Evans’ lawyer loses court case, to pay N500,000 fine

The lawyer standing for kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme
Onwuamadike, aka Evans, has lost yet another case in court.

Evans’ counsel, Olukoya Ogungbeje, was defeated on Friday, when
Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court in Lagos dismissed
two fundamental rights applications filed by him, according to an
online medium, NewsMakers.

Ogungbeje had reportedly filed the case on behalf of his
clients, Messrs Chief Kenneth Chukwuemeka Ajoku and Chidinma
Ozurumba, against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, but
it was dismissed for lack of merit and for being frivolous.

The judge also awarded a total cost of N500,000 against the two
petitioners.

Other respondents in Ajoku’s suit are a Lagos-based lawyer, Mr.
Taiwo Kupolati, Folorunsho Sholanke, Jide Olaleye, Abraham
Ogunleye, Kolade Akinwunmi and Dr. Ishaku Danladi Msheliza.

The two petitioners, in suits marked FHC/L/CS/736/2017 and
FHC/L/CS 803/2017, had urged the court to declare that the arrest
and detention by the operatives and agents of EFCC on May 4, at the
instigation of other respondents for taking up the brief of his
client and without cause, was “illegal, wrongful, unlawful, and
unconstitutional as it violates the applicant’s fundamental rights
as guaranteed under sections 33, 34, 35 and 36 of the 1999
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

Responding to the suits, the EFCC, in two separate
counter-affidavits deposed to by Ayodele Samuel and Makinde
Adebayo, and argued before the court by Banjo James, urged the
judge to refuse the applicants’ applications for being frivolous
and lacking in merit.

Delivering judgment on the two applications on Friday, Justice
Buba, while dismissing the two applications for lacking in merit
and being frivolous, awarded a total cost of N500,000 against the
two applicants in favour of the EFCC and other respondents.

Two weeks ago, Ogungbeje filed such fundamental rights suit
against police authorities in a bid to set Evans free, claiming
that the police illegally detained the suspect who had made a
series of televised confessions on how he had kidnapped his victims
and kept them for as long as seven months until their families
coughed out as much as $1m.

A victim’s son had revealed that his 86-year-old father was
killed by Evans and his gang after he had paid a huge ransom.

The lawyer standing for kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme
Onwuamadike, aka Evans, has lost yet another case in
court.

Evans’ counsel, Olukoya Ogungbeje, was defeated on Friday, when
Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court in Lagos dismissed
two fundamental rights applications filed by him, according to an
online medium, NewsMakers.

Ogungbeje had reportedly filed the case on behalf of his
clients, Messrs Chief Kenneth Chukwuemeka Ajoku and Chidinma
Ozurumba, against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, but
it was dismissed for lack of merit and for being frivolous.

The judge also awarded a total cost of N500,000 against the two
petitioners.

Other respondents in Ajoku’s suit are a Lagos-based lawyer, Mr.
Taiwo Kupolati, Folorunsho Sholanke, Jide Olaleye, Abraham
Ogunleye, Kolade Akinwunmi and Dr. Ishaku Danladi Msheliza.

The two petitioners, in suits marked FHC/L/CS/736/2017 and
FHC/L/CS 803/2017, had urged the court to declare that the arrest
and detention by the operatives and agents of EFCC on May 4, at the
instigation of other respondents for taking up the brief of his
client and without cause, was “illegal, wrongful, unlawful, and
unconstitutional as it violates the applicant’s fundamental rights
as guaranteed under sections 33, 34, 35 and 36 of the 1999
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

Responding to the suits, the EFCC, in two separate
counter-affidavits deposed to by Ayodele Samuel and Makinde
Adebayo, and argued before the court by Banjo James, urged the
judge to refuse the applicants’ applications for being frivolous
and lacking in merit.

Delivering judgment on the two applications on Friday, Justice
Buba, while dismissing the two applications for lacking in merit
and being frivolous, awarded a total cost of N500,000 against the
two applicants in favour of the EFCC and other respondents.

Two weeks ago, Ogungbeje filed such fundamental rights suit
against police authorities in a bid to set Evans free, claiming
that the police illegally detained the suspect who had made a
series of televised confessions on how he had kidnapped his victims
and kept them for as long as seven months until their families
coughed out as much as $1m.

A victim’s son had revealed that his 86-year-old father was
killed by Evans and his gang after he had paid a huge ransom.