CJN OPPOSES 100% SAN APPLICATION FEES INCREASE

The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Aloma Mukhtar, has objected to a 100 per cent application fee increase for lawyers wishing to become Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).

She, instead, agreed to a slight increase that would bring the new application fee, announced by the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee (LPPC), to N300,000, instead of the N250,000 paid by applicants last year.

The new fee is contained in the new guidelines for the conferment of SAN released by the LPPC.

It was learnt that a sub-committee, set up to review the old guidelines, recommended N500,000 as the application fee.

The sub-committee justified the N500,000 fee on the grounds that it was expensive conducting chambers inspection and other verification exercises across the country.

Justice Mukhtar, who is the Chairman of the LPPC, reportedly rejected the new fee because it was too high.

Besides the slight increase in the application fee, the new guidelines also empower the LPPC to suspend a legal practitioner from using SAN pending the determination of any disciplinary action, complaint or prosecution against such a legal practitioner.

By this provision, the LPPC could restrain a SAN, against whom a case of misconduct is pending, from parading him/herself in that capacity until the case is resolved.

Other changes in the new guidelines include earlier opening of the application process.

The call for applications will now be made not later than January 7 each year, instead of January 31 under the former arrangement.

Applicants are now required to provide certified true copies of their complete records of trial proceedings in at least five cases at the High Court.

They are expected to file the records on cases from their beginning to judgment to show that the legal practitioner conducted the trial throughout.

For those applying as academics, the new guidelines have introduced fresh hurdles. They must now show that their published works are published by reputable publishers whose reputation shall be assessed and determined by the academic sub-committee.

The guidelines retain the criteria for the evaluating candidates’ competence, including integrity, 25 per cent; judges’ opinion, 15 per cent; knowledge of law, 15 per cent; contribution to the development of the law, 10 per cent; leadership qualities, 10 per cent; strength and quality of reference, 15 per cent and quality of law office, 10 per cent

LAWYERS SEEK ADOPTION OF ADR IN CASES

SOME lawyers in Lagos have called on litigants to explore Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) options in the settlement of cases.

The lawyers, who made the call at the weekend, said ADR would ensure speedy disposition of cases.

ADR is a form of dispute resolution devoid of the usual technicalities of the courts.

There are a handful of ADR options like arbitration, mediation, negotiation and others which help parties to reach peaceful settlement

The ADR mechanism is a very useful tool in resolving issues between parties although some litigants choose not to explore that option.”

It is cheaper, it saves time, and in the long run, the disputing parties are happy with the result of the technique. It is now mandatory in the rules of court that any action commenced under writ must go through the ADR process.

My pastor-husband slept with two of my friends—Wife •She sent thugs to beat me —Husband

A forty-five-year-old housewife, Mrs Iyabo Taiwo,  has consented to the dissolution of her six-year-old marriage to a cleric, whom she accused of infidelity.

Iyabo told an Igando Customary Court  in Lagos State that her husband, Pastor Olusoji Taiwo, had illicit affairs with her two friends.

She was responding to a divorce suit filed by Olusoji.

“My husband is a womaniser; he slept with two of my friends,’’ Iyabo told the court, adding that Olusoji had many concubines.

“Whenever I confronted him on his escapades with my friends, he  would tell  me to do my worst,” she said.

The mother of one said she was fed up with the marriage.

Fifty-six-year-old Olusoji  had claimed in the divorce suit that his wife was threatening his life and blackmailing him.He alleged that  she discouraged his church members from attending his church.

“My wife is fond of damaging my reputation in the presence of my church members,” he said.

The cleric also alleged that his wife  sent  thugs to beat him.

“My wife wants to kill me; she always sends thugs after me. I am scared that she might kill me one day,” he said.

The president of the court, Mr R. I. Adeyeri, adjourned the case till January 8 for further hearing.

JUDGES' TARGET FOR 2014

Reports that the National Judicial Commission (NJC) has set a minimum target of between 16 and 24 judgments a year for judges across the country from 2014 is difficult to situate. While we are in agreement with the NJC that indolent and ineffective judges should be retired; there is the need to properly weigh the parameter used by the commission to arrive at that figure.

We consider that it may be unrealistic to make such a demand, when the judges do not determine the number of cases that come before them in a year. Again, has the commission considered the cost on quality of judgments in arriving at the decision, knowing that some cases are more intricate than others?

Again, the work output of a judge in a busy court like in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano, Onitsha and other commercial centres will no doubt be different from their colleagues operating in remote areas, where the number of cases in a year may not be up to 24. We are also worried that if emphasis is on quantity, some judges may find it convenient to treat the matters before them shabbily, to meet the requirement. Has the commission considered the impact of dumping badly heard cases on the appellate courts, thus depriving litigants without resources the right to go on appeal?

Moreover, in determining the effectiveness of judges, what measure has the commission put in place to sieve judges who give ill-considered judgments from the system; as their impact is also as ruinous as indolent judges that delay cases before them unduly. While no doubt the current Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Aloma Mukhtar, has shown grit in tackling corruption more than her predecessors, we believe that corruption-induced judgments constitute by far, more danger than the quantity of cases determined by a judge in a year. So, the NJC has a more serious challenge tracking corruption in the judiciary.

Also, as we have always argued, the NJC, nay the country, must seek a more efficient way of appointing only competent persons to the bench. That is the surest way to have competent and efficient persons as judges in our courts. Part of the challenge, as we have also argued, is that the centralised system of appointment, remuneration and discipline of judges is unrealistic. Apart from the fact that it negates our federal system of government, it also hoists equal measure for unequal work across the country’s judiciary, which may have informed the new policy of between 16 to 24 judgments in a year. As we have noted on the issue of federalising wages, it is unrealistic for a worker, whether a judge or some other workers, who work in diverse areas and economic environments, to receive the same salary.

It may indeed be noted that many Nigerians will not wager for the integrity of our judiciary, and one reason is the undue delay in the courts. This also may have informed the instruction to deliver a reasonable number of judgments in a year by the judges; but the NJC may not be able to achieve that by fiat. Part of the strategy should be to provide efficient infrastructure for the judiciary. In some courts, the judges still write in long hand; some do not have good libraries, qualified research assistants, efficient power supply system and other basic infrastructure.

So, the NJC needs a mixed bag of demands and incentives to achieve an efficient judiciary. While pushing for increase in the number of cases a judge must decide in a year, it must also work to ensure quality judgments that will endure.

Settle out of court, woman who sued ex-husband over theft told

A Grade 1 Area Court in Mararaba, Nasarawa State, has admonished a 35-year-old housewife, Omolara Imoke, to settle out of court a case she filed against her former husband, Morufu Alimi.

Imoke filed a case of  intimidation and theft against  her 42-year-old ex-husband.

At the resumption of hearing, the judge, Mr Albert Maga, advised Imoke to consider their two children and settle out of court.

“Taking yourselves to court will not help your children. I will advise that you go back home and see how you can resolve this matter in the interest of your children.

“However, the case has been adjourned till January 15 for report of settlement or continuation if the former (reconciliation) fails,’’ Maga ruled.

On December 11, Imoke of Aso Pada, Mararaba, took Alimi to court for alleged intimidation and theft.
She claimed that after the legal dissolution of their 13-year-old marriage by the court, her ex-husband had been intimidating her.

Imoke also alleged that her former husband stole the money she intended to use in renting a room, and assaulted her, causing her grievous harm on her arms and legs.`

The mother of two, who is also a teacher, alleged that her former husband was planning to sell the house both of them built.

“He told me he would make sure that I suffer and go back to the village,” she told the court.

Alimi, of the same address, however, denied the allegations levelled against him.

NGO’s boss arraigned in court for duping physically challenged lady of N1.5m

A 48-year-old man, David Olanrewaju Ajofolowo has been arraigned in Magistrates’ Court 8, Iyaganku, Ibadan, Oyo State on a four-count charge of conspiring with one other person to obtain money from a physically-challenged lady by pretending to want to assist her to process her travelling to India for a hip replacement surgery.

In a suit with charge number MI/1632C/2013, the first count read “that you Olanrewaju David ‘m’ and others now at large on 17th day of November, 2012, at Fidelity Bank, Challenge, Ibadan, in Ibadan magisterial district did conspire with one another to commit felony to wit: obtaining money by false pretence, stealing and forgery and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 516 of the criminal code, cap 38, volume 2 laws of Oyo State of Nigeria 2000.”

Count two also read that the accused and others at large obtained N1.5million from one Raji Tawakalitu Temitope under the pretence of taking her to India for hip replacement surgery, thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under section 419 of the criminal code, cap 38, volume 2 laws of Oyo State Nigeria 2000, while count three read that the accused and others at large stole N1.5million, property of Raji Tawakalitu Temitope, which is punishable under section 390 (9) of the criminal code cap 38, volume 2 laws of Oyo State of Nigeria 2000.

In count four, Olanrewaju was also accused of presenting himself to be the Chief Executive Officer of a non-governmental organisation known as ‘Succour’ with the intent to defraud, and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under section 484 of the criminal code, cap 38, volume 2 laws of Oyo State, Nigeria.

Crime Reports learnt that Tawa was given the money by an anonymous donor after her story was published in Sunday Tribune of June 10, 2012, stating her pathetic situation. She had told of how her hips were displaced after her legs became deformed as a result of an accident she had at age seven.

Though the surgery was supposed to be carried out by the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Tawa said she was told at the UCH that there were no facilities to handle her case. This prompted the hospital to refund the N1.5million to her account. The accused, who had presented himself as wanting to help the lady, reportedly asked her to withdraw the money from her account so that he could change it into dollars to process the visa to India and to pay for the flight ticket and treatment.

Having trusted Olanrewaju, who she saw as God-sent, Tawa withdrew the money on November 17, 2012 and gave it to the accused. That was how her travelling became bungled as she no longer got a positive signal from Olanrewaju.

Recently, she came to Sunday Tribune to report the story at the Crime Desk after which she lodged a complaint at the Oyo State Police Command headquarters. The Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Indabawa, ordered the State Intelligence Bureau, headed by Anthony Okonkwo, a Chief Superintendent of Police, to investigate the case. The accused, who was said to have been staying away from home since he was summoned by Crime Reports to state his own side of the story, was arrested by detectives on Saturday, December 21 in the early hours of the day while returning from church where he slept.

During interrogation, he admitted collecting the money from Tawa but said that he used N34,000 from it to obtain international passport for Tawa and himself while he quickly invested the rest in an engine business so that it could yield more money to add to the one given to Tawa. He stated further that he was duped by the man he gave the money to, adding that the man had since been on the run.

After the charges were read to the accused, he pleaded not guilty and was granted bail in the sum of N2million, a level 13 civil servant as surety and two passport photographs.

The case was adjourned till February 12, 2014 for further hearing.

Culled sun