Internet celebrity Ismaila Mustapha, aka Mompha, Tuesday demanded N5million from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for ‘unlawful re-arrest and detention.’

Mompha, on trial at the Federal High Court in Lagos for allegedly laundering N33billion, was re-arrested last Friday by the EFCC.

The anti-graft agency explained that although Mompha was granted N100million bail last November, he was wanted in connection with fresh cyber fraud allegations.

But in a suit filed by his counsel Mr. Gboyega Oyewole (SAN) Mompha challenged his fresh arrest and detention.

He claimed that the Commission acted “without any plausible reason and/or explanation”, during his visit to the EFCC’s Ikoyi office, to retrieve several items seized from him last October 19.

The items – five wristwatches, one Apple Air pod, one iPhone eight mobile phones and one pair of sunglasses, were ordered to be released to him by Justice Mohammed Liman on the grounds that the EFCC did not list them as exhibits in court.

Mompha is praying the court to declare that his re-arrest and detention by the EFCC was unjustifiable and unlawful.

He is equally urging the court to declare that the continued seizure of the items violated his right to own property under Section 44 of the constitution.

He further prayed the court to order the EFCC not only to free him but also to give him back the seized items and pay him N5m damages.

A litigation officer in the office of his lawyer, Kayode Adeboye, contended that Mompha’s arrest was baseless because he had been granted bail by the court and never absconded.

According to Adeboye, in line with the bail conditions, Mompha had been reporting at the EFCC office fortnightly without defaulting.

The court has yet to fix a date to hear the suit.

Inspector Idowu Haruna, a member of the Intelligence Response Team of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) on Tuesday told an Ikeja Special Offences Court that he obtained the confessional statements of alleged kidnap kingpin Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike a.k.a. Evans under a conducive atmosphere.

Led in evidence by the prosecution, Adebayo Haroun, at resumed proceedings, Haruna maintained that Evans voluntarily gave his confessional at the State Command of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS.

He was giving evidence before Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo.

Insp. Haruna denied the claims of Evans that his statement was obtained under duress arguing that the statements was read to him after documentation and his superior officer who also counter signed the statements after Evans affirmed the contents.

Evans was arraigned before Justice Taiwo with three other defendants Joseph Emeka, Chiemeka Arinze, and Udeme Upong over alleged attempt to kidnap the Chairman of the Young Shall Grow Motors, Mr. Vincent Obianodo.

They are facing a seven-count charge bordering on murder, attempt to commit murder, attempt to kidnap, sale and transfer of firearms.

They all pleaded not guilty.

Justice Taiwo adjourned the matter till August 25 for further hearing.

In a related matter, Evans was charged before the Court alongside one Victor Aduba on a four-count charge bordering on conspiracy, kidnapping and unlawful possession of firearms.

They were accused of conspiring and kidnapping of Sylvanus Hafia.

thenigerialawyer

Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, has gone to the National Industrial Court ( NIC) to challenge his removal.

His lawyers (Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SAN), Mr Tayo Oyetibo and Ebun Adegboruwa were sighted at the NIC, Lagos this morning where they filed a court action on behalf of the former Vice-Chancellor against the Chairman of the Governing Council, Dr. Wale Babalakin; the Governing Council and the University of Lagos.

The two silks were seeing in the court premises in respect of a pending exparte application for an interim injunction to restrain the removal of Professor Ogundipe.

A legal expert said “the orders being sought amount to an abuse of court system because injunctions are only granted in respect of actions that are yet to be carried out. In this case, the Vice-Chancellor was removed on 12th August, 2020 and an acting Vice-Chancellor has been appointed.”

thenigerialawyer

The minority caucus in the House of Representatives has rejected the 30 slots allotted to each member of the House for their respective Local Government Areas in the Federal Government’s 774,000 public works scheme.

The lawmakers demanded more transparency and consultation in the implementation of the 774,000 public works scheme.

The caucus, in a statement by the minority leader, Ndudi Elumelu, on Tuesday, said the allocation of 30 of the 1,000 jobs per Local Government to lawmakers was unfair and unacceptable to Nigerians and the lawmakers.

Elumelu, a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) member representing Anaocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency of Delta State, charged President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately order a review of the implementation process to ensure that the targeted citizens benefited from the programme as intended.

According to him, the 774,000 jobs are meant for the people and that the people look up to the lawmakers as major channels through which they are reached for social and economic empowerment.

He noted that makes the 30 slots given to members of the House inadequate.

‘The 30 person allotment per local government for lawmakers is grossly unfair, inadequate and unacceptable to Nigerians. As the representatives of the people, we are closer to them and they directly interact with us, irrespective of religion, class and political affiliations.

‘All Nigerians living in our constituencies are our constituents, irrespective of political leanings. We have a responsibility to protect their interests at all times. As such lawmakers ought to have been carried along on the allotment.

‘Moreover, the questions are: what criteria are being used in the job allotments? Given the 30 persons out of the 1,000 per Local Government Area allotted to federal lawmakers, what happens to the remaining 970? What answers do we give Nigerians? How do we ensure that the program benefited Nigerians and not enmeshed in allegations of sharp practices as witnessed in the COVID-19 palliative distribution?’

thenigerialawyer

More lawyers have continued to rally against the invitation of Gov. Nasir Elrufai to the Nigerian Bar Association Annual General Conference 2020, stating that his divisive approach to the unabated killings in Kaduna State, could impact negatively on the gathering.

A Human Rights Lawyer, Mojirayo Ogunlana-Nkanga, in a statement described the invitation as a needless distraction, while cautioning “this is not the time for political endorsements and acceptance.”
The statement read:
I woke up this morning to the news that some lawyers are writing to the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association that they will boycott the NBA AGC 2020 should Governor Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai be retained as a speaker in the event. This has generated a lot of controversies and there are several arguments for and against his admittance at the conference. Someone on a social media platform stated that the Governor was invited so he can come and explain the crisis.
Governor Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai does not need the platform of the Nigerian Bar Association to come and explain the crisis happening in Southern Kaduna. As the executive Governor of Kaduna State he has ample platforms to explain, describe and bamboozle the public as he wants to. He has the media such as AIT, STV, Leadership Newspaper, Punch, Guardian, BBC, etc to air his views and give all manner of descriptions he wants. But coming to the AGC? The AGC is not a political conference! It’s a conference where Lawyers should gather and think of the future of the critical state of our democracy and the dying rule of law. 
We should come together to discuss how judicial activism will help resuscitate due process and the rule of law. Instead we are yet again committing our legal system to the same bash we did when the President of the Country gallantly spoke to a body of Lawyers that he will strangle the rule of law in the name of national security. And has his administration not been true to his words?

This is not the time for political endorsements and acceptance. We must hold Mallam accountable for the theatre of murder that has persisted in the State. Let’s call him to order not give him a platform that will be misconstrued by the public who have daily questioned the integrity of the bar. Mallam is responsible for the security of the people of Kaduna. If he is not providing that then it is important that a body of lawyers should not give him a platform for any reason. 

If he wants to be heard, let him go to the people whom he is elected to represent. Let’s think about the vulnerable women and children who have found themselves in the middle of the crisis in Kaduna and are crying out for help. This is the time for Nigerian lawyers who want the NBA to progress beyond its present camatose state to rise up and lend their voices for the survival of the legal practice, for good governance, rule of law and the protection of human rights.

Mojirayo Ogunlana-Nkanga

Abuja based Legal Practitioner

M.O.N LEGAL

chychychukwu

It is often said in philosophical parlance that man’s Karma travels with him, like his shadow. Abdulrahman Bashir, the Chief Executive Officer of Rahamaniyya Oil and Gas Limited has been jailed in the United Kingdom for ten months.

Justice Butcher of England and Wales High Court sentenced the Nigerian oil mogul after he was found guilty of breaching multiple orders of the court in a pending suit instituted by Sahara Energy Resources Ltd.

Bashir who was handed a 10 months jail sentence, had been ordered to comply with requests for the release of 6,400.69 metric tonnes gas oil to Sahara Energy Resource Ltd or its agent from Rahamaniyya Oil and Gas Ltd, Jetty 6.436181, Ibafon, Kirikiri Waterfront, of Aero Maritime Street, Apapa, Lagos, Nigeria (“the Terminal”).

This was in line with the deal Ultimate Oil and Gas, the trading arm of Rahamaniyya Oil in the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), entered into a deal with Sahara Energy in 2018. In the signed contract, Ultimate agreed to buy, and Sahara agreed to sell 15,000 metric tonnes in the Vacuum of Gas Oil.

A Collateral Management Agreement (CMA) containing a London arbitration clause was entered into on July 8, 2018 between the two parties and it was further learnt that Rahamaniyya agreed to store the gas oil at its terminal pending payment by Ultimate.

Sahara delivered a total of 14,967.159 metric tonnes of gas oil to Rahamaniyya’s terminal in Nigeria and also issued invoices for the gas oil on October 26, 2018 for USD 10,760,728.77. The payment should have been made by August 29, 2019 but Ultimate defaulted in making necessary payments.

In December 2018, Ultimate and Sahara entered into a settlement agreement in which Ultimate confirmed that the value of gas oil that had been delivered was USD 10,760,728.77, and agreed to make a series of monthly payments for it.

Court records showed that some payments were made, in consequence of which some 8,566.469 metric tonnes of gas oil was released to Ultimate. Ultimate, however reneged in performing the terms of the settlement agreement in full by making all the payments due. After various warnings, on May 10, 2019, Sahara terminated the settlement agreement, notifying Ultimate that its agent, Asharami Synergy Plc would take delivery of part of the remaining gas oil from the terminal.

Various attempts made by Sahara to obtain delivery of the gas oil were futile, leading to the lawsuit which was filed both in Lagos and in the United Kingdom.

Justice Butcher who delivered the third order following a contempt of court judgement;

“The basis of the sentence was that Mr Bashir had committed continuing breaches of the order of Mr Justice Robin Knowles of 1 August 2019 and of the order of Mr Justice Bryan of 6 September 2019.”

There was also a binding indication that the sentence could be reduced to six months if Mr Bashir complies with the relevant order which had previously been breached. He was also fined £500,000 while Adebowale Aderemi, its manager, was fined £10,000.

thecapital

With nine days to the 60th annual Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Conference, some lawyers on social media have queried the inclusion of Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai as one of the key speakers in the forthcoming virtual conference.

NBA had on May 12, 2020, stated that it will hold its Annual General Conference (AGC) slated for August virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Paul Usoro (SAN) who was then president of the association, the decision became necessary following a meeting with the Technical Committee on Conference Planning (TCCP) led by Professor Konyinsola Ajayi (SAN), where it was decided that the 2020 AGC would be held virtually.

The conference is expected to commence from 26th through 29th August 2020.

Speakers at the event include the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, Speaker, Federal House of Assembly, Rt Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon Justice Tanko Mohammed.

Other key speakers include former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, Former Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, President of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA), Brian Speers and Director of Training at the Judicial Institute for Africa; Hon Dame Linda, Dobbs

Reacting to the inclusion of governor El-Rufai’s name on the list of key speakers, one of the lawyers identified as Itong Washington who deregistered from being part of the virtual conference wrote on Twitter “Dear @NigBarAssoc, I just ran through the list of speakers in the forthcoming virtual conference and Gov. El-Rufai’s name is on the list. I’ll be withdrawing my attendance and cancelling my registration for the conference. Thank you”.

The lawyer, however, did not state the reason behind his action after seeing El-Rufai’s name on the list and NBA was yet to react to the development as at the time of filing this report.

Reacting, @Lugard_Tareotu tweeted: Governor @elrufai has no business addressing lawyers at the @NigBarAssoc conference. As lawyers, it is our duty to uphold the rule of law. Courts have found that El-rufai’s Government has illegally arrested & incarcerated people. I hereby withdraw my attendance from the conference.

The user added: And I call on other well meaning lawyers to also boycott the conference, except El-rufai is withdrawn from speaking at the event. The Kaduna State Government does not have a track record of respect for the rule of law and protecting the rights to life and property.

@itongwashington wrote: Dear @NigBarAssoc, I just ran through the list of speakers in the forthcoming virtual conference and Gov. El-Rufai’s name is on the list. I’ll be withdrawing my attendance and cancelling my registration for the conference.

@SKefason: Dear @NigBarAssoc, I hope you take the outcry against your nomination of Gov Nasir Elrufai as one of the speakers in your upcoming conference serious and remove him from the list. Don’t give me reason to believe that the NBA has lost its essence.

@the_ngozi: I love that Lawyers are boycotting the NBA AGC because Paul Usoro deemed El-Rufai, of all people, fit to actually speak? This joke is not even funny. With El-Rufai’s track record, you want him to speak to lawyers? Boycott it, let only Paul & his Bestie attend.

@Jummiest2: Have you noticed that the numbers of lawyers withdrawing from NBA annual conference because it has El-rufai as one of the speakers, no southern Kaduna lawyer yet as of the time I read, now you said SK people are troublesome.

@friarsomadina: Is it proper for the Paul Usoro-led @NigBarAssoc to allow those associated with disobedience of court orders to address her conference. The NBA should be a symbol of rule of law.

@AsiruAbbas: NBA is becoming more or less a useless organization. El-Rufai that threatened to return foreign election observers in body bags on NTA Tuesday live in 2019 before the general elections, making him one of the speakers is outlandishly preposterous. Is NBA dancing on the grave?

Meanwhile, El-Rufai has stated that Southern Kaduna leaders accusing him of being inactive over the incessant killings want “brown envelope”.

The governor spoke on Channels Television’s programme, Sunday Politics.

“I have no time for nonsense. I will not appease idle people who have nothing to do but to raise a spectre of genocide. They do that to get money into their bank accounts and get donations from abroad instead of standing up,” he said.

Matthew Page, former United States intelligence community’s Nigeria expert, insisted that the communal violence in southern Kaduna is well documented.

“Those affected by it are not angling to be invited to cocktail parties. El-Rufai is either working toward peace and a durable political and socio-economic solution – or he is part of the problem”, he tweeted on Tuesday.

barristerng