By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu 1993 was the year that changed Nigeria’s judiciary. Over a period of a mere five months, the military in that year contrived to overthrow government twice. First, in June, Ibrahim Babangida, the army General who was Nigeria’s military ruler at the time, nullified an election organized to determine who would succeed...
The Supreme Court sitting in Abuja has delivered a unanimous 5-member panel judgement that contained some of the strongest rebukes against the weaponisation of judicial processes in recent history. The Apex Court strongly criticised the Court of Appeal’s grant of a restorative ex parte order, describing the situation as a “judicial tragedy”. It emphasised that...
Are We at a Judicial Crossroads with the Decisions of Justices Umar and Omotosho on INEC’s Electoral Guidelines? The two decisions of the Federal High Court delivered respectively by Justice Mohammed G. Umar and Justice James Kolawole Omotosho are already generating intense constitutional and electoral discourse within legal circles. Both judgments dealt with the legality...
Elon Musk waited too long to sue OpenAI and its leaders, a jury in Oakland, California, decided on Monday. A lawsuit he filed was barred by the statute of limitations, the jury found after about 90 minutes of deliberation. Their verdict was advisory, but Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said she agrees with the jury. “The...
Former President Goodluck Jonathan and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice have asked the Federal High Court in Abuja to dismiss a suit seeking to stop Jonathan from contesting the 2027 presidential election. Justice Peter Lifu fixed May 26 for a composite judgment, including a ruling on an application by the...
Justice Daniel Osiagor of the Federal High Court, Lagos, has fixed the trial of two Nigerian women, Ijeoma Chinwe Agbakoba and Ifeoma Maryjane Okoye, for June 10, 2026, over alleged unlawful possession of prohibited drugs, namely cocaine and heroin. Justice Osiagor fixed the trial date after the defendants were arraigned last Friday on a four...
The Nigeria’s Inland Revenue Service (IRS) has filed a six-count criminal charge against oil and gas services giant, Saipem Contracting Nigeria Limited and two of its senior directors, Michele Poggi and Giani Di Petro, over alleged failure to remit and accurately declare taxes amounting to N66.408 billion and $938,080 USD, between 2014 and 2019. The...
The Department of State Services (DSS) has instituted a suit at the Federal High Court in Lagos against Access Bank Plc and two other defendants over alleged N1.125 billion forex fraud. Also listed as defendants in the suit numbered FHC/L/MISC/589/2026 are First City Monument Bank and one Julius Oluwafunmisho Okedele. The DSS in a motion...
By Monday Ubani Justice Delivery and Prevailing Conflicting Judgments: An Imperative for Urgent Judicial Reforms I had the rare privilege of participating as a panelist at the Biennial Law Week of the Nigerian Bar Association, Anaocha Branch, Anambra State this weekend, where distinguished Professors of Law, Justices of various courts, Senior Advocates of Nigeria, and...
BY CHIDI ODINKALU In a week in which the Nigerian judiciary at all levels has been the focus of considerable civic and party-political energy, it may seem odd to expend bandwidth on the travails of an investor or businessman, but Ernest Azudialu-Obiejesi is no ordinary businessman. The story of the ongoing ordeal in the Nigerian...