Man jailed for stealing palm fruits

A 22 year-old man identified as Victor Jacob has been sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for stealing seven bags of palm kernel fruits worth N7, 500.

Jacob pleaded guilty to the crime committed on November 16th at Obaretin village in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State.
He was sentenced by an Ikpoba-Okha Area Customary court presided over by Princess Esther Eweka.
Princess Eweka in delivering judgment said the plea of guilt entered by Jacob was enough to put him behind bars and however gave an option of N10, 000 fine.
Also, a hunter at Obagie village, Sunday Effiong aged 31 was sentenced to six months imprisonment for illegal possession of firearms.
He was charged on two count charge of threat to life and illegal possession of firearm.
Sunday told the court that his wife travelled with the bag containing the license of the locally made single barrel gun he was accused of possessing illegally.
Princess Eweka discharged Sunday on count one of threat to kill but sentenced him on the second charge of unlawful possession of firearm or an option of N2000.

Man docked over alleged theft of Alomo, Osomo drinks

A 28-year-old man, Monday Emmanuel, was on Tuesday charged before an Ota Magistrate’s Court in Ogun for allegedly stealing four packets of cigarettes and bottles of Alomo and Osomo drinks.
Emmanuel was also accused of stealing one radio set, four pieces of tiger battery, 40 pieces of assorted hot drinks, some sachets of Milo and milk, Schnapps and kerewa drinks.
The accused, who lives at 16 Ogunmefun Street, off Idi-Iroko road, Ota, is facing a one-count charge of stealing.

The Police prosecutor, Inspector Olumide Awoleke, told the court that the accused committed the offence on Dec. 13, at about 2:00 a.m. at Long Bridge, along Lagos/Ibadan Expressway, Isheri Olofin, Ota, Ogun.
Awoleke said: “The accused was found with one radio set, four packets of cigarettes, four pieces of tiger battery and 40 pieces of assorted hot drinks, some sachets of Milo and milk.
“The accused was also found with bottles of Alomo, Schnapps, Osomo and kerewa hot drinks, value yet unknown, but suspected to have been stolen.”
He said the offence was punishable under Section 403(1) of the Criminal Code Vol. 11, Revised Laws of Ogun, 2006.
The accused, however, pleaded not guilty.
The Magistrate, Mrs A.O. Abimbola, granted the accused N50, 000 bail, with two sureties in like sum.
Abimbola said that the sureties must be resident within the court’s jurisdiction, must be gainfully employed and show evidence of payment of tax to the Ogun government.
The case was adjourned till Feb. 18, 2014, for mention.

Ajudua for trial Feb. 12 for ‘defrauding’ Bamayi of $8.395m

Lagos socialite, Mr Fred Ajudua, will be arraigned before a Lagos High Court in Ikeja on February 12, 2014, for allegedly defrauding a former Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi, of about $8.395 million.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC, which filed new charges against the suspect, said he would be arraigned alongside others with whom he allegedly committed the crime between November 2004 and June 2005.

The fresh charges against Ajudua and others, dated October 14, comprise 13 counts of conspiracy and fraud.

Other suspects to be arraigned Ajudua but said to be at large are: Alumile Adedeji (aka Ade Bendel), a man simply identified Mr Keneth and Princess Hamabon William.

The EFCC alleged that Ajudua and the other suspects allegedly defrauded Bamaiyi at the Kirikiri Maximum Prisons, where he and other suspects were on remand for fraud also alleged that the suspects fraudulently collected the money from Bamaiyi, falsely claiming that it was part of the professional fees charged by a legal luminary to facilitate his release from prison.

The anti-graft agency also alleged that Ajudua and the others fraudulently claimed that $1 million of the money collected from Bamaiyi was for financial assistance to treat Justice Olubunmi Oyewole’s father.

The suspects were said to have told Bamaiyi that Oyewole’s father was admitted at St. Nicholas in Lagos and that $1 million was needed to assist the judge for the medical expenses of his father.

Justice Ipaye adjourned the matter till February 12, 2014 for the arraignment.

Succession crisis hits Appeal Court

Who will succeed Justice Isa Ayo Salami as President of the Court of Appacl (PCA)? The question remains as knotty as it was when Justice Salami retired in October after reaching the statutory age.

Moves to appoint a new PCA for the court has created a crisis, following alleged plans to either jettison seniority or second a Justice of the Supreme Court to head the appellate court.

The three senior judges of the court are the former acting PCA, Justice Dalhatu Adamu(Niger); the acting President, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa(Gombe) and Justice Amiru Sanusi(Katsina).

Justice Adamu was acting president for 15 months. Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa is about a year in office as acting president.

It was learnt that the initial jostle for the PCA was between the three senior justices until a “Plan B” – to second a Justice of the Supreme Court to lead the appellate court – was floated.

It was gathered that the decision to redeploy a Justice of the Supreme Court is aimed at reorganising the court following the polarisation of the judges during the face-off between a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu and Justice Salami.

Court of Appeal justices and some members of the Bar are said to be unhappy with the likely imposition of a PCA from the Supreme Court.

The last time a Justice of the Supreme Court led the Court of Appeal was in 1976 when the late Justice Dan Ibekwe was appointed as the pioneer PCA.

A lawyer, Sunusi Musa, has also petitioned the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Maryam Alooma Mukhtar.

A top source said: “The judges are not happy that there is a plan to circumvent seniority list in the Court of Appeal. They believe a distortion of the seniority list might give room for mediocrity and politicisation of the appellate court.

“They also alleged that jettisoning of seniority may affect discipline and the morale of the judges because they will become desperate to lobby for elevation.

“They said if the Supreme Court had not adhered strictly to seniority list, the CJN would not have reached the pinnacle of her career.

“Some of the judges also queried why a Supreme Court Justice would head the Court of Appeal when there are capable hands to do the job.

“They alleged that once a PCA is appointed from the Supreme Court, it will foreclose the prospect of a judge of the appellate court rising to the top. Their fears border on politics creeping into the Bench which may not augur well for the system.”

Section 238 of the 1999 Constitution provides guidelines on the appointment of the PCA.

The section says: “The appointment of a person to the office of President of the Court of Appeal shall be made by the President on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council, subject to confirmation of such appointment by the Senate.

“A person shall not be qualified to hold the office of a Justice of the Court of Appeal unless he is qualified to practise as a legal practitioner in Nigeria as has been so qualified for a period of not less than 12 years.

“If the office of President of the Court of Appeal is vacant, or if the person holding the office is for any reason unable to perform the functions of the office, then until a person has been appointed to and has assumed the functions of that office, or until the person holding the office has resumed those functions, the President shall appoint the most senior Justice of the Court of Appeal to perform those functions.

“Except on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council, an appointment pursuant to the provisions of subsection (4) of this section shall cease to have effect after the expiration of three months from the date of such appointment, and the President shall not re-appoint a person whose appointment has lapsed.”

In a December 1, 2013 petition to the CJN, Justice Maryam Alooma Mukhtar, a lawyer, Sunusi Musa, urged the National Judicial Council (NJC) to respect seniority on the bench.

The petition reads in part: “Some people are mulling the idea of bringing someone from the Supreme Court to head the Court of Appeal. I am of the humble opinion that doing so may not speak well for the system best known for its conservatism in following an established custom of succession, which has for over the years been on seniority and which her lordship have battled even of recent to uphold, when some governors wanted to breach the tradition.

“Her lordship may recall that the NJC recently had a cause to reject the nomination for the position of the Chief Judge of Rivers, Adamawa, Kwara and Osun States respectively, based on breach of seniority tradition.

“The governors, by virtue of the powers conferred on them by the Constitution, forwarded to the NJC their nominations for the post of Chief Judge of their states and in all the cases, NJC under your able leadership stood its ground and advised the governors to forward the names of most senior judges in their states High Court for the appointment.

The petition traced the history of the leadership of the Court of Appeal. It listed its five substantive presidents as: Justices Dan Ibekwe, Mamman Nasir, Mustapha Akanbi, Umaru Abdullahi and Isa Ayo Salami. Justice Dalhatu Adamu served in acting capacity for 15 and now Justice Bulkachuwa is acting in same capacity for more than a year.

The petitioner went on: “As his lordship is aware, when the Court of Appeal was established in 1976, late Justice Ibekwe and Justice Nasir who were Supreme Court Justices then, volunteered to go to the Court of Appeal in order to put it in a proper and solid setting; since the work of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court are similar, the two eminent jurists were brought from the Supreme Court to set up the newly established Court of Appeal. Apart from them I do not think there was any other Justice that has gone to Supreme Court and later returned to the Court of Appeal.

“Justice Nasir, being junior to Justice Ibekwe, served under him for two years and after his demise, Justice Nasir became the PCA. That tradition was not broken as Justice Akanbi, being the most senior, succeeded Justice Nasir. Justice Akanbi was succeeded by Justice Abdullahi, who was also succeeded by Justice Salami. I could still recall Justice Salami saying he had earlier rejected elevation to the Supreme Court, perhaps because of his ambition to be PCA.

“If the reports are anything to go by, NJC under your watch, is being portrayed to represent what it abhors.

“If the NJC will insist on appointing the most senior Judges in four different states as Chief Judges, then why is the same NJC now trying to do otherwise in the case of President of Court of Appeal?

“And even by seniority the Justice that is being touted to be brought from the Supreme Court is far much more junior than the most senior justice of the Court of Appeal before his elevation to the Supreme Court.

“My lord from the records available, this Justice in question, was appointed to the Court of Appeal after the most senior Justice had spent eleven years there. By providence, he was elevated to the Supreme Court, and now rumoured to be coming back to the Court of Appeal in breach of his seniority in that court.

“That will certainly create disquiet among Justices of the court. This is a clear case of circumventing the seniority tradition and I don’t think history will be favourable to his lordship if his lordship is to allow this to happen under his watch.”

The petition recalled that late Justice Sadi Mato of Kano State High Court spoke of how the late Justice Bello, the former CJN rejected being appointed the CJN thrice in order not to breach the seniority tradition.

“According to late Justice Mato, the late Head of State, Gen. Murtala Muhammed, Presidents Shagari and Babangida all offered Justice Bello the position of the CJN at different times, but in all the cases he turned the offer down on the ground that he cannot be CJN while his seniors were on the bench.”

Court stops Bipi from parading himself as Rivers Speaker

A Port Harcourt High Court has ordered a member of the Rivers State House of Assembly Hon. Evans Bipi from parading himself as the speaker pending the determination of a suit brought against him.

Bipi is the leaders of the six-member anti-Amaechi lawmakers. He is the self-styled speaker.

Justice C. N Wali of an Ahoada High Court gave in his ruling on a motion ex-parte brought by Speaker Otelemanba Dan Amachree, his Deputy Leyii Kwanne and others.

The judge adjourned the motion on notice for hearing till January 6, 2014

VISUALIZING LAW IN NIGERIA: WHAT LAWYERS NEED TO LEARN FROM INFORMATION DESIGNERS

For decades, words have been lawyers’ tools of trade. Today, we should no longer let tradition force us to think inside the text-only box. Apart from words, there are other means available.

It is no longer enough (if it ever was) to offer more information or to enhance access alone: the real challenge is the understandability of the content. We might have access to information, but still be unable to decode it or realize its importance. It is already painfully clear that the general public in Nigeria does not understand legalese, and that communication is becoming more and more visual and rapid. There is a growing literature about style and typography for legal documents and contracts, yet the use of visual and non-textual elements has been so far omitted for the most part. Perhaps images do not seem “official”, “legal”, or trustworthy enough for all.

Focus on users and good communication

Lawyers are communication professionals, even though we do not tend to think about ourselves in these terms. Most of us give advice and produce content and documents to deliver a specific message. In many cases a document — such as a piece of legislation or a contract — in itself is not the goal; its successful implementation is. Implementation, in turn, means adoption and action, often a change of behavior, on the part of the intended individuals and organizations.

Law school does not teach us how to enhance the effectiveness of our message. While many lawyers are known to be good communicators, most have had to learn the hard way. It is easy to forget that our colleagues, members of the legal community, are not the only users of our work. When it comes to other users of our content and documents, we can benefit from starting to think about 1) who these users are, 2) what they want or need to know, 3) what they want to achieve, 4) in which situation, and 5) how we can make our content and documents as clear, engaging and accessible as possible.

These questions are deeply rooted in the discipline of information design. The work of information designers is about organizing and displaying information in a way that maximizes its clarity and understandability. It focuses on the needs of the users and the context in which they need to find and apply information. When the content is complex, readers need to grasp both the big picture and the details and often switch between these two views. This is where visualization — here understood as adding graphs, icons, tables, charts and images to supplement text — enters the picture. Visualization can help in navigating text, opening up its meaning and reinforcing its message, even in the field of law. And information design is not about visualization only: it is also about many other useful things such as language, readability, typography, layout, color coding, and white space.

What does the future hold?

We see these as just the beginning. Once the visual turn has begun, we do not think it can be stopped; the benefits are just too many. As lawyers, we have a lot to learn and we could do our job better in so many respects if we indeed started to get into the mode of thinking and acting like a designer and not just like a lawyer. This applies not only to purely legal information, but everything else we produce: contracts, memos, corporate governance materials, policies, manuals, employee handbooks, and guidance.

Legal information tends to be complex, and information design(ers) can help us make it easier to understand and act upon. The goal is accomplishing the writer’s goals by meeting the readers’ needs.

With new tools and services being developed, it will become easier to convey our content and documents in more usable and more engaging ways. As the work progresses and new tools and apps appear, we are likely to see a major change in the legal industry. Meanwhile, let us know your views and ideas and what you are doing or interested in doing with visuals.