Author: Lawbreed Limited

 The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has ordered the suspension of Value Added Tax collection by the Rivers state. The appellate court also directed the parties to maintain position before the judgment of the lower court was delivered. A three-man panel of the appellate court led by Justice Haruna Tsammani gave the order on Friday while ruling on an application for stay of execution by the appellant’s counsel, Mahmud Magaji SAN. Recall that a federal high court in Port Harcourt had earlier ruled in favour of the Rivers State government on who has the power to collect value added…

A Kebbi state high court has vacated the order it made returning Uche Secondus as national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). On August 23, a high court in Rivers state granted an interim order restraining Secondus from parading himself as the national chairman of the party. But on August 26, Nusirat Umar, judge of a high court in Kebbi state, ordered that the execution of the previous order barring Secondus from parading himself as national chairman be suspended, pending when the suit is heard and concluded. Umar had given the order while delivering ruling in a motion ex parte brought in…

THISDAY Law Editor, Onikepo Braithwaite, and 129 other lawyers have been shortlisted by the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (LPPC) for the award of the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). The names of the shortlisted candidates were contained in a public notice for advertisement in the newspapers released on Wednesday. According to the Acting Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and Secretary of the LPPC, Mrs Hajo Bello, the shortlisted candidates emerged from both the advocate filtration stages and academic pre-qualification exercise, “preparatory to the award of the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria for the…

Ibrahim Muhammad, chief justice of Nigeria (CJN), has asked three judges to appear before the National Judicial Council (NJC) to show cause why disciplinary action should not be taken against them for granting the conflicting ex parte orders. In recent weeks, the judges had issued conflicting orders on issues bordering on the leadership crisis affecting the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and matters relating to candidates for the Anambra governorship election scheduled for November. The CJN had issued a summons on August 30, requesting that the judges explain their recent court orders. Those summoned by the CJN are the chief judges…

A bill seeking to empower the state government to collect value-added tax (VAT) has scaled the first and second reading at the Lagos house of assembly. The legislators directed the committee on finance which is handling the bill to report back on Thursday. During the session on Monday, Mudashiru Obasa, the speaker of the house, said the VAT bill would lead to an increase in revenue and infrastructure development. On August 19, Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers, signed into law a bill on value-added tax (VAT) collection in the state. A federal high court sitting in Port Harcourt had issued…

A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has dismissed a suit by the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, seeking to stop the Rivers State Government from commencing collection of Value Added Tax, VAT. FIRS in suit no FHC/PH/CS/149/2020 had approached the court seeking a Stay of Execution on the earlier judgement of the court that stopped FIRS from collecting VAT as it was constitutionally the role of state governments. The FIRS had following the judgement against them sought the high court to stop the Rivers State Government from executing the judgement. But, Justice Stephen Dalyop Pam, in…

BY Chidi Amuta Those paid to protect the guardrails of democracy hardly look in the direction of the courts for enemies. Nor do most people suspect that judges could become facilitators of authoritarianism and subtle promoters of anarchy. As custodians of the rule of law, judges and the courts over which they preside are the insurance for democracy’s ultimate good. The entire edifice of democracy thrives because the judicial system is expected to act in a manner that reassures ordinary men and women that the excesses of politicians will not be allowed to endanger law and order or the presumed…

There are indications that the Chief Judge (CJ) of Delta State will be among six other CJs of state High Courts to appear before the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Ibrahim Muhammad, over the menace of conflicting court orders in recent times. The CJN had last week Monday summoned the CJs of Rivers, Kebbi, Cross Rivers, Anambra, Jigawa and Imo States to explain the rationale behind the indiscriminate issuance of exparte orders by judges in their various states. The injunctive orders were mainly against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the planned November 6 governorship election in Anambra…

Dr. Uchenna Emelonye is presently the Country Representative of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Liberia, having served in the same capacity in Uganda. On these positions accredited at ambassadorial level in respective countries, he advocates and supports equitable, inclusive, participatory and gender sensitive good governance and sustainable development. In this interview Adelanwa Bamgboye, he speaks about insecurity, the Bar, his Keynote address at the recent Law Week of the Nigerian Bar Association Abuja (Unity Bar) and sundry issues. I can see that your keynote speech focused on calibrating the response of the Bar in the…

The Supreme Court has denied a list being circulated online as names of lawyers penned for the award of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) rank for 2021. Festus Akande, Director of Press and Information at the Supreme Court, described the list as “fake”. The Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (LPPC), a body chaired by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), and concerned with giving the highly coveted award to deserving lawyers annually, is domiciled at the Supreme Court. Mr Akande said the 2021 list of SANs-designate in circulation did not emanate from the LPPC. “We wish to state clearly that the…