Author: Lawbreed Limited

The Senate on Tuesday passed a bill amending the Court of Appeal Act 2013 increasing the number of Justices of the Court of Appeal from 90 to 110. This followed the adoption of the report of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters by Chairman of the Committee, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele. In his lead debate, Bamidele said the bill sponsored by Senator Chukwuka Utazi sought to increase the number of Justices of Court of Appeal from 90 to 110. According to him, the legislative intent of the amendment is to ensure that the court has the requisite…

An Ikeja High Court on Tuesday sentenced the deposed Baale of Shangisha in Magodo area of Lagos State, Mutiu Ogundare, to 15 years imprisonment for planning and faking his own kidnaping. Justice Hakeem Oshodi sentenced Ogundare having convicted him of a three-count charge bordering on breach of peace and fake kidnapping. Also jailed for same prison term of 15 years, alongside the deposed Baale was his brother, Opeyemi Mohammed. The court had earlier on June15, 2022 during last proceedings, discharged and acquitted his wife Abolanle, of the charges. Delivering judgment in the matter Justice Oshodi said he considered the allocutus…

A 45-year-old resident of Lekki, Nigeria, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 5 years in prison for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for his attempt to steal nearly $2.4 million from the United States government, including approximately $500,000 in pandemic-related unemployment benefits, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. At the time of his arrest, Abidermi Rufai was the Special Assistant to the Governor of Nigeria’s Ogun State. He admitted a long history of using stolen identities to defraud U.S. disaster programs, including aid for Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and file fraudulent U.S. tax returns. At the…

Parents of detainees plead with FG to intervene Hundreds of Nigerians arrested and detained by the Saudi Arabian authorities on suspicion of drug peddling are now rotting away in various prisons in the Middle East country with Nigeria apparently not aware of their fate. It was learnt that although many of the detainees were initially slated for execution by the Saudi authorities in accordance with the country’s penal code, many of them are, however, being kept in prisons spread across the country without any reference to whether they would be killed or released and when. A close source to one…

The Court of Appeal, Makurdi Division, has validated the power of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to direct banks, without the backing of a court order, to freeze the accounts of state governments for the purpose of investigations. The decision of the court delivered on Thursday overturned the earlier judgement of the Federal High Court in Makurdi which had barred the anti-graft agency from placing a Post-No-Debit (PND) order on the Benue State government’s accounts. “In a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice M.S. Hassan on Thursday, September 22, 2022, the appellate court held that, the EFCC has powers…

An Ikeja High Court on Friday imposed a N.750 million on Lagos State Traffic Management Authority in a watershed judgment on the powers of the agency to impose fines and tow vehicles of motorists suspected to have committed traffic offences. Justice Olalekan Oresanya in a suit instituted by a motorist, Mr. Lawal Aliyu against LASTMA, Lagos State Government, and the state’s Attorney General, held that it was unconstitutional for LASTMA to impose fines and tow vehicles of alleged traffic offenders without a valid court order. Aliyu had filed the matter to contest the N20,000 fine imposed on him by LASTMA…

Olukayode Ariwoola, chief justice of Nigeria (CJN), says the constitution should be amended to stop some cases at the court of appeal. Appearing before the senate on Wednesday for a screening exercise, Ariwoola told the senate that the workload on the supreme court is too much when compared to the number of justices on the bench. The number of supreme court justices has dropped to 13 as against the maximum requirement of 21. “More justices need to be appointed as out of 21 needed in the supreme court, only 13 are left and for expeditious consideration of cases, some of…

The Federal Government says a number of factors beyond its control led to the current situation in which the cost of fertiliser increased to between 110 and 150 per cent. The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, stated this at a media briefing on Thursday in Abuja. The minister was reacting to an allegation by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, while presenting his Economic Blueprint that farmers now pay 200 per cent more for a bag of fertiliser. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports with the efforts of the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative inaugurated in 2016 by President…

The Federal High Court in Abuja has set aside a consent judgement given in favour of a company, Panic Alert Security Systems (PASS) Limited, for its acclaimed roles in the recovery of the Paris Club refund. PASS had relied on the consent judgement to lay claim to a professional fee of $47,821,920. The Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, had led the push for the payment of a total $418 million to some contractors and consultants, including PASS, who claimed to have been engaged by the Nigeria Governor’s Forum (NGF) to recover the Paris Club refunds. The NGF, led by…

An Ikeja Special Offences Court on Wednesday sentenced Ayodeji Oluokun, an assistant pastor of the Redeem Christian Church of God (RCCG), City of David Parish, Victoria Island, Lagos, to two years imprisonment for issuing 1.6 million dollar dud cheque. Oluokun was charged alongside his company, Peak Petroleum Industry Nigeria Ltd., on an amended six-count charge bordering on the issuance of a dud cheque, stealing and obtaining money under false pretences. Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo, in her judgment, held that the prosecution had successfully proved the charge of issuance of a dud cheque against the defendants. Taiwo, however, discharged and acquitted the…