ZYNGA NEWS

A retired Justice of the Court of Appeal, Ahmad Olarewaju Belgore, is dead. Zynga News.com, reports that the news of his demise was announced on tuesday night in Ilorin. According to sources, the late jurist died after breaking his Ramadan fast this evening. Part of his last public outing and engagement was the fidau held for the late District Head of Ballah, Alhaji Salman Olarongbe Abdulkadir, held at the Emir’s Palace last week Sunday. He retired as Appeal Court Justice on 18th April 2023 on attainment of the age of 70. BRIEF PROFILE: Born on 18th April 1953 and studied Law at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria where he bagged LL.B. (Hons.), with specialization in Islamic Law from 1975 to 1978, the Nigerian Law School, Victoria Island, Lagos (Barrister-At-Law (BL), 1978/79 session and was enrolled at the Supreme Court of Nigeria as a Solicitor and Advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in July, 1979. Records revealed that the late jurist was appointed as a Notary Public in 1987 and

The Abuja Division of the Appeal Court, has sacked the Ibrahim Gusau - led Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Board. In a significant ruling, the Appellate Court delivered a verdict that has caused a major upheaval in Nigerian football. Justice Barika, alongside Justices Okon Abang and Justice Banjoko, ordered the dismissal of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Board. In Appeal No: CA/ABJ/CV/1006/2022, the court sacked the NFF Board by setting aside and striking out all ‘dubious’ orders allegedly obtained by ‘deceit’ on the 29th of September 2022 to conduct the purported NFF election of September 30th in Benin City, Edo State and further ordered that the processes be deleted from all systems of the court forthwith. The aftermath of this decision is expected to have significant implications on the governance and future direction of football in Nigeria as the ruling has plunged the Nigerian football community into a state of confusion and uncertainty as any sacked NFF Board member para

By Femi Falana SAN Last Friday, the Supreme Court delivered 8 judgments in appeals arising from governorship election disputes.  While 5 judgments of the Court of Appeal were upheld, 3 were upturned.  The upturned judgments pertain to the cases of the governors of Kano, Plateau and Zamfara States.  Many stakeholders have commended the Supreme Court for the landmark judgments.  Apart from the concurrent judgments of the Tribunal and Court of Appeal in the Kano State governorship election petition which cannot be justified as voters were illegally penalised for the negligence of electoral officers, the Court of Appeal may be said to have relied on judgments of the Supreme Court in the other two cases. Specifically, the controversial theory of inconclusive elections became part of the nation’s electoral jurisprudence in the case of Faleke v independent National Electoral Commission (2016) 18 NWLR PT.1543.  The Faleke’s case justified the finding of the Court of Appeal to the effect the go

At a recent public function with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Tinubu where the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, was also in attendance, a former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olisa Agbakoba SAN, lamented the presence of a cabal in the Supreme Court that deliberately keeps senior lawyers away from being appointed to the bench calling on Akpabio to lead the federal lawmakers to make laws for the appointment of senior judges in the country. According to him, “I was the first, accompanied by my brother, Wole Olanipekun to apply because we thought we were qualified to sit at the Supreme Court. The mafia there threw us out.” Similarly, repeated effort by the Bar has been unsuccessful in getting senior lawyers appointed to superior courts of record, especially the Supreme Court. Despite the harsh criticism, Justices of the court below (Appeal court) are about to become the majority in the Supreme Court, once the 11 justices, cleared by the Senate on December 21, 2023, are

FOLLOWING a stinging rebuke of the quality of Judgments coming from the Court of Appeal, by the Supreme Court, judicial stakeholders are expressing worries about the future of the apex court, tribuneonlineng report. Sunday Tribune understands that the top Bench, since the return to civil rule, has been sourcing its judicial personnel, mainly from the intermediate Bench. But on Friday, while reversing the sacking of three governors by the Court of Appeal, the apex court descended on the lower court and berated the quality of its interpretation of the law in political cases. In reversing the Court of Appeal’s judgment that removed Governor Caleb Muftwang of Plateau State, Justices Helen Ogunwumiju and Adamu Jauro excoriated the appelate court for shifting the burden of proof on the governor. “It was very wrong for the Court of Appeal to go into the issue of party congresses.  To make matters worse, the party challenging the issue is another political party,” Ogunwumiju remonstrated. A su

The Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, Port-Harcourt Division, Justice Joseph Shagbaor Ikyegh has died. Justice Ikyegh who hailed from Benue State reportedly died Wednesday afternoon at his Makurdi residence located at the Achussa Community area of the state capital. The death of Justice Ikyegh was reportedly made known when the Chief Judge of Benue state, Justice Maurice Ikpambese during a public function in Makurdi called for a minute silence in his honour. Though no official statement has been issued by his family on his demise, it was gathered that the deceased collapse while making a phone call at home and effort by family members to revive him was unsuccessful. According to a source “he was then rushed to the Benue State University Teaching Hopsital, BSUTH, Makurdi where he was confirmed dead by medical doctors.” I t was gathered that the 65 years old jurist was known for his sound judgements and forthrightness. The late jurist recently made the list of the 22 Justices of the Co