Mike Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) has hailed the Supreme Court judgment which nullified the conviction of Orji Uzor Kalu, a former governor of Abia state over a N7.2b fraud case.
Ozekhome says the judgment is a vindication of his two-year struggle that provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice System (ACJA) are inferior to the overriding powers of the constitution.
“On 25th September 2018, I filed a motion before Justice Mohammed Idris, on behalf of Orji Uzor Kalu, prayerfully requesting the erudite Justice (Judge?) to recuse and disqualify himself from further trying Kalu, as he (Justice Idris), had been elevated to the Court of Appeal on 22nd June 2018.
The following day, 26th September 2018, I argued the motion in proceedings that lasted for about 4 hours. The pith of my argument was that Justice Idris, having been elevated to the court of Appeal, was no longer qualified to sit as a Judge of the federal high court, and was thus disqualified from trying Kalu.
I contended that section 396 (7) of the ACJA which permits a high court Judge elevated to the court of appeal to continue with and conclude a part-heard matter was in gross conflict with the provisions of sections 1(1), 1(3), 238(2), 239, 240, 250(2) and 253 of the 1999 Constitution, and therefore liable to be struck down.
I cited, inter alia, the earlier supreme court case of Ogbuanyinya & 5 Ors v. Obi Okudo (1979) 9 S.C 32. I, therefore, urged the court to remit the case file back to the chief judge of the federal high court, for reassignment to another Judge. The learned trial Judge in a very brief ruling held that though my argument was “compelling and the issues raised recondite and paramount”, he would still go ahead and hear the case since the same issue had earlier been raised (albeit orally) and he had overruled same. He concluded that since his earlier ruling on the matter was already being challenged at the Court of Appeal, he would go on with the trial.
The Supreme Court of Nigeria has just vindicated my two-year struggle that provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice System (ACJA) are inferior to the overriding powers of the Constitution” he said.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had arraigned Kalu before Mohammed Idris, a former high court judge, on 36 counts of money laundering.
On December 5, 2019, Idris convicted and sentenced Kalu to prison but on Friday, a seven-man panel of the apex court held that the trial court’s judgment was a nullity on the grounds that Idris (the trial judge) lacked the powers to preside over Kalu’s trial having been elevated to the appellate court.
Recall that The New Diplomat had earlier reported that a seven-man panel, led by Justice Amina Augie, the Supreme Court held that the Federal High Court in Lagos, which tried and convicted Kalu, his firm – Slok Nigeria Limited and his former aide, Jones Udeogu, acted without jurisdiction.
