mentor; he taught me Evidence in 1965/6 session. I made a straight ‘A’. He was so young and dashing the only lecturer in the university driving a Citroën car. Don’t Imagine what the girls thought of this but he was aloof. My teacher thank you so much for the footsteps you laid for me. Now the juveniles will appreciate the source of the little grasp of Evidence that enabled me to teach the course. Very happy birthday my teacher and I will celebrate your centenary celebration.”

On his part, Chief Pat Ikwueto, SAN celebrated the erudite Scholar as follows:

“Most learned senior, happy birthday & may God continue to bless u with continued good health. Many of us, as young lawyers in Onitsha in those days when advocacy was the hallmark of a good lawyer, were most captivated & awed with your oratorical erudition characterized with uncommon mastery of English language. Thank u for your inspiration & mentorship. God bless you sir.”

We at TheNigeriaLawyer wish the learned silk a very big happy birthday. Today is a special day to the Nigerian Legal Community worth celebrating because he is a father, a mentor and role model to many of us.

We wish you many happier returns in good health, sound mind, and prosperity. May your shadows never diminish sir!

Chinese firm ByteDance, which owns video-sharing platform TikTok, said on Sunday it will file a lawsuit against the US government over President Donald Trump”s executive order banning American transactions with the popular app while preparing plan to shut down its business in the country.

Trump signed executive orders on August 6 that would prevent TikTok and WeChat from operating in the US as they threatened America”s national security and economy.

Under the executive order, any transactions with ByteDance subject to US jurisdiction will face prohibition in 45 days or by mid-September.

US officials are concerned that the company could pass data on American users to the Chinese government. But ByteDance has denied this.

A separate order issued by the Trump administration on August 14 gave ByteDance 90 days to divest the US operations of TikTok.

ByteDance is in talks with potential acquirers like Microsoft and Oracle.

“Over the past year, we have earnestly sought to communicate with the US government, and provided solutions regarding its concerns,” ByteDance said in a statement.

“But the US administration disregarded facts, disobeyed necessary legal procedures, and tried to insert itself into negotiations between private businesses,” it said.

“To ensure that the rule of law is not discarded and that our company and users are treated fairly, we announce that we will officially file a lawsuit to safeguard our interests,” state-run Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying.

Besides the lawsuit, the company is also preparing for the worst — a shutdown plan to keep its employees in the United States on the payroll, even if the app is shut down in the country.

TikTok has more than 100 million users, over 1,500 employees and thousands of business partners in the US, according to ByteDance.

ByteDance worries that due to the extremely wide scope and highly uncertain content of the US executive order against it, the company is unable to ensure that a solution acceptable to all parties can be reached within the time limit set by the US government, the Xinhua report said.

Besides the company”s lawsuit, its US employees are also planning to take the Trump administration to court over the executive order, it said. PTI KJV NSA

A 48-year old man, Tony Nkwocha, shocked many at a Lagos Police Station and who was arrested for allegedly engaging a 9-year old girl in sex for the past 7 months that the victim was his girlfriend.

The sordid incident happened at Close 45 House at Satellite Town, Lagos where they reside. He was apprehended and transferred to the Gender Section of the Command in Ikeja, Lagos for proper interrogation and Investigation.

The Police alleged that the suspect, Nkwocha, had been sleeping with the victim since January 2020 till 3rd July 2020, when he was eventually caught and exposed. After he was caught, the girl revealed that he had warned her not to tell anybody what they were doing and she kept it.

The action has landed Nkwocha in trouble as he may spend the rest of his life in prison as the Police found him culpable, charged him before the Ogba Magistrates Court and he was remanded in Correctional Centre.

The Court did not take his plea after the prosecutor, Supol Bisi Ogunleye, asked the Court to refer the matter to the DPP for advice.
The Presiding Magistrate, Mrs E Kubunje, ordered his remand in custody without an option of bail and directed the prosecutor to duplicate the file and send to the DPP for advice.

The matter was adjourned till 26th September 2020, for the report of the DPP to be available while the defendant will be in custody pending the outcome of the report.

The case may likely be transferred to the High Court if the DPP finds him culpable and recommends his trial for defilement.

Former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr Obadiah Mailafia, on Monday said he was under instructions not to talk to the media.

Mailafia was last week invited by the Force Criminal Investigation Department in Abuja for questioning but he did not confirm if the invitation was honoured or not.

Speaking with our reporter on the phone on Monday evening, he said, “Honestly speaking you know I am a colleague of yours and also an economist. I am under instructions not to talk. The authorities as well as my lawyer said I should not talk for now. I am sure the time will come when we shall get to talk very well.”

In the letter of invitation sighted in Abuja last week and signed by DCP Umar Mamman Sanda Deputy Commissioner of Police (Admin) For Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Force Criminal Investigation Department, Abuja, Mailafia was to report to their office in Abuja on Monday, August 24.

According to the Police, the invitation was in relation to case they were investigating in which Mailafia’s name featured in.

The letter, dated August 20, 2020, and titled “RE: INVESTIGATION ACTIVITIES, POLICE INVITATION” was addressed to Dr Obadiah Mailafia, Moderator’s Quarters, National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos, Plateau State

It had read, “I refer to my letter No CR: 3000/X/FHQ/ABJ/Vol.244/245 dated 15th August, 2020 on the above subject matter and wish to inform you that this office is investigating a case in which your name featured prominently.

“In the light of the above, you are invited to interview the Deputy Inspector General Inspector-General of Police, Force Criminal Investigations Department, Abuja through the undersigned on Monday 24th August, 2020 by 11am at Room 407, 3rd Floor, Force Criminal Investigations Department complex, Area 10, Abuja.

“Accept the assurances of the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Force Criminal Investigations Department high regard, please.”

When contacted on the phone then, Mailafia had confirmed the invitation.

“The matter is with my lawyers,” he had said.

Mailafia had recently been invited twice by the Plateau State Office of the Department of State Services (DSS) for questioning.

He had recently declared in the media that a northern governor was in charge of the Boko Haram terrorist group.

The Chief Judge (CJ) of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Justice Ishaq Bello, on Monday admonished Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) and older politicians in the country to pave the way for growth of the younger generations, which according to him, are the real leaders of the future.

Justice Bello gave the advice against the seeming acrimony that trailed the just-concluded election of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) that produced a non SAN, Mr Olumide Akpata, as national president.

Speaking at a two-day workshop on ‘Trends in Criminal Justice Administration and Anti-Corruption in Nigeria’ the FCT CJ said that the outcome of the election should not be a source of rancour and disunity but one of encouragement for innovation.

Bello, who has few months as CJ of the FCT High Court, said he is “satisfied with the back seat so that they can grow and attain excellence”, adding that SANs should accept the outcome of the election and joined hands in building a united, strong NBA.

He, however, advised the new leadership not to depart from the old tradition of respect at the bar, adding that SANs deserved to be respected and the leadership must be willing to take advice from more experienced people.

Concerning old politicians, particularly those in the National Assembly, Justice Bello expressed disappointment at those who waste the slot of their constituents doing nothing and yet would not give room to young and vibrant Nigerians from their areas.

He said: “When I see aged people sleeping at the Senate or House of Representatives contributing nothing, when they have young people at their constituencies to promote; to go there and be vibrant and contribute, I feel ashamed.”

Speaking to young lawyers at the workshop, Bello admonished them to endeavour to prove their worth rather than become specialists in taking dates for matters in court for their principals.

In a welcome address, the President, Center for Socio-Legal Studies (CSLS), Prof. Yemi Akinseye-George (SAN), said the theme of the workshop, ‘Trends in the Administration of Criminal Justice Act and the Anti-Corruption Fight’, was apt, as it brings to the fore challenges faced in realizing the goal of the Act.

He lamented that in spite of efforts made by various stakeholders in the justice sector, not much has been realized.

“I dare say that the legal profession has only been able to secure the conviction of only a handful of high profile defendants and politically-exposed persons. Our centre is monitoring about 25 high profile corruption cases in court. These have been stuck in the courts for years despite the provisions of the ACJA for speedy trial.

“In other words, the improvement in the criminal procedure law and the increasing number of lawyers and senior advocates on a yearly basis has not translated to a greater effectiveness of the criminal justice system, greater access to justice by the poor or improved justice delivery system in the country,” he said.

He went further to blame the increasing rate of anti-social behaviour and criminal activities such as banditry, kidnapping, insurgencies, corruption and resurgent anti-democratic and harmful tendencies which threaten democracy and collective existence on the inability of the elite legal profession to fashion creative solutions to the challenges of the society.

He said: “Unless the legal profession reinvents itself and return to original nobility and integrity for which it was reputed, the confidence of the majority of Nigerians in the profession will continue to decline.”

Prof. Akinseye-George while stating that the effectiveness or otherwise of the ACJA depends on the legal profession — judges, registrars, prosecutors and legal practitioners — added that: “The legal profession must unite to reverse the downward slide by the profession and the criminal justice system manifested in the palpable inability to conclude cases bordering on accountability initiated against high profile defendants and politically-exposed persons.”