The violation of the rights of Nigerians is on the increase regardless of the rights of citizens entrenched in the constitution.
From important pronouncements on Naira notes to remand of a politician, Nigeria media space witnessed some significant pronouncement last week.
Below is the weekly roundup of judicial stories compiled by The Jurist to keep you informed about trending happening within the judicial space.
Order on old note
The Supreme Court of Nigeria on February 12 restrained the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from banning the use of the old naira notes from February 10, 2023.
The order was sequel to an appeal by three northern states seeking an order restraining the federal government and CBN from implementing the Naira redesign policy.
A seven-member panel of the supreme court panel granted an ex-parte motion brought by Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states and ordered that the implementation of ban be halted pending the hearing and determination of the appeal
Politician remanded
A lawmaker representing Delta North Senatorial District, Peter Nwaoboshi, was remanded in Ikoyi Prison after months of defying the dictates of the law.
Senator Nwaoboshi had been convicted and sentenced to prison for fraud and money laundering since July 1st, 2022. He, however, went underground and refused to present himself to the Nigerian Correctional Service. Instead, he filed an appeal before the Supreme Court seeking to overturn the decision of the lower court and obtain a post-conviction bail. The appeal was dismissed on January 27, 2023.
He was finally arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) at a hospital in Lagos on Monday and was subsequently remanded on Wednesday to serve his jail term.
Supreme court affirms Lawan as Yobe North candidate
Last week controversy trailed the Political space in Nigeria as the Supreme Court of Nigeria affirmed the candidacy of Ahmad Lawan, the senate president, as the authentic senatorial candidate for Yobe North.
What was on the lips of many Nigerians including lawyers and CSO’s was how a man who did not participate in the election supervised by INEC was affirmed by the apex court.
Mr Lawan had contested in the presidential primaries of APC and after losing out to Bola Ahmed Tinubu, he opted to pick the senatorial tickets of the APC for the Yobe North. However, Bashir Machina had already emerged as the party’s candidate which led to the party holding another primary election of which Mr Lawan then emerged as winner.
This act led to the beginning of a legal battle between the APC, Machina and Lawan. Though Machina was victorious at the trial court and court of appeal which declared him the winner, the supreme court last week set aside the decision of the lower courts and affirmed Lawan as the winner.
Reactions trail Judgement
Reacting to the above judgement,Idayat Hassan the Director of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) said the ruling will dampen the thoughts and confidence of Nigerians in the electoral process.
Idayat had in an interview with The Jurist noted that the judgement will cast doubts in the mind of citizens especially during this election period.
Aggrieved Immigration Officer gets reinstated
An official of the National Immigration Service, Daniel Makolo, was reinstated back to service by an order of the National Industrial Court on Friday.
The officer filed an appeal on November 18, 2020, claiming that his employers had summarily dismissed him from service after many years of denying him the chance to participate in several promotional exercises on grounds that he was facing disciplinary proceedings. He told the court that his employers were not able to prove him guilty of any wrongdoing all through his years of service.
Luckily for officer Makolo, the court ordered the NIS to reinstate him to service without any loss of rank or position and to pay him every benefit he is entitled to from the time he was dismissed.
SERAP sues Buhari over National Assembly budget
In a fresh twist, The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) dragged President Muhammadu Buhari over the national assembly’s budget increment.
According to SERAP, the lawmakers 2023 budget which was increased from N169 billion to N228.1 billion, was unlawful as it was more than the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) statutory transfer of N103.3 billion.
SERAP sought an order of mandamus compelling the Senate President Lawan and Speaker of the House of Representative Gbajabiamila to undo the action.
They also sought to restrain the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning from issuing the said sum until a thorough assessment is carried out on the country’s debt crisis.
Stella Adeniyi and Popoola Ademola
