A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, has explained why courts across the country are currently shut down.
In a piece titled ‘Why the Courts are Locked’ received by our correspondent on Tuesday, Mr. Adegboruwa noted that the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) embarked on an industrial strike on April 6 over the issue of financial autonomy for the judiciary.
He said the Federal Government has largely complied with constitutional directives to grant financial autonomy to courts and the main issue is with state governments.
WHY THE COURTS ARE LOCKED
By Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN
The past one week has been very challenging for judges, lawyers and litigants alike, as the court system became paralyzed all over the nation, due to the ongoing industrial action by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, JUSUN, over its demand for financial autonomy for the judiciary. It’s been a very delicate rope for lawyers to navigate through, being a matter of choosing bet
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A file photo of a court gavel.
A Brazilian Supreme Court judge on Monday overturned the graft convictions against former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, clearing the way for the left-wing leader to run in the 2022 presidential election.
Brazilian ex-president (2003-2011) Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gestures after attending a Catholic Mass in memory of his late wife Marisa Leticia,/ AFP
Justice Edson Fachin overturned all four convictions against the still-popular ex-president (2003-2010) stemming from a probe into a massive corruption scheme centered on Brazilian state oil company Petrobras, ruling the court that issued them lacked jurisdiction.
An Abuja High Court has remanded a former Minister of State for Power, Mohammed Wakil, in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over allegations of corruption.
Wakil, who was arrested by the EFCC at his Abuja residence on Sunday, was arraigned on Monday before Justice Suleiman Belgore on two counts bordering on corruption and abuse of office.
He was arraigned alongside two companies, Corozzeria Nigeria Limited and Pikat Properties Nigeria Limited.
According to the anti-graft agency, the former minister allegedly received N118 million as gratification from Bestworth Insurance Brokers Limited, out of the N27,188,232,208 approved outstanding insurance premiums and claims of deceased and incapacitated staff of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
A Federal High Court in Lagos has fixed March 2 to rule on whether to first hear an application challenging its jurisdiction or committal proceedings against 2 banks for disobeying its order to freeze the accounts of Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC.
Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo fixed the date after hearing arguments of lawyers in the case on which application should be heard first.
AITEO Eastern E & P Company Ltd through its counsel, Kemi Pinheiro SAN had filed form 48 as provided under the Sherrif and Civil Process Act to initiate contempt proceedings against the banks and its officials.
Pinheiro told the judge that the alleged contemnors willfully disobeyed the court’s interim orders of January 25, 2021, directing them to block SPDC accounts, for allegedly “interfering, obstructing and/or frustrating compliance with the interim orders.”
A Bangladesh court jailed 50 opposition activists on Thursday for up to 10 years for an attack on the current prime minister’s motorcade nearly two decades ago, a prosecutor said.
Among the defendants was a former member of parliament for the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which was in power at the time of the attack.
In 2002, a motorcade accompanying Sheikh Hasina, who was then the opposition leader for Awami League, was attacked with rocks, batons and machetes, prosecutors said.
“Three men including the ex-MP were given 10 years in jail and the rest got various jail terms from four and a half years,” prosecutor Shaheen Mirdha told AFP, after the sentences were delivered by a district court in the southern city of Satkhira.