Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, yesterday, charged the 22 newly sworn-in judges of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory to refrain from disreputable acts. He stated this while swearing in the judges at the Supreme Court in Abuja.
“The Bench is neither for the prosaic, the greedy nor those with questionable character, who can easily fall for a plate of porridge offered by desperate litigants,” he said, urging them to shun temptations that may halt rise to the pinnacle of their careers.
MEANWHILE, Chief Sunday Adeyemo (popularly known as Sunday Igboho) has filed a preliminary objection at the High Court of Oyo State against Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, and two others, over failure to pay the N20.5 billion damages awarded to him.
Joined in the suit are the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Director, DSS, Oyo State. The defendants had earlier filed a motion on notice for an injunction and stay of the judgment delivered on September 17, 2021.
In a 16-paragraph affidavit, sworn by Johnson Oluwole, to support the motion on notice, he said: “It is a fact that statistics has shown that the economy of the country is in a dire situation and is in the process of recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.
“It is a fact that withdrawing the whooping sum of N20 billion from the country’s economy will adversely affect the smooth running of the country.
“It is a fact that Adeyemo has been declared a fugitive by the Nigerian police sometime in June 2021.
“It is a fact that Adeyemo is under investigation by security agents for treasonable act that is inimical to the corporate existence of the country.
“It will be inequitable for this court to refuse this application for stay against the background that the applicant (Adeyemo) is a fugitive undergoing extradition processing in the Republic of Benin,” he said.
But, in the suit no M/435/2021, Adeyemo stated that the application for stay of execution is not to attack the correctness of the judgment of the court or the personality of the judge but rather to prove special circumstances to warrant not enforcing the judgment until after the appeal.
He argued that the respondents, in disobedience of the judgment of the court, have refused to return all the travelling documents they illegally carted away from him.
In a 13-paragraph of affidavit sworn by Ekene Nnakaihe, to support the preliminary objection, he said the judgment in the sum of N20.5 billion was awarded against the respondents in the suit, as special and exemplary damages for breach of Adeyemo’s fundamental human rights in invading his house in a warlike manner, killing two occupants and damaging the multi-billion naira house and exotic cars thereat, without any lawful reason or search warrant.
