Lawyers desert courts in protest, reject new fee regime in Osun

A cross section of lawyers in Osun on Tuesday protested against sudden hike in filing fees at the Osun State High Court, Osogbo, as they deserted court premises to press home their demands.

The Lawyers, under the aegis of Nigerian Bar Association(NBA) decried the hike, and called for an immediate reversal.

The development invariably paralysed all activities at the court, and many of those who had earlier arrived at the court for array of processes were left disappointed.

The association frowned at what they called ” the commercialisation of justice in disguise,” saying it is unbecoming of a temple of justice.

The Chairman of NBA, Osogbo branch, Mr Asafa Sanusi, while addressing journalists on the issue condemned the increment, saying it was done in bad faith.

According to him, the jacking up of writ of summon from N4,000 to N40,000 and a divorce petition from N3,000 to N25,0000 is not only unacceptable but arbitrary.

Sanusi added that his members would not attend courts until the state government reverts to the old fees.

We learnt that the new filing regime was communicated to the members of the bar through a circular signed by the Principal Registrar of the Court, Mr Taiwo Jacob.

Meanwhile, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Biola Odewemimo when contacted for reaction said government would appropriately issue a statement on the issue later.

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I’m still Assemblies of God General Superintendent – Paul Emeka

A new chapter has opened on the three-year-old crisis rocking the Assemblies of God Nigeria as Rev. Prof. Paul Emeka has declared that he remains the
‘authentic General Superintendent’ of the church.

The media was awash with reports last week that the Supreme Court had ratified his suspension by the General Executive Committee of the Church.

However, he declared on Monday that no judgment of the Supreme Court removed him from

office.

He said: “There is no judgement of the Supreme court that removed me as the General Superintendent of the church. The reports being paraded is part of the effort by the traducers to take the church by all means and that is why, as the judgment of the court was being delivered, they were already planting stories and dragging the church property.

“The judgment of the Supreme Court has never said I am not the General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God Nigeria and it has not said my opponent Chidi, is the General Superintendent. That t was not the issue.

“What we are fighting for is not for me to regain my position. What we are fighting for is part of the church they took by force, the property of the church they took by force. But you see they now went further to start encroaching on my position”.
Given further clarification on the judgment which was struck out by the court, Emeka said he had gone to the apex court to challenge to decision of the Court of Appeal which had earlier nullified the ruling of the Enugu High Court, which in 2014 restored him to office as the General Superintendent of the church.

“However, instead of going into the merit of the matter, the Supreme Court had last Friday, struck it out on the ground that the service of the court process on Chidi was not properly done in accordance with the order of the High Court; that the procedure adopted in filing the case was not the appropriate procedure.

“When a case is struck out, they are telling you to go back and re-file, put it properly and normal procedure. We are going back to the High Court. The case was not dismissed. The issue of removal of Emeka has not been decided. The court has not heard it. When they heard at the High court, the court gave judgment and the other party appealed not against the decision of the high court, they appealed on ground of procedure that they were not served. There is no order of court anywhere announcing a new General Superintendent for the church”, he stated.

He stated that it was wrong for the faction opposed to his leadership of the church to start taking laws into their hands by “attempting to seize property and claims of legitimacy”.
Emeka stated that the ruling of the apex Court had amounted to the
partial culmination of the three years old crisis, stressing that at least it agreed that he had the right to appeal his “kangaroo suspension as well as the unjust gathering where the action was taken without giving him fair hearing.”

On the sealing of the national secretariat of the church, he said it was part of the effort by the police to ensure there was no break in law and order, alleging that some members loyal to his opponent had attempted to possess forceful the place.

He appealed to his members to remain calm, assuring that the matter would soon be sorted out as he was heading to the High Court to refile the matter.

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Customs seizes 9000 bags of rice in Ibadan

•Agency generates N14.8b in 2016

In another dramatic raid, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Oyo/Osun Command, has seized 9,000 bags of imported rice in a warehouse in a market in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
The Controller, Temitope Ogunkua, who vowed to stop illegal importation of goods, spoke yesterday at a briefing on the achievements recorded by the command in the last one year.
He said the command generated N14.8billion in 2016.
During the night raid of the warehouse in an undisclosed Ibadan market, he said one suspect was arrested.
The seizure of the 9,000 (50kg) bags of smuggled imported rice had a duty paid value of N88,776,000.00.
According to him, the night operation was carried out by the combined anti-smuggling team and the Federal Operations Union (FOU), Zone A.
Ogunkua said the command would not rest on its oars in playing strategic roles of revenue collection, trade facilitation and border security.
He said the seizure of the rice and any other products proved to be smuggled into the country illegally was in line with Section 147 of Customs and Excise Management Act, 1990 as amended.
The Controller said 1207 vehicles paid duty of N320, 329,797.00 between January and December last year, adding that 266 packages of Canabis Sativa were seized and handed over to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) within the period under review.
His words: “A total of 8,378 50kg bags of rice were seized within the period under review. The duty paid value of the intercepted rice is N87,153,591.00.
“The Command seized 111 vehicles with a duty paid value of N136,770,011.65; 1971 cartons of frozen poultry products with a duty paid value of N16,373,097.00 were intercepted. A total of 173 (25) litres gallon of petroleum products were seized and handed over to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).”
Ogunkua said the command has a N20.6billion target for the year.
“A total of 9000 (50kg) bags of smuggled imported rice with a duty paid value of N88,776,000.00 was seized and evacuated from a warehouse by the Command’s anti-smuggling team in conjunction with the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone A few weeks ago”.

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I will soon expose those behind the collapse of Synagogue Church – Fani-Kayode

Former Minister of Aviation and Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Femi Fani-Kayode, has said he will soon reveal shocking details surrounding the collapsed of the Synagogue Church Of Nation, SCOAN, building which occurred in 2014.

Recall that the former Minister visited the founder and General Overseer of the church, Prophet Temitope Joshua, and had described him as a true and great man of God.

Fani-Kayode, who claimed he was conducting a research to unravel what brought the church guests house down, said the target of the perpetrators was Pastor Joshua and his successes.

He said, “The truth about the mysterious plane that hovered over Prophet TB Joshua’s Church before it collapsed and killed 126 people will soon be out.

“I’m still doing the research before writing and it is blowing my mind. One thing is clear- the plane brought down the building and the target was TB Joshua and his great success.

“This was an evil and cruel act and I intend to expose those that were behind it,” he said on his twitter handle, @realFFK, on Tuesday.

On 12 September 2014, a guesthouse located within the Church premises around Ikotun-Egbe area of Lagos State collapsed completely to the ground, killing 126 people in the process.

Prophet TB Joshua had cried out that a strange aircraft “hovered” above the building shortly before it fell.

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