Daily Independent Online.
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Tuesday, June 22, 2004.
Appeal Court orders Lagos Chief Judge to transfer murder
case
By Alex Oni
Correspondent, Lagos
The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos has
directed the Chief Judge of Lagos State to transfer a case of murder to a fresh
judge for trial.
The three justices of the court, James
Ogenyi Ogbebe, Pius Ayoola Adeniran and Musa Dathuo Mohammed gave the order
while delivering judgement in an appeal filed by two of the eight persons
arraigned before a Lagos High Court.
The appellants, who were the seventh and
eighth accused persons in the lower court, were charged with the perversion of
justice while the first to sixth accused persons were charged with murder.
Lawyer to the appellants, Mr. Nwabu Okoye,
had shortly before the trial of the accused persons commenced brought on behalf
of his clients a motion on notice, praying for an order quashing the preferment
of information, court of charges, trial, production or reproduction warrant and
every other process in the charge against the appellants.
In the alternative, Okoye asked for an
order that proceedings be stayed, pending the determination of the judicial
review in suit No. ID/70m/2003: Chief Gabriel Ezeze and Azubike Ezeze versus
the Inspector-General of Police and others.
When the case came up on July 14, 2003, the
accused persons were not produced. Okoye, therefore, asked for a date to move
the motion to quash or stay.
Prosecuting senior state counsel, Mrs. S.J.
Oke, who has not reacted to the motion, asked for an adjournment to a date when
the accused persons would be presented in court, but Okoye argued that the
accused persons need not be in court.
