Court orders release of detained naval captain – TheNigerialawyer

The Federal High Court in Lagos on Wednesday ordered the
immediate release of a naval chief, Captain Dada Labinjo, who had
been in detention without trial since September last year.

The court, in a judgment by Justice Chuka Obiozor, berated the
Nigerian Navy over Labinjo’s detention for about 10 months without
charging him to court.

The judge declared that the Nigerian Navy had no justification
either under the 1999 Constitution or the Armed Forces Act to
detain Labinjo for so long without charging him to court.

Justice Obiozor made the pronouncements while delivering
judgment in a fundamental rights enforcement action which Labinjo,
through his lawyer, Jerry Omoroghe, filed against the Nigerian
Navy.

The judge ordered his unconditional release as well as the
release of his mobile phone confiscated by the Navy.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had last week
arraigned Labinjo’s wife, Bola, who is a Lieutenant Commander in
the Nigerian Navy, alongside four others, for allegedly dealing in
petroleum products without lawful authority.

Bola and her co-defendants were arraigned on two counts before
the same Justice Obiozor.

The other defendants are Jonathan Abaka, alias Joe Boy; Charles
Agaba, Benjamin Gageche and Hamza Yakubu.

Also joined as a defendant was a vessel, M.T. Adeline Jumbo.

The EFCC told the court that the defendants conspired among
themselves between August and October 2018 to deal in Automobile
Gas Oil (diesel), without the appropriate licence.

According to the EFCC, the defendant committed the offence
“within the Nigerian maritime domain and the Gulf of Guinea.”

The prosecution said they acted contrary to sections 3(6) and
1((19)(a)(b) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act Cap. M17 Laws of the
Federation of Nigeria (Revised Edition) 2004, and were liable to be
punished under Section 1(17) of the same Act.

The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty.

Justice Obiozor admitted each of them to bail in the sum of N10m
with one surety in like sum.

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