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* INEC Chairman ,  Prof .  Mahmood Yakubu (Nigeria) International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law , Intersociety, Nigeria’s leading democracy, human rights and rule of law advocacy o rgani s ation , has noted with deepest dismay the remorseless stance of the Independent National Electoral Commission , INEC, and its Chairman , Prof . Mahmood Yakubu , over the c ommission’s in-house brutal rigging of the Feb ruary 25, 2023 p residential e lection. Intersociety in a statement on Sunday, by Emeka Umeagbalasi , its Board Chair ; Chinwe Umeche , Head, Democracy and Good Governance Program me; Obianuju Igboeli , Head, Civil Liberties and Rule of Law and Chidinma Udegbunam , Head, Campaign and Publicity Department , said i t wa s deeply shocked that despite widespread public outcries and brazenness of the rigging, the 54 top officials of INEC including Prof . Yakubu , have remained unperturbed, unmoved and remorseless. “ The worse of it all is that Prof . Yakubu as INEC C

*Supreme Court of Nigeria (Nigeria) Indigenous People of Biafra, IPoB, has accused the Supreme Court of hinder the course of justice for it's leader Nazi Nnamdi Kanu. IPoB in a statement by it s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful , on Thursday, said: "The global family and movement o f IPoB, under the leadership of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, wish to alerts the public and the international community on the deliberate obstruction of justice by the Supreme Court of Nigeria in the case of Nnamdi Kanu, who is illegally detained in the Department of State Services, DSS , solitary confinement. "The world should recall that the Justices of Court of Appeal Abuja on October 13, 2022, unanimously discharged and acquitted Nnamdi Kanu of all charges brought against him by the Federal Government of Nigeria. "The same c ourt barred Nigerian government from prosecuting him in any Nigerian c ourt. Similarly, Umuahi High Court ordered the Federal Government to return Nnamdi K

* Chief Executive Officer ,  CEO ,  of Seplat Energy PLC, Mr. Roger Brown (Nigeria) A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has restrained the Chief Executive Officer , CEO , of Seplat Energy PLC, Mr. Roger Brown from parading himself as the CEO of the company ,  pending the determination of a suit instituted against him and others by aggrieved stakeholders of the company over allegations of racism, favouring of expatriate workers, discrimination against Nigerians, and breach of good governance. The court also restrained the Chairman, Board of Directors, Mr. Basil Omiyi, and all the Non-Executive Directors under him from “continuing to run the affairs of Seplat in an illegal, unfair, prejudicial, and oppressive manner pending the hearing and determination of the Petitioner’s Motion on Notice for interlocutory injunction”. Trial judge, Justice Chukwuejekwu Aneke made order while ruling on a m otion e x - parte by some aggrieved stakeholders of Seplat, Moses Igbrude, Sarat Kudaisi,

(Nigeria) Justice Peter Lifu of a Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission , INEC , to transmit the results of the forthcoming governorship and state House of Assembly elections in Lagos State , electronically. The court made the order om Wednesday, while delivering judgment on a suit by Labour Party and 41 others seeking an order of mandamus to compel INEC to obey the Electoral Act and its guidelines for the conduct of the elections. Justice Lifu held that the court had jurisdiction to entertain the suit and that the subject matter of the suit was not a pre-election issue. The court stated that the applicants were only trying to compel INEC to comply with the Constitution, regulations, and guidelines, following its failure to do so during the presidential and National Assembly elections held on February 25. The court granted the applicants an order of mandamus directing and compelling INEC to comply with the provision of Clause

(Nigeria) The Independent National Electoral Commission , INEC , has postpone d Saturday , March 11, 2023, governorship and state House A ssembly elections to March 18, 2023, T he postponement , it was gathered was due to the commission’s inability to promptly commence reconfiguration of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System , BVAS , machines utilized during the February 25 , presidential election to enable their use in the state elections. INEC was earlier Wednesday, restrained from tampering with the information embedded in the BVAS machines until due inspection was conducted and Certified True Copies , CTC , issued to candidates , who we re challenging the outcome of the presidential election. Recall that also on Wednesday, the Presidential election petition tribunal sitting in Abuja,   gave INEC, the nod to reconfigure the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, it used for the presidential election. The tribunal in a decision by a three-member panel of Justices

*Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, convicted for money laundering (Nigeria) Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, representing Delta North in the National Assembly,who has been on the run months after the Court of Appeal Lagos Division convicted and sentenced him to seven years imprisonment for money laundering, is finally in prison custody.  Nwaoboshi , who was intercepted by operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, at a Hospital in Lagos on Monday, February 6, was finally remanded in Ikoyi Custodial Centre today, February 8, 2023, to commence his prison term. The Court of Appeal had in a judgment it delivered on July 1, 2022, sentenced him to prison after it convicted him on a two-count charge of money laundering and also ordered the winding up of his two companies, Golden Touch Construction Project Ltd and Suiming Electrical Ltd, in line with the provision of Section 22 of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2021, and their properties forfeited to the Federal Government. B

*UBA corporate headquarters, Lagos (Nigeria) The National Industrial Court o f Nigeria sitting in Asaba , Delta State, ha s declared the purported termination of employment of Richard Okagbare by United Bank for Africa , UBA , Plc, as unconstitutional, malicious and unlawful. Consequently, Justice J. Targema, trial judge in the matter, has ordered UBA Plc, to pay a total sum of ₦27,011,356.56 million, to the unjustly sacked worker, Richard Okagbare, as general damages for his unlawful dismissal as well as damages. Justice Targema, ordered UBA Plc, to pay the money within 30 days of the judgment. The judgment was delivered on January 18, 2023. The claimant, Richard Okagbare, through his lawyer, N. W. Ogbogu, had dragged the UBA Plc before the court in a suit marked NICN/ASB/47/2020, wherein he asked for the following reliefs: "a declaration that the termination of his employment with the by Bank, via a letter dated April 20, 2016, is a breach of bank's Group Staff Han

*Left: Speaker of House of Reps, Femi Gbajabiamila and Senate President, Ahmad Lawan (Nigeria) Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project , SERAP , has filed a suit against the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan and Speaker of House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila over their “failure to cut the unlawful National Assembly budget of N228.1b illio n, including the N30.17b illio n severance payments and inauguration costs for members.” The suit followed the move by the National Assembly to increase its 2023 budget from N169bn proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari to N228.1bn. The approved budget shows an increase of about N59.1b illio n. The country’s budget of N21.83t rillio n is based on a N10.49t rillio n revenue, and N11.34t rillion deficit. In the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/152/2023 filed last Friday at the Federal High Court in Abuja, SERAP is seeking: “an order of mandamus to direct and compel Lawan and Gbajabiamila to review and reduce the budget of N228.1b illio n the le

* Governor Godwin Obaseki  of  Edo State (Nigeria) Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State on Wednesday, said there was 'n o v ictor, n o vanquished' in the Supreme Court judgment that   recognis ed the candidates that emerges from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, primaries in Edo State for the general elections loyal to him ( Obaseki ). Obaseki in a statement, said: “ The ruling of the Supreme Court today, finally put to rest the long-drawn legal tussle over the candidates that will fly the flag of our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party , PDP , Edo State in the general election on the February 25, and March 11, 2023 .   “ As the leader of the party in the State, I implore all members to consider this development as the end of all strife within the Edo PDP and to note that this is a victory for all members. Our resolve now is to win the forthcoming general elections as this experience has made us stronger and better prepared to clinch victory. “ This disagreem

* Senator Francis Alimikhena,  epresenting Edo North  s enatorial  d istrict in National Assembly (Nigeria) The lawmaker representing Edo North s enatorial d istrict, Senator Francis Alimikhena, on Wednesday, described the Supreme Court judgment on the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, in Edo State as a unifying judgment to unify all PDP members in Edo State as one. The Edo North Senator, who was reacting to the victory following the Supreme Court verdict said no individual should give glory to himself as the victory belongs to all PDP members in the state. He specifically called on all aggrieved members of the PDP   to come together as brothers and sisters because what binds them together is greater than the triviality that seeks to divide them. According to him, divided there is nothing we can do, but United there is nothing we can not achieve together. We must all, therefore, act swiftly in love and unity of purpose, in ensuring that every interest is accommodated in all decisio

*Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate,  Alhaji Atiku Abubakar (Nigeria) DIRECTOR-General of the Atiku/Okowa Presidential Campaign Council, PCC, in Anambra State, Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, has expressed optimism that presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, will grant detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, unconditional release when he emerges president on May 29. Kanu has been in the detention facility of the Department of State Services, DSS, since June 2021, when he was intercepted and renditioned to Nigeria from Kenya by the Federal Government to terrorism charges. However, the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, on Thursday, October 13, 2022, quashed the terrorism charge the Federal Government had preferred against the detained IPOB leader. It acquitted him of the seven-count charge pending against him before the Federal High Court in Abuja. In a landmark judgement, the appellate court

*Speaker of House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila and Senate President, Ahmad Lawan (Nigeria) Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project , SERAP , has urged the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, and Speaker of House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, to “promptly cut the outrageous National Assembly budget of N228.1bn, including the N30.17bn severance payments and inauguration costs for members (the highest ever).” SERAP urged them to “propose a refresh budget for the National Assembly that would reflect the current economic realities in the country, address the debt crisis, and prevent retrogressive economic measures.” The National Assembly had increased its 2023 budget from N169bn proposed by President Muhammadu Buhari to N228.1bn. The approved budget shows an increase of about N59.1bn. The country’s budget of N21.83tn is based on a N10.49tn revenue, and N11.34tn deficit. In the letter dated 14 January, 2023 and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare,

*Justice Olukayode Ariwoola (Nigeria) The Senate has received a formal request from President Muhammadu Buhari, to confirm the nomination of Justice Olukayode Ariwoola as the Chief Justice of Nigeria. The request was contained in a letter dated July 25, 2022, and read by the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, at the start of plenary on Tuesday. The letter reads, ”Pursuant to Section 231(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), I forward for confirmation by the Senate, the appointment of Justice Ariwoola as the Chief Justice of Nigeria. “While I hope that the submission will be considered in the usual expeditious manner, please accept, Distinguished Senate President, the assurances of my highest consideration.” Justice Ariwoola’s appointment as CJN by President Buhari was sequel to the resignation of former Chief Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad on June 27, 2022. Muhammad’s resignation was against the backdrop of a protest by 14 aggrieved Justice

*Francis Atuche (Nigeria) The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos on Thursday affirmed the conviction of a former Managing Director of the defunct Bank PHB Plc, Francis Atuche, for N25.7biillion fraud. The court also affirmed the conviction of Atuche's accomplice and co-convict, Ugo Anyanwu, who was the bank’s former Chief Financial Officer. The three-man panel of the court comprising Justices Sadiq Umar, Adebukola Banjoko and Kayode Bada, upheld in part, the June 16, 2021, judgment of Justice Lateefa Okunnu of the Lagos State High Court, Ikeja. The justices resolved all the issues in the appeal in favour of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, except for the issue of sentencing. The appellate court clarified that Atuche's jail term, as handed down by the lower court, is 12 years concurrently, rather than 120 years if calculated consecutively. The Justices, however, reduced Anyanwu's sentence from 10 years to eight years. They also affirmed the disch

*Edo Chief Judge,  Justice Joe Acha, performed ground breaking ceremony for the State High Court Complex in Abudu. (Nigeria) Edo State Government has handed over a completed and well-furnished ultra-modern twin magistrate court complex in Urhonigbe town, Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State to the judiciary. This came  as the state Chief Judge,  Justice Joe Acha, performed ground breaking ceremony for the State High Court Complex in Abudu. Handing over the completed magistrate court,  Governor Godwin Obaseki, represented by Chairman of Edo State Oil and Gas Development Commission, EDSOGPADEC, Pastor Kennedy Osifo, said that the new magistrate court which was in line with the MEGA agenda policy of the current administration, would enhance quick dispensation of justice to the people of the locality, stressing it has reaffirmed his electoral campaign promises towards restructuring the judiciary for effective and efficient service delivery. Obaseki urged the state judiciary to