Drama In The Nigerian Court
Intrigue and Drama Played Out in Court.
Federal Government
Can Not Prove Their Case
When the case of IPOB vs
Federal Government was called up at about 10am, three defendants were present
namely Benjamin MADUBUGWU, David Nwawuisi and Chidiebere Onwudiwe. The fourth
Bright Chimezie was absent. Immediately, the prosecution led by Mr Labaran
Shaibu told the court that Mr Bright was in the premises and should be given 5
minutes to come in. Eventually, Mr Bright was brought in an hour later by the
DSS.
Apparently prepared to
frustrate and divert the attention of the court Mr Labran again told the court
that IPOB members posted a photo short on social media of a DSS personal to be
tracked and killed. But immediately IPOB defence team countered him and made
the court to understand the ploy. The court granted the defence plea and threw
away the application.
Now the business of the day:
Bright Chimezie's lawyer told the court that the amended charges brought by the
prosecution was only served on him this morning which amounts to gross
disobedience to clear directive of the court previous date to be served within
time.
After heated argument by the
defence and prosecution the defendants eventually took plea of not guilty to
all the charges read.
The defence team again made an oral application for Bright Chimezie to be
transferred to Kuje prison and was granted. The court adjourned till Thursday
for continuation of hearing.
Charles Ugwu
Reporting for Northern
Media Team, Abuja.
AT THE COURT TODAY
IPOB VS FG..
Updates of what transpired today at the Abuja
federal high court Abuja...
Notice that the prison officials were trying very hard to
stop Benjamin Madubugwu from addressing the zoo media but as a Biafran he was
able to put out his message to the world...
More updates coming your way...
Stay tuned!
BIAFRA: TROUBLES LOOMS AS IPOB THREATENS TO
RESUME PROTEST WORLDWIDE
WE MUST NOT ALLOW SUCH
Information reaching us now
has it that Justice Binta Nyako has concluded plans with Nigerian government to
postpone the court case between Nigerian government and Biafrans still held
illicitly in Kuje prison, thereby subjecting and exposing these innocent
Biafrans to inhuman and degrading treatment. Let it be known that this case has
been in court close to 3 years now and counting as a result of unwarranted adjournment
so as to be able to scout for evidence against these Biafrans and to jail them
unjustly.
We must resist this unjust
move against Benjamin Mmadubugwu, David Nwawusi, Bright Chimezie Ishinwa, and
Chidiebere Onwudiwe. This inhuman treatment against these Biafrans is
disheartening and must be put to a halt. The judiciary they say, is the last
hope of the common man, but here in Nigeria, the case is different.
Judiciary is now a tool used by Nigerian government to punish those that have
different believe and ideology as well as those they see as opposition to their
government and actions.
Self determination is
enshrined in the United Nations Charter of right of indigenous people to self
emancipation which is domesticated by Nigerian government as a member nation.
Therefore, it is within our legitimate right to agitate for our freedom using
the same law as provided by United Nations which Nigeria is signatory to.
I hereby call on people of
good conscience and lovers of freedom, equity and justice and indeed all
Biafrans around the world to stand up and resist this abortion of justice and
the continued illegal detention of these our brothers for close to 3 years now.
Either they release our brothers tomorrow unconditionally or 10 million
Biafrans will hit the street both in Biafraland and in diaspora to demand for
their release. We have truly endured such an injustice, and it's enough. We
shall not allow this to continue unchallenged. I am calling on Biafrans
worldwide to get ready because we must compel Nigerian government to free our
brothers, Benjamin Madubugwu, David Nwawusi, Bright Chimezie Ishinwa and
Chidiebere Onwudiwe. The incessant adjournment of this court case must be put
to a stop .
COURT
UPDATES TUES.20TH MARCH 2018
The Nigeria
(Prosecutor) file another amended charges against the defendants (Benjamin
Madubugwu, David Nwawusi and Chidiebere Onwudiwe)
The new filed amended
charges should have been filed at least two weeks before the court
sitting(today).
To these charges, the
defendants (Benjamin Madubugwu, David Nwawusi and Chidiebere Onwudiwe) took a
plea of not guilty to the charges.
Hence the defending
council(Bar. Ejiofor) requested two days to understudy the amended charges.
The lawyer of Bright
Chimezie Ishinwa requested for his client to be transferred from DSS custody to
Kuje prison. The judge, Binta Nyako granted that request, hence this evening
Bright Chimezie Ishinwa will be taken to prison to be with the rest of his brothers.
Finally, the sitting was
adjourned till Thursday, 22nd March, 2018 for the defending council (Bar.
Ejiofor and team) to understudy the amended charges.
The Shambolic Diversionary Media Trial of Senator Abaribe
& the Judicial Mistakes of Binta Nyako
-Buratai is more in danger
of going to
prison than Senator Abaribe
-no surety will ever and I repeat no surety will ever lose his bail bond or be
imprisoned because Nigerian Army is 
💯% responsible when they invaded Kanu's
home
-Binta Nyako as a judge does not know the law as this brilliant article has exposed
By Niyi Sijuade
Anybody stopping short of
reading just the caption of this piece would not be wrong to assume that
Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe is on some kind of criminal trial for some offense.
The reason such assumption
won’t be wrong is simple, and that is: Since October last year when Mazi Nnamdi
Kanu consistently failed to appear on the scheduled dates of his trial, a
section of the media has been reporting – in essence – that Senator Abaribe is,
on account of that, bound for prison. Well, that’s not true.
Part of what is causing all
the hoopla is a simple and straightforward story that every decent human being
can easily understand. The issue is this: Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of IPOB was
free on bail; and then without any cause or authority of court, the Nigerian
army launched military operations against him at his home in Umuahia.
It is agreed by many, and Amnesty International and others have confirmed it,
that the military assault resulted in casualties. Some credible eyewitness
accounts also suggested that the army took away some people from the scene. So,
in the circumstances, it is plausible that any of the fallen or ‘captured’
could have included Nnamdi Kanu. I might add that the army has denied the
attack even as it admitted chasing a ‘vehicle laden with explosives into Nnamdi
Kanu’s house’.
The details of the invasion
and its aftermaths are what Senator Abaribe, Uchendu and Ben Madu (the
sureties) have been straining to explain to Justice Binta Nyako – the presiding
judge in the case. But until very recently, their voices seemed to have been
eroded by the louder misconceptions of the law advanced in court by prosecutors
from the office of the Attorney General of the Federation. Misconceptions that
also seemed to have imprisoned the court to the wrong procedure, but which – to
its credit and that of the lawyers to the sureties – the court just corrected
recently by ordering the AGF to serve the sureties with an enrolled Order to
Show Cause. This was on March 28, 2018.
Yet, when these things are
reported – even after the last hearing on March 28, 2018 – you get the
impression of an Armageddon that is soon to consume Abaribe. And in that whole
gory cast, those traducing the ranking Senator are careful or careless to
exclude the other two sureties, thus misleading the general public that it is
Abaribe alone that stands to the damning peril they are baying. The truth is
that all the three sureties stood in bail in equal amounts of one hundred
million each. So, zeroing on Abaribe alone smacks of a fifth column and some
mischief, to boot.
In view of this whole maze
of misleading reporting, it has become necessary for people familiar with the
process of bond forfeiture to speak out in rebuttal of what is beginning to
look like an orchestrated attack on the character of the man, Senator Abaribe,
if not a calculated but clumsy attempt to scare him or damage his political and
civic standing in society. Now, for anybody who cares to know, below is the
statutory due process that must be followed before a surety is imperiled enough
to contemplate the prospect of being jailed.
When a Defendant fails to
appear at his trial like in this case of Nnamdi Kanu, the court does not
automatically or summarily revoke the bail or issue orders of forfeiture of the
bond amount, not to talk of even sending the Surety to jail. There is a process
the court must follow. The process is first a civil process which must be
exhausted before the second phase (criminal) can ever begin. It’s all
enumerated under the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA); which
pertinent provisions I will indulge readers to permit me to reproduce below,
verbatim.
“Where it is proved to the
satisfaction of the court by which a recognizance has been taken or, when the
recognizance bond is for appearance before a court and it is proved to the
satisfaction of the court that a recognizance has been forfeited, the court
shall record the grounds of proof and may call on any person bound by the bond
to pay the penalty thereof or to Show Cause why it should not be paid” (Section
179 (1), ACJA).
Anybody reading this –
layman or lawyer – can see from above that the process must first start with a
written (not oral) Order to Show Cause, which the sureties are yet to be served
with till date. And for good measure, it’s the duty of the Attorney General of
the Federation to serve such Order on the sureties personally at their
respective addresses of record. It is only after crossing this phase that a
proper civil proceedings on bond forfeiture begins. And, if I might add, such
proceedings is an arduous and painstaking process that can take months, and
understandably so because enormous property and liberty interests are
implicated.
It is after above
proceedings that the next phase is triggered, as provided in Section 170(2)
ACJA which states that “Where sufficient cause is not shown and the penalty is
not paid, the court may proceed to recover the penalty from a person bound, or
from his estate if he is dead, in the manner laid down in this Act for the
recovery of fines”. Anybody familiar with the arcane rules on ‘recovery of
fines’ will agree that they bear some legal safeguards the sureties can take
advantage of. In other words, it will take long before the question of any of
them going to prison can arise.
Now returning to the black
letters of the preceding provisions, attention needs to be drawn to the use of
the word ‘may’, which simply means that the court is not bound to take the
matter beyond this level. Instead, the court is free to exercise sound
discretion and hold harmless the sureties and their principal (Nnamdi Kanu).
But in the event that the court insists on recovery of the bond money, the next
phase below (prison) kicks in.
“When the penalty is not
paid and cannot be recovered in the manner provided in this Act, the person
bound shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months.”
(Section 179(4) ACJA).
As anybody can see, it is
the above section that some otherwise respected media have gone rogue and
fringe on; and then proceeded to jump many hoops to start proclaiming that
‘Judge has ordered that Abaribe must produce Kanu or go to prison’. They are as
wrong and bizarre as someone saying in the morning that night has come already.
Still, prison is long in
coming because there’s a further provision that gives powers to the court to
let everybody go scot-free. It’s in Section 180 ACJA which provides that “The
court may at any time cancel or mitigate the forfeiture, on the person liable
under the recognizance applying and giving security to the satisfaction of the
court, for the future performance of the condition of the recognizance and
paying, or giving security for the payment of the costs incurred in respect of
the forfeiture or on such other conditions as the court may consider just”.
So, as you can see from
above, the court has the unfettered discretion to cancel or mitigate the bond,
which means that no surety, including Abaribe, gets to go to prison, after all
or even get to losing a cent. In the same vein, the court also has discretion
to refuse any bench warrants against Kanu and ground its decision on the same
rationale upon which it exculpated the sureties from any blame for Kanu’s
nonappearance.
Better yet, should the court
insist on calling a civil default of the bond, Abaribe and the others have an
immediate right of appeal as provided under Section 186 ACJA, which states that
“An order of forfeiture made under this Act shall be subject to appeal”. I
don’t think that, while on appeal, any of the sureties will be headed to jail.
And one would postulate that the right of appeal extends not only to the Court
of Appeal but also to the Supreme Court.
Plus, there are other
statutory safeguards. Order 26, Rule C of the Federal High Court (Civil
Procedure) Rules, which regulates proceedings on Orders to Show Cause, provides
that:
“An order to show cause
shall specify a day when cause is to be shown, to be called the return-day to
the order, which shall ordinarily be not less than three days after service.
“A person served with an
order to show cause may, before the return-day, produce evidence to contradict
the evidence used in obtaining the order, or setting forth other facts on which
he relies to induce the Court to discharge or vary such order.
“On the return-day, if the
person served does not appear and it appears to the Court that the service on
all proper parties has not been duly effected, the Court may enlarge the time
and direct further service or make such other order as seems just.
“If the person served
appears, or the Court is satisfied that service has been duly effected, the
Court may proceed with the matter.
“The Court may either
discharge the order or make the same absolute, or adjourn the consideration
thereof, or permit further evidence to be produced in support of or against the
order, and may modify the terms of the order so as to meet the merits of the
case”.
A plain reading of the
foregoing will show that the process specified therein has not even started. It
must begin and be followed to the letters of the law before anybody can talk of
the sureties losing their money or their liberty. And in the course of this
whole process, the court must ensure that the principle of fair hearing
mandated by the Nigerian Constitution is followed, in spirit and letters.
What this whole saga will
eventually boil down to is this: The sureties, pursuant to valid service of the
Order to Show Cause, will finally be endowed with the first and golden
opportunity to put Nigerian Army on trial. At issue will be a full and
adversarial evidentiary airing of the military operations vis-a-vis Nnamdi
Kanu. It can be expected therefore that the Chief of Army Staff and other
officers in the ‘command and control’ structure will be summoned to testify
under penalty of perjury. It won’t be a pretty sight.
In the end, the court will
be tasked to make findings of facts and conclusions of law, conceivably
sustaining the proposition that the military invasion is a supervening event
and therefore the lone proximate cause of Nnamdi Kanu’s nonappearance. Lawyers
call it: novus actus interveniens; and it’s a highly effective affirmative
defense Abaribe and his co-sureties are entitled to in a situation like this.
So, as everyone can see,
neither Abaribe nor any of the other two sureties are headed to prison anytime
soon. Not just yet.
Send your press
release/articles to: editor@thenigerialawyer.com
© Copyright TheNigerialawyer 2018
COURT DATE UPDATE: AS A HARDCORE
BIAFRAN,YOU MUST READ AND KNOW
THE FOLLOWING
By Moses Agbo
For Family Writers
April 13th 2018 been Friday, is a very vital day that possessed lots of
expectations as well as,a day to finally know the faith of the oppressed before
Nigeria judiciary.
It is a day rescheduled for the hearing of the bail applications filed before
hon.Justice Binta Nyako's federal high court 3,Abuja,after the rehearsal of a
dramatic show of shame witnessed in the court on 28th of March 2018,that
featured both attorney general of Nigeria as represented by his council led by
Barr.Labaran Shuaibu and the presiding judge, justice Binta Nyako{Mrs.}in a
marathon race out of the court room without reasons of any circumstance.
Recall that, our beloved innocent brothers, #Benjamin Mmadubugwu,#David
Nwawuisi,#Chidiebere Onwudiwe and of course, Bright Chimezie commits no crime
known to any laws,neither has the law spoken against them. But out of
injustice, they are still in an unlawful and inhuman degradation for more than
three years now.
Also remember, Bright Chimezie Ishinwa was released unconditionally following a
ruling carried out by Hon.Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of Akwaibom federal high court
sometime 2017, and was awarded five million naira compensation of which that
ruling was floated by Nigeria Gestapo DSS. They instead, transferred him to
Abuja DSS dungeon and currently in Kuje prison custody with an aim to rejoin
him with others in their dead on arrival purported charges of conspiracy to
commit treason,which they were desperately, fishing for means of facilitating
for three years and still counting.
Note: With every sense of reasoning, the body languages of the presiding
judge,Mrs. Binta Nyako,suspiciously, shows her level of collaboration with the
executives arms of Nigeria government to always deny justice and pave ways for
further suffocation of our rights.
This is a supposed learned judge, that openly vowed, never to entertain any
motion that has to do with bail in our case,even when #Benjamin collapsed right
before her eyes.
Unimaginable enough, she boldly sat on the case bordering bail
application of a caught red-handed #BokoHaram terrorist, on 28th of march and
are very ready to give her ruling in the nearest adjourned date.
Binta Nyako must take note that, right on bail is not uttered in the altar of
the executives, but by the provision of the laws of the land unless if there is
none, she must let the world know.
Her rascal utterances does not only exposed lots of injustice and self judgment
in Nigeria
judicial system, but also, a disdain of the fundamental human right of all.
Like they wisely said, justice delayed is as evil as justice denied.
While we jointly educate Nigeria government about the irreversible law of
nature as it concerns freedom,we also hope that justice Binta Nyako might have
take note, that the rights embedded in the womb of self determination has never
changed,it is a right and not a crime before any known laws of which Nigeria
constitution is also subjected to. Therefore, freedom for Benjamin and others
can never be negotiable.
#FreeBenjaminAndOthers!
#ProvideMNK!!
#FreeBiafra!!!
GRANT BAIL TO BIAFRAN
DETAINEES
AND WRITE YOUR NAME ON GOLD" - JUSTICE BINTA NYAKO TOLD
"GRANT
BAIL TO BIAFRAN
DETAINEES AND WRITE
YOUR NAME ON GOLD" -
JUSTICE BINTA
NYAKO TOLD
Written by
Mazi Onyebuchi Eze
For Family Writers Press
Few days away from being Internationally celebrated, is the
Presiding Judge of an Abuja-based Federal High Court, Justice Binta Nyako. This
was echoed by Human Rights Organizations, Human Rights Writers/Publishers and
all people of good conscience globally as the Chief Judge is left with no other
judicial option than to courageously grant bail to the Biafran detainees held
in Kuje prison in Abuja for over three years now, on trumped up charges of
treasonable felony. The detainees are Benjamin Mmadubugwu, David Nwawuisi,
Chidiebere Onwudiwe and Bright Chimezie. Standing on the side of truth, justice
and fairness, Justice Binta Nyako will definitely wear the world's designate
rank as the PILLAR OF JUSTICE AND THE PROTECTOR OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFRICA, in
such a time like this when bigotistic tyranny has brought all the voices of
human rights and dignity under steel suppression. Boldly taking this step of
granting bail to these extra-judicially detained Biafrans, come Monday 25th
June 2018 being the next court sitting date, the Chief Judge must brace up
against the oppressive antics of the Nigerian government. This is a government
that derives joy and satisfaction in sadism. The Chief Judge, acting to her
professional calling, will not get her judicially trained conscience relieved
of guilt of biasness and victimization, but will ostensibly get her name
inscribed on gold, stoutly daring the despotic antecedents of the oppressive
government.
Obviously, the International community is aware that the
issue of the Biafra agitation is insurmountable, despite the continuous
incarceration of these Biafran agitators in Kuje prison, amongst others
detained elsewhere across Nigeria. The agitations for the restoration of the
nation of Biafra has potentially become an evolution with over 95℅ of 80 million Biafrans ardently involved globally. This is
confirmative of the fact that through the medium of world acclaimed democratic
process referred to as REFERENDUM, there is absolutely no window of justice
available to Justice Binta Nyako to continue with the callous suffocation of
her invaluable judicial career and integrity. She must have to courageously
extricate herself from the web of script playing to service the interest of the
Nigerian government. She has to set these promising young Biafrans free from
detention. Human Rights Analysts the world over, will pour unprecedented
encomiums on Justice Binta Nyako as she favorably rule on the bail application
of these men on Monday 25th of June 2018, in defense and protection of justice
and human rights in the most despotic democracy in Africa. This is the only
remedial course of action available to her, in the restoration process of her
already battered professional career and dignity as a Chief Justice in the
Nigeria smeared Judiciary. She must realize that she is seriously under moral
obligation to do the needful so that the prosecuting counsel will be forced to
produce substantial evidences, witnesses and exhibits that will escort the case
to it's logical conclusion.
She must also
understand that starting up a case since 8th of November 2016 which has
lingered up till date without any foreseeable end, is a major dent in her
professional career as a Judge. This is one case that has witnessed series of
amendments of charges by the prosecuting counsel, incessant court adjournments,
verdicts somersaults and of course, quite a number of hearings on the bail
application by the bench. As the window for further applications by the
Nigerian government has been courageously shut, she must not be hesitant in
granting bail to these detainees so that the case can appropriately
progress. As a respected Chief Judge, Justice Binta Nyako should be aware that
granting of bail does not in any way suggest an end to any case brought before
the court. Rather, it is an invitational challenge on the plaintiff to really
prove the authenticity of the case before the eyes of the law beyond every
reasonable doubt. She should also as a matter of expediency, be aware that the
continuous immoral absence of the prosecuting counsel, Shaibu Labaran from
court sittings under manipulative excuses with particular reference to the
event of 30th May 2018, can no longer be entertained and encouraged. It must be
noted that the Nigerian government's representative surreptitiously secured the
outright unlawful detention of these Biafran non-violent freedom fighters with
her consent and approval. Because there exists in Nigeria, crass disregard and
disrespect to the courts by the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP), the
issue of unavoidable absence is no longer tenable. Shaibu Labaran who is the
Chief Prosecuting Counsel in this case has always used this ploy to scuttle and
delay proceedings.
Monday 25th of June 2018 remains a day with history. It is a day the career of
one of the high ranking judicial principals in Nigeria will either be made or
marred. Justice Binta Nyako will be clearly standing between two choices of
either toeing the path of justice by granting the detained, the much needed
bail or taking sides with her oppressive masters to do the awful. But whatever
be the outcome of that historic date, humanity is waiting to pass the verdict.
Edited by Peter Oshagwu
For Family Writers Press
