WEDNESDAY APRIL 27 2016 • T H I S D AY
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NEWS
Hearing on Ibori’s Confiscation Case Adjourned Till June, Gohil Files Appeal Agha Ibiam in London The lingering confiscation of assets hearing of former Delta
State Governor, Chief James Ibori, in London which was listed to commence in May has now been adjourned to June 6, Mr. Bhadresh
Court Grants Bianca’s Application to Reopen Evidence in Suit against Ojukwu’s Family Davidson Iriekpen Justice Abdulfattah Lawal of a Lagos High Court sitting at Igbosere has granted the application filed by Bianca, the wife of the late Ikemba Nnewi, Chief Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu, to re-open her evidence-in-chief in a suit she instituted against her husband’s family. Bianca had on behalf of her two under-aged children, Afamefuna and Nwachukwu (claimants), instituted the suit against Ojukwu Transport Limited (OTL) and seven others before the court over an alleged attempt to eject her sons from the company’s property located in Lagos. The company (OTL) and its property belong to the father of the late husband. Other defendants in the suit are: Prof Joseph Ojukwu, Emmanuel Ojukwu, Lotanna Putalora Ojukwu, Dr Patrick Ojukwu, Edward Ojukwu, Lota Akajiora Ojukwu and Mrs. Massey Udegbe (doing business under Massey Udegbe and Company). The widow who had earlier testified before the court in two separate applications she filed seeking the leave of the court to allow her amend her writs of summon, statement of claims and also to re-open her evidence-in-chief. All the respondents in the suit did not object to the applications. At the resumed hearing of the matter yesterday, Justice Lawal granted all the prayers of the applicants and ordered her to re-open her evidence-in-chief on June 3. She had earlier in her evidence
informed the court that she was the only wife that was legally married among Ojukwu’s wives, as she engaged in court, church and traditional marriage. Bianca had also told the court that she knows one of the wives of the late Ikemba Nnewi, who is still alive. She told the court that some of the OTL property in question had been in the possession of her late husband before his demise, adding that the rent of those property was being collected by her husband. Mrs Ojukwu had also told the court that neither her nor her children are shareholders or directors in OTL. In the suit, Bianca and her two children had in their statement of claim, prayed the court to declare that the threat of forceful ejection from 29 Oyinkan Abayomi Street by the defendants is illegal. She is also asking the court for a declaration that her children are entitled to possess the following property, namely: No. 13 Hawksworth Road, Ikoyi (now known as No. 13 Ojora Road; No. 32A Commercial Avenue, Yaba, Lagos; No. 30 Gerard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos and No. 30 McPherson Avenue, Ikoyi.) The claimants stated that throughout the period their father was struggling to retrieve the property from the government, the second to seventh defendants “never played any role in the struggle nor contributed financially or otherwise to the realisation of the struggle.” However, the matter was adjourned till June 3, when the claimant would give evidence.
UI Shut Indefinitely after Violent Protest by Students Ademola Babalola in Ibadan Following two days of violent protest by the students of the University of Ibadan, the institution was yesterday closed indefinitely. The protesting students, had last monday and through the early hours of yesterday protested against the suspension of a union leader by the Student Disciplinary Committee. Other things protested against were lack of power and water among other municipal needs on campus. The students protest led to chasing of other students out off lecture rooms with canes while entrance gates and roads within the university were put under lock and key and barricaded. The Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Abel Olayinka, who announced the closure of the institution, said the decision was necessitated by
the need to check the uprising on campus, adding that the protests had led to a situation where life-threatening acts and text messages had been sent and received around the campus with some students allegedly covering their faces during the protest. He added that the students were to leave the university campus by 4p.m. yesterday, stressing that any student found on campus would be expelled. According to Prof Olayinka, the university management reviewed the situation on campus and realised that it owed a majority of the students responsibility to ensure their safety, adding that threats of violence against law abiding students cannot be condoned. However, the leadership of the Students’ Union Government (SUG) was seen addressing students not to leave the school premises as at the time of filing this report.
Gohil, the former governor’s lawyer has said. This is the second time that the hearing would be adjourned due to technical hindrances. Ibori is currently held at Huntercoombe Prison in Oxfordshire United Kingdom, and his earliest release from the prison will be upon payment of any amount ordered on the confiscation, Gohil hinted. Also, Gohil, who yesterday filed fresh appeal papers in the UK Court of Appeal seeking to quash his convictions in both the Ibori and VMobile cases, revealed that there was nothing straightforward about the case. “The confiscation proceedings will now start on June 6. The prosecution recently confirmed that they were not going to call any witnesses to support the case but were intending to rely on documents alone. This is surprising because the last confiscation hearing in October 2013 was adjourned specifically for the prosecution to call witnesses. “This was the three-week hearing, which heard the
testimony of the former Cchairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, and various police officers now implicated in the UK police corruption scandal, and therefore the judge (Pitts) was unable to reach a decision on the benefit figure,” he said. He said it would be exceptionally interesting considering that the Ibori’s team produced evidence that none of the funds could be traced back to Delta State. Though countering that statement, Judge Pitts had told the court that since Ibori was convicted by his own plea based on evidence, he was not going to call for the retrial of his case. However, it would be recalled that it was Judge Pitts, the judge in-charge of the £89million confiscation of assets hearing of the former governor, who put the hearing on hold due to his (Pitts) ill-health at that time. As it is, Judge David Tomlinson might be presiding over a case that would take him time to
comprehend, more so now that the Crown prosecutor, Shasha Wass, and Esther Schutzer-Wisemann, are now at large on the case they had more evidence than any other incoming Crown prosecutor. Filling his appeal yesterday counsel for Gohil, Stephen Kamlish QC, set out in detail the two primary bases of this first phase of the appeal. The grounds he said are the police corruption existed at the heart of the Ibori/Gohil and linked prosecutions. Secondly, that the British Prosecutors, Sasha Wass QC and her junior Esther ShutzerWeissman, deliberately misled the Court of Appeal at the last hearing at which Gohil sought to overturn the convictions. The appeal also sets out the staggering and ensuing coverup engineered by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Metropolitan Police (MPS) and Wass QC by deliberately suppressing vital evidence from the various defence teams. Kamlish maintained that there existed a corrupt relationship at the
heart of the police investigation. He said the Metropolitan Police anti-corruption officers uncovered evidence which compellingly demonstrated that there had been a corrupt relationship between the officers investigating the Gohil/ Ibori case, in particular, DC John McDonald - the officer who headed the Ibori/Gohil investigation and RISC Management Limited, a private investigations company. “Evidence now shows this corrupt relationship involved the passing of information about the police investigation to RISC in return for cash payments but more critically for Gohil, it was in fact RISC that was from the very beginning unlawfully passing confidential information about his case to police,” he said. But a law expert who refused to disclose his identity said Ibori’s case is not over yet until final verdict is heard. He said whether the hunter would be hunted in this case is a matter of time, adding that there is no way Ibori will be totally free without having some assets and investments to spare.
ISTHIS YOUR FACE?
Yobe State Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Gaidam (right) in a handshake with his Adamawa State counterpart, Senator Mohammed Bindow Jibrila, during a meeting between the North-east governors and World Bank officials in Abuja...yesterday. With them are Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State (middle)andGovernorMohammedAbubakarofBauchiState(left).
Court Rejects Kanu’s Application to Stop Trial, Pending His Appeal Tobi Soniyi in Abuja A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed the application of leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, for a stay of proceedings, pending the determination of his appeal. Kanu is standing trial on charges of treasonable felony. He had approached the appellate court challenging the earlier decision of the court which upheld the prosecution’s request to shield their witnesses from members of the public during trial. Trail judge, Justice John Tsoho, held that the application for stay of proceedings lacked merit and ordered that the trial would proceed in the mode earlier directed by the court.
Kanu and his co-defendants are standing trial on a six-count charge of treasonable felony, unlawful possession of firearms and other offences bordering on their agitation for secession of the Republic of Biafra from Nigeria. Tsoho relied on provisions of Section 306 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, which prohibits courts from entertaining a motion for stay of proceedings with respect to criminal cases. The judge rejected the arguments of Kanu’s lawyer, Chuks Muoma (SAN), and held that the provision of Section 306 of ACJA could not deny an accused person fair hearing. The judge held that the provision of the ACJA was to enhance the right to speedy trial guaranteed an accused person in the constitution.
``Section 306 of ACJA removes hitches to speedy trial which is component of fair hearing,’’ Tsoho held. The judge also distinguished the trial of the Biafra agitators from that of the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki. In Saraki’s case, the Supreme Court last year, after the advent of the ACJA, granted an order for stay of proceedings in his trial before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT). Tsoho held that the prevailing circumstances informing the decision of the Supreme Court to grant stay of proceedings in Saraki’s case was not available in the instant case. He said in Saraki’s case the issue of whether the cases entertained by
the CCT were criminal in nature or not was still to be determined by the Supreme Court was not available in the case before him. He explained that it was not in doubt that the Federal High Court had jurisdiction to hear criminal cases. “It is moreso, given that the application for stay of proceedings is not founded on lack of intrinsic jurisdiction of this court but on mode of procedure to be adopted in the trial.’’ The court after dismissing the application held that the trial would proceed in the mode he had earlier directed on March 7 which was to shield witnesses from the public but not to wear mask. The case was adjourned till June 20 to June 23 for trial.