BNW

B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News

Last Updated: Monday, December 13th, 2004 HOME | Previous Page Missing Ship: Tribunal, defence clash again   By Alex Oni Head Crime Desk   For the second time in one week, the court martial trying three senior Naval officers and others for their alleged complicity in the disappearance of oil vessel MT African Pride at the weekend warned lawyers against the use of uncomplimentary words. Tribunal President Rear Admiral Joseph Ajayi warned that last Friday would be the last time it would fold its arms and watch as lawyers try to ridicule the court. The court martial was irked by a statement by lawyer to Rear Admiral Samuel Kolawole, one of the accused persons. His counsel Lanre Amosu, while taken on a witness, Rear Admiral Samson Oke, asked: “I hope the court is not doing the work of the prosecution for them”. Judge Advocate (JA) to the tribunal, Colonel John Audu, immediately took Amosu up, saying: “I have to quickly react to that. I will not fold my arms and watch as this honourable tribunal is being ridiculed. It is a matter of use of language. I do not want to believe that the learned counsel is deliberately intending to insult the court”. Annoyed members of the tribunal discussed the incident, its chairman adjourned proceedings for five minutes, but it eventually lasted 30 minutes. When it reconvened at 5 p.m., Ajayi directed Audu to address the court. Audu said: “Attempts have been made on many occasions to directly ridicule this count. On such occasions, this court had course to warn counsel on the use of language. “It does appear that rather than behave as lawyers and professionals, the situation is not improving”.     Audu did not fail to pass jibes at Amosu, who, though a retired Vice Admiral, is relatively a young lawyer. His words: “I have observed that this type of misdemeanour is as a result of inexperience at the Bar, whereby greenhorns are called upon to handle big time cases. They are enticed to do so. I want to inform counsels that this court feels bad about the use of foul language”. Ajayi warned that it would be the last time the tribunal would allow such utterance to go unpunished.       Copyright� 2004. All Rights Reserved. Independent Newspapers Limited Block5, Plot 7D, Wempco Road, Ogba, P.M.B. 21777, Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria. www.independentng.com e-mail: [email protected] Designed By Powered By DNet.

	BNW News
Voice of Biafra | Biafra World | Biafra Online | Biafra Web | MASSOB | Biafra Forum | BLM | Biafra Consortium
	© 2001 BNW BiafraNigeriaWorld  Privacy Policy ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Powered by ACENetwork ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
	Axiom PSI Yam Festival Series, Iri Ji Nd'Igbo the Kola-Nut Series,Nigeria Masterweb