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Navy
rejects court summons on missing ship
� We�ve no case to answer, say
three admirals
By Alex
Oni
Head,
Crime Desk
By Maxwell
Oditta
Snr
Correspondent (Lagos)
Naval authorities have refused
to accept service of court process in the application filed by former Flag
Officer Commanding Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Samuel Kolawole,
seeking enforcement of his fundamental human rights.
In its ruling on November 8,
the Federal High Court, Lagos gave Kolawole leave to enforce his rights,
stressing, however, that it cannot stop proceedings at the military court
marshal where he and two other Admirals are being arraigned over the
unauthorised release of oil vessel �African Pride�.
It also ordered that the
plaintiff put the other party on notice by serving it with the court
summons.
His counsel Babatunde Fashanu
informed the court on Monday that he could not effect the service of court
process because both the Navy and the military court refused to accept the
summons.
Kolawole added that the
President of the court marshal, Rear Admiral Joseph Ajayi, referred him to
�the higher authorities�, when he announced service of summons to the
military court.
�I even announced it to them
during the court martial proceedings, but the president over-ruled me,
saying that I should effect the service on them through the higher
authorities�, he said.
Fagbemi said his team has
brought a motion exparte seeking court order of substituted service
through advertisement in newspapers and urged the court to grant the
application, since the Federal High Court rules allow for that.
Justice Abdullahi Mustapha
expressed no surprise at Kolawole�s claim, noting that evading court
summons is a time-tested practice of the Navy.
�The Nigeria Navy has always
evaded service of court process. This is because the rule of law says
�serve them directly�. Ironically, this is a case that involves their own
men,� Mustapha said, before he adjourned it till November
25.
Meanwhile, Kolawole and the
two other Rear Admirals facing the court martial on Monday signified their
intention to file a no case submission before the
tribunal.
When prosecuting counsel
Donatus Ikponwen closed his defence after calling 18 witnesses, Ajayi
called on the three accused persons to open their
defence.
However, Rear Admiral Francis
Agbiti, Rear Admiral Antonio Bob-Manuel and Kolawole told the court
through their lawyers that rather than offer a defence, they intend to
file a no case submission.
The defence counsel, led by
B.A.M. Fashanu told the tribunal that once the no case submission is
upheld, there will be no basis to offer a defence. He applied for a
certified true copy of the record of tribunal proceedings to enable him
prepare the submission.
A mild drama came up between
the tribunal and the defence counsel as Ajayi told them that �we cannot
oblige you with the record of proceedings yet. I don�t think you are
entitled to it�.
Fashanu replied that by virtue
of Section 36 (6)(B) of the Constitution, the defence should be given
enough time to prepare the defence of the accused persons, especially when
they intend to file a no case submission. He asked the tribunal to adjourn
for seven working days and to make available the record of
proceedings.
But Ajayi reminded the lawyers
that by rule of military tribunal, it cannot adjourn for more than six
working days.
The prosecution had earlier
closed its case with the testimony of Rear Admiral Ganiyu Adekeye, the
Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) Eastern Naval Command.
Under cross-examination by
defence lawyer Lanre Amusu, he said all assets, including personnel and
operations are under the FOC and that he is responsible for recruiting,
training and deployment of ratings.
He explained that the FOC can
give assignments to the commanding officer (CO) and that if the CO does
not make any complaint to the FOC, it is assumed that the CO is capable of
handling the task.
He added, however, that if a
detained vessel is placed under the direct control of the CO by the FOC,
the action or inaction of the CO notwithstanding, the FOC cannot be
exonerated from whatever happens to the ship because the personnel and the
vessel are still under his control.
Adekeye admitted that a ship
can only be taken away from a base without notifying the FOC under an
emergency, but that the FOC would be notified immediately of the
development. He would in turn notify Navy
Headquarters.
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