Author: Vivian Michael

The National Industrial Court has authenticated the Congress of Nigerian University Academics (CONUA) and the National Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) as trade unions.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), had dragged the Minister of Labour and Employment, The Registrar, Trade Union, CONUA, and NAMDA as first, second, third, and fourth defendants in the case, respectively.

Delivering the judgment, Justice Benedict Kanyip held that in line with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Act, there can be more than one trade union within an employment.

The judge in addition quashed the claimant’s submission that Section 3 (2) of the Trade Union Act made the first and second defendants incompetent to register CONUA and NAMDA to coexist and carry out the same functions in the universities as ASUU.

Kanyip said that the Section does not encourage the monopoly of trade unions, but rather, the section encourages the existence of other trade unions.

The court said “The reliefs prayed by the claimant failed, refused and I so hold. I make no order as to cost”

The claimant’s counsel, Mr Femi Falana SAN, submitted two questions for determination.

Part of the question was whether by Section 4 (2) of the constitution of Nigeria 1999 as amended and Section 3 (2) of TUA, the second defendant can register CONUA and NAMDA to carry out the same functions covering the same jurisdiction sphere as the claimant.

The counsel further averred that the second and third defendants registered the third and fourth defendants in a bid to split ASUU.

The first and second defendants in reply submitted that the court should determine whether the issues raised by the claimant were not speculative and academic.

The third defendant on its part raised three issues that bordered on whether the claimant put before the court any proof, whether the claimant’s suit was not liable to be dismissed, and whether the third and fourth defendants were not legally registered.

The fourth defendant submitted for the determination of the court whether there was any violation in the registration of the two unions.

According to the court, the claimant gave evidence of this assertion from an online publication titled “FG Registers 2 New University Unions in a Bid to Split ASUU”.

Although the fourth defendant objected to the admissibility of the publication in evidence, stating that the publication was a hearsay evidence, the court however dismissed the objection and allowed the admissibility as Exhibit 1.

The court also held that the fourth defendant was not registered as a trade union until January 1, collected the certificate of registration on January 13 and formally completed all processes to be registered as a trade union on January 17, 2023.

The court therefore ruled that as of June 26, 2022 when the claimant filed the suit, the fourth defendant was not in existence.

A High Court in Lagos State on Tuesday fixed Friday for ruling in a bail application filed by the ”Eze Ndigbo of Ajao Estate”, Frederick Nwajagu.

Nwajagu had on Tuesday prayed to the court to admit him to bail on liberal terms.

The defendant is charged with terrorism offenses and also told the court that he was not a flight risk.

Justice Yetunde Adesanya fixed the date after listening to arguments from both counsels.

The judge adjourned the case until Friday for a ruling on the bail application.

Nwajagu was arraigned on May 9, on a nine-count charge including an attempt to commit acts of terrorism, financing terrorism, participating in terrorism, and meeting to support a proscribed entity.

The Prosecution Counsel, Mr. Jonathan Ogunsakin the Lagos State Counsel, informed the court that the case was for argument on the bail application.

However, counsel to the defendant, Mr E. C. Obiagu, SAN, told the court that the defendant’s bail application was based on two relieves.

According to him, the defendant is seeking an order of the court admitting him to bail and an order restraining the respondent from re-arresting him if granted bail.

The Obiagu said that the bail application was supported by a seven-paragraph affidavit, attached with the defendant’s medical report and a written address.

He said he relied on all the paragraphs of the affidavit and a written address and he had responded to the counter-affidavit filed by the prosecution by filing a further and better affidavit.

Obiagu said that he has also responded on points of law to the counter-affidavit.

He said: “Your Lordship has the discretion to grant bail on liberal terms or on self-recognizance. The defendant is not a flight risk. He does not even have an international passport.

“The defendant submitted himself to the DSS when invited. He is a widower with six children, therefore cannot abandon his children.”

The senior advocate also said that the defendant was granted bail at the lower court but was not able to perfect the bail due to its stringent condition.

He, therefore urged the court to grant bail to the defendant.

Responding, the prosecution counsel, Ogunsakin, however, urged the court to refuse the defendant bail, and instead, order for an accelerated hearing.

He said that the circumstances under which the defendant was granted bail at the lower court were different from the information filed against him at the high court.

“The charge brought against the defendant by the Police is materially different from the charge brought against the defendant by the Attorney-General,” Ogunsakin said.

The Lagos State Government had in a suit marked no: LD/21505C/2023, alleged that the defendant had contravened the provisions of Section 403(2) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

The state stated that the offenses also contravened Sections 12(a) (c), 18, 21, and 29   of the Terrorism (Prevention & Prohibition) Act, 2022.

Recall that Nwajagu was arrested by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) over an alleged threat to invite members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to Lagos to secure properties of Igbo people in the state. 

Godwin Emefiele, the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has been granted bail in the sum of N20 million with one surety in like sum.

Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, ruled in favor of the bail application on Tuesday, rejecting the Federal Government’s claim that Emefiele was a flight risk due to a lack of supporting evidence.

Emefiele’s counsel, Joseph Daudu (SAN), argued that the charges against his client were bailable, prompting Justice Oweibo to grant bail pending the hearing and determination of the trial.

The suspended CBN governor pleaded “not guilty” to the two-count charge of illegal possession of firearm and ammunition filed against him by the Federal Government.

Despite opposition from the prosecution, the court overruled the government’s objections and ordered that Emefiele be held at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre until the bail conditions are met.

Earlier, Emefiele was brought to court by DSS operatives for arraignment on firearm and ammunition possession charges.

The court’s decision to grant bail signifies a major development in the legal proceedings surrounding the case.

Godwin Emefiele, the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor, appeared before a Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday and entered a plea of not guilty to charges of illegal possession of firearms.

The Department of State Services (DSS) brought two counts against him, both related to alleged possession of firearms.

In the first count, Emefiele is accused of possessing a single-barrel shotgun (JOJEFF MAGNUM 8371) without a license, a violation of Section 4 of the Firearms Act, and punishable under Section 27 (1b) of the same Act.

The second count accuses him of having 123 rounds of live ammunition (cartridges) without a license, which is contrary to Section 8 of the Firearms Act and punishable under Section 27 (1)(b)(il) of the same Act.

Meanwhile, a group called the Coalition of Nigerian Civil Society attended the court session and requested to hold a watching brief during Emefiele’s arraignment.

Represented by five senior lawyers, the group asserted that they are lawyers in defense of democracy. The court granted them permission to observe the proceedings.

The legal battle surrounding Emefiele’s alleged illegal possession of firearms continues as the case moves forward in the Federal High Court.

The Enugu State Government on Monday sealed 106 shops and two banks for observing Monday’s sit-at-home order by a faction of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

The exercise was carried out by officials of the State Government and the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority (ECTDA).

Governor Peter Mbah had last Monday threatened to sanction shop owners and banks that refused to open for business in compliance with the illegal sit-at-home order.

Mbah issued the threat while monitoring the situation in major markets in Enugu, the capital city.

According to him, traders who continued to obey the order up until July 24, stood to lose their shops to serious-minded businessmen.

The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, who led the exercise, said the action was in line with the governor’s warning.

Onyia said the governor’s intention was not to punish businesses but encourage and inculcate the spirit of ‘no sit-at-home in traders.

“It is not a punitive but ownership culture, where all of us come together to fight the menace of illegal sit-at-home in the state.

“We are taking it up, not because Mbah is in the business of stopping economic growth but to fight those that think they can intimidate us,” he said.

Onyia further said that the task force created by the State Government would be in the markets next Monday to continue to monitor the situation.

“We have been to ShopRite, Celebrity – a shopping mall – SPAR and others, we saw shops that were not opened and we sealed them.

“That is why ECTDA is here and the owners should go through a process to get them reopened,” he said.

He said that 85 per cent of traders showed up in the markets visited.

The SSG said that the governor had made a commitment by providing security and buses at specific places to convey workers to the state Secretariat.

He said the measure became necessary because the state was tired of losing significant revenue by working for only four days a week.

On why he unsealed Easter Shop earlier, Onyia said the management of the mall gave an assurance to open every Monday.

Speaking with newsmen at the end of the exercise, the Head of ECTDA, Mr Gideon Onyia, said that the affected shops were both corporate and privately owned.

He said that 78 shops were sealed at the Ogbete Market, plus two new generation banks, five shops at SPAR and 24 shops at the Old Artisan Market.

“So if you failed to obey our rules and directives, we can revoke them or withdraw your approvals and give them to people who are eager to do business in the state.

“Those whose shops are sealed, we will tell them the penalty but the governor was magnanimous for saying that the exercise was not punitive,” Onyia said.

Some unidentified gunmen on Saturday night invaded the residence of former Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, at Akpata community in Akun, Nasarawa-Eggon Local Government Area in Nasarawa State.

The invaders injured four security personnel.

One of the injured security personnel said on Sunday that the criminals invaded the residence at about 7:50 p.m.

“The criminals forced their way into the residence and started shooting sporadically, injuring four of us in the process.

“They were many and kept communicating in Hausa while banging the main gate to the house.

“When I refused to open the gate for them because I did not know who they were, they started shooting and jumped the fence into the compound,” he said.

Commenting on the incident, Maku decried the spate of kidnapping, banditry, and other forms of insecurity in all parts of the state.

The former minister particularly said the state was under siege, adding that it was the third time his residence and relatives were attacked by criminals.

“You will remember that about a month ago, these criminal elements invaded my father’s compound in the village and kidnapped three of my family members.

“About two years ago, they killed two of my elder brother’s children at his residence in Gudi community of Akwanga Local Government Area.

“What happened today shows clearly that our state is under siege,” Maku said.

Meanwhile, Governor Abdullahi Sule condemned the attack and directed the security agencies to arrest the perpetrators.

The governor’s directive was contained in a statement by Mr. Peter Ahemba, his Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Public Affairs.

The statement quoted the governor as saying that the government had adopted modalities toward tackling all forms of insecurity in the state.