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B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News |
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Illegal bunkering: You can�t hear this case, Nwabueze tells courtSAM POPOOLAA legal luminary, Professor Ben O. Nwabueze (SAN), has urged a Federal High Court in Lagos, to refuse jurisdiction in the on-going trial of 13 Russians allegedly held over illegal bunkering of 11.300 metric tons of oil valued at about N345 million. In a 178-paragraph brief, filed before the court on Tuesday, Nwabueze, who preferred to address the court as an Amicus Curiae (friend of the court), noted that no courts in Nigeria could try foreigners who are not under the protection of the Nigerian Government. Besides, Nwabueze said the ship in which the accused were arrested, M/T African Pride, being a foreign ship, cannot be subjected to the criminal jurisdiction of Nigerian courts for an offence that took place outside Nigeria�s territorial waters, at a place about 18 nautical miles outside her territorial waters. The prosecution had alleged in a two-count charge that the accused committed the offence on or about October 8, off the coast of Forcados within the Nigerian territorial waters within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court. Nwabueze argued that as the offence charged took place 18 nautical miles away from Nigeria�s territorial waters �the court has no jurisdiction over the matter and cannot lawfully seize itself of the charge against the accused persons...� He submitted that a written statement made to the police by one Captain Joe Aikhomu of the Nigerian Navy, gave the location of M/T African Pride at the material time as �about 31 nautical miles off the Forcados River entrance.�
Wednesday, June 30, 2004 |
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