News

Alleged N75m Bribery: Coy ask DSS to investigate “Magu Boys” Lawyer

Published

5 years ago

August 28, 2020

A company, Damjay Integrated Services LTD that was a victim of the Notorious “Magu Boys” syndicate under the Suspended Acting Chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, has written a petition to the DSS protesting what it perceived to be an attempt by the EFCC to deceive the public by spearheading the prosecution of indicted “Magu Boys” lawyers, Victor Giwa Esq and Fatima Hassan Esq to achieve a predetermined end of setting the two lawyers free.

In the petition sighted by Our correspondent, The Company narrated how Mr Giwa spearheaded an attempt by Magu boys to extort the company of the sum of Seventy-Five Million Naira.

The Company raised alarm that after its petition before the Salami Panel investigating Magu was heard, and Mr Giwa confessed to the extortion attempt, the EFCC in a dramatic twist to save face arrested Mr Giwa and Fatima Hassan over their role in the extortion attempt.

The company believes that the EFCC can’t fairly prosecute the roles of the two “Magu Boys lawyers” being the agency that its activities is being investigated and as such will only prosecute the two lawyers to achieve a predetermined goal of setting them free.

The Company wants the DSS to take over the investigation of the case and to further investigate the bank account numbers sent to the company in the attempt to extort it of seventy-five millon Naira.

Part of the petition to the Department of State security Services, DSS Reads:

We are a firm of legal practitioners and Barristers of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. We have been consulted and our legal services retained by one DAMJAY INTEGRATED SERVICVES LTD whom henceforth in this petition we shall be referring to as ‘our Client’ and on whose behalf and express instruction we present this petition to your distinguished office.

THE CRUX OF THE MATTER:
It is the brief of our client that it maintains an account with ACCESS BANK of Nigeria and sometimes in 2018, it attempted to carry out a banking transaction and could not successfully do that. Upon inquiry, our client was informed that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission directed that the said account be frozen. The comprehensive investigation of our client revealed that the purported directive of the EFCC to slam a Post-No-Debit Order against its account was/is not backed by any valid order of any court of competent jurisdiction.

LITIGATION BEFORE THE FCT HIGH COURT:

Arising from the foregoing development, our Client (through VICTOR GIWA, ESQ) promptly instituted an action before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja sitting at Jabi and presided over by the Honourable Justice O.C. AGBAZA in Suit No. FCT/HC/CV/2908/2018 wherein judgment was entered [on Friday, 30th day of November, 2018] in its favour against the EFCC declaring the restrictions on its account unlawful and effectively ordering that all restrictions thereon be lifted peremptorily. For purposes of clarity and completeness, a Certified True Copy of the said RULING/JUDGMENT is hereby attached and marked as ‘Exhibit 1’. Being that the Order of the Court has not been obeyed, our worried client inquired from his erstwhile to find out the reason for the refusal of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to obey the Court Order delivered in his favour, MR. VICTOR GIWA informed our client that the agents of the EFCC are demanding for a whopping 75 Million Naira (75, 000,000.00) which they later increased to the 40 % of the total sum in the company’s account (aggregating to One Hundred Million Naira).

EXTORTION OF OUR CLIENT:

MR. VICTOR GIWA supplied the under-listed account details into which he requested our Client to make the deposits [by executing an IRREVOCABLE STANDING PAYMENT ORDER in favour of the said accounts] in three tranches of Twenty-Five (25) million as follows:
(1) Name: Cikin Gida Nigeria Limited
A/C NO: 1771773211. Bank: Polaris Bank
(2) Name: Amina Kigbu
A/C NO: 2176716071. Bank: Zenith Bank
(3) Name: Black & Black Global Concept Limited
A/C NO: 0259011841. Bank: GTB
It was two (2) days after the refusal of our Client to dance to the unlawful tune of the agents of the EFCC that they now cobbled an amended charge to haul it before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory so as to possibly overbear/crush his will and stampede it into parting with its hard-earned money.

PETITION TO THE HONOURABLE ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF THE FEDERATION:

The above ugly state of affairs necessitated the petition dated the 28th day of August and addressed to the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation calling on him to investigate same. The said petition was equally copied to the Hon. Justice Ayo-Salami led Judicial Commission of Inquiry and same is hereby attached as ‘Exhibit 2’. The two separate audios of 27 and 4 minutes each (whose content were admitted before the Judicial Commission of Inquiry by VICTOR GIWA) are hereby attached and marked as Exhibits 3A & 3B respectively.

THE HEARING BEFORE THE JUDICIAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY:

Following the above, the Hon. Justice Ayo-Salami led Judicial Commission of Inquiry invited our client, we his legal representatives and Victor Giwa, Esq where evidence was taken in the presence of Ibrahim Magu and his Counsel.

Before the Judicial Commission of Inquiry, our client, through the affidavit sworn to by DONALD WOKOMA, tendered various exhibits including two audio recordings (one for 27 minutes and the other for 4 minutes). A copy of the affidavit presented by our client in support of its petition is hereby attached and marked ‘Exhibit 4’. After admitting the exhibits in evidence, the Judicial Commission of Inquiry in the presence of all present played the two recorded audio.

In the 27 minutes audio recorded by our client on the day Barrister Victor Giwa went to collect the 75 Million Naira cheques, he (Giwa) was heard implicating the Former Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu and other staff of the commission in the attempt to extort our client and subsequently write a letter of release to the bank to lift the freezing order on same. After the playing of the audio, the Judicial Commission of Inquiry asked Victor Giwa to identify the voices of the people in the audio, he confirmed and reconfirmed that he was the one talking to our client in the audio on the day he went to collect the cheques of Seventy-Five Million Naira from him. After that hearing, our client has since filed a petition on infamous conducts against Victor Giwa, Esq. with the Nigerian Bar Association. Acknowledgment copy of the said petition dated the 20th day of August, 2020 and addressed to the National President of the NBA is hereby attached and marked as ‘Exhibit 5’.

THE BARRISTER FATIMA HASSAN ANGLE:

Before the Judicial Commission of Inquiry, Barrister Victor Giwa implicated one Barrister Aisha as being the facilitator between himself and the then Director of Operations of the EFCC and that it was the same Barrister Aisha who nominated the bank accounts which he sent to our Client for the payment of the said Seventy-Five Million Naira. With this revelation, the Judicial Commission of Inquiry asked him to call the said Barrister Aisha in the presence of everybody. It was at that point that it was discovered that the Barrister “Aisha” whom Victor Giwa has been mentioning all along is stored in his phone as Fatima who was later discovered to be one Barrister FATIMA HASSAN, someone who our Client has never met in this life (which Victor Giwa confirmed before the Commission of Inquiry). In a strange twist of event,

THE ARREST OF BARRISTERS VICTOR GIWA AND FATIMA HASSAN BY THE EFCC:

Following these damaging and putrid revelations, on the 19th of August, 2020, the said Barrister FATIMA HASSAN and VICTOR GIWA, Esq. were arrested within the premises of the Old Banquet Hall of the Aso Rock Villa, interrogated by the EFCC and later released on bail.

THE THRUST OF THE PETITION:

Under our criminal law, parties to a criminal offence include: the principal offender, accessory before the fact and accessory after the fact. The EFCC having come under suspicion of being one of the parties to this crime (participe criminis) being complained of, the foremost requirement of natural justice which is that a man must never be a judge in his own case often expressed in Latin as: Nemo Judex In Causa Sua makes it absurd that it is the same EFCC trying to investigate/prosecute the crime in which it is entangled.

This comedy of the absurd gravely offends Section 36(1) of our amended 1999 Constitution. We are strongly opposed to the purported interrogation of Barristers VCITOR GIWA AND FATIMA HASSAN by the same Agency and Man implicated in the outrageous crime of extortion as revealed in the audio recordings now part of the material forming the bedrock of the instant petition.

It is said that justice is rooted in confidence and justice must not only be done but seen to be done in all circumstances. We are constrained to ask these questions: (a) where is the justice in allowing the already tainted EFCC and Mr. Mohammed Umar to try BARRISTERS VICTOR GIWA and FATIMA HASSAN? (b) Should Ibrahim Magu and Mr. Mohammed Umar not be taken in for interrogation in the circumstances? (c) Should Barrister FATIMA HASSAN and the owners of the Bank Account numbers she supplied to VICTOR GIWA (which he in turn sent to our Client for the payment of bribe) not be investigated? (d) can there be any unbiased investigation by Mr. Mohammed Umar of these atrocities when the principal actors in this heist have pointing fingers in his direction? (e) Can there be any serious prosecution of BARRISTERS VICTOR GIWA and FATIMA HASSAN by the EFCC where the available hardcore evidence (implicating both Mr. Mohammed Umar and Mr. Ibrahim Magu) would be presented in an open Court? (f) whose interest would be served should Barristers VICTOR GIWA and FATIMA HASSAN be prosecuted by the EFCC under Mr. Mohammed Umar?

SUMMATION:

Allowing the EFCC led by Mr. Mohammed Umar to purport to ‘investigate’ and ‘prosecute’ BARRISTERS VICTOR GIWA AND FATIMA HASSAN in these extremely scandalous circumstances would be a joke carried too far. That would be working towards a pre-determined end. No discerning mind in these perfidious circumstances needs the astrological skills of the legendary Nostradamus to foretell the outcome of such a mockery of justice. It is a clear example of working from the answer to the question. Indeed, a caricature of prosecution will have no better definition! Mr. Mohammed Umar must be told in the clearest of language to stop the charade forthwith! He must not (under no circumstance) be allowed to use the platform of the Judiciary to stage-manage a micromanaged prosecution and pull the wool over the eyes of the discerning members of the Nigerian public.

PRAYERS:

It is in the circumstances as above that we are impelled to table the under-listed entreaties which our Client is convinced would be able to adequately put a damper on its agitations:
i. That your office invites the Acting Chairman of the EFCC for thorough investigation regarding the revelations made in the tapes now attached as Exhibits 3A & 3B alongside Mr. Ibrahim Magu, Barristers Victor Giwa and Fatima Hassan as a matter of urgent national security importance.
ii. That your office follows through with the outcome of your dispassionate investigation so as to ensure that anyone found culpable is given his opportunity in the open Court.
iii. That the banks account listed herein be forensically examined and all the call logs between and among Victor Giwa, Esq., Fatima Hassan, Ibrahim Magu, Amina Kigbu and Mr. MohammedUmar be applied for and obtained from the
telecommunication network providers with a view to ascertaining the frequency and nature of communications between and among all the persons against whom this petition has been brought inclusive of their bank statement of account.

News

The Most Shocking A/Court ‘Judgment’ in Nigerian History: An unfortunate precedent that should not be allowed to stand

Published

6 hours ago

November 30, 2025

milcah

The last is yet to be heard of wide ranging ex-parte orders as this time around, the charade has moved to the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division. In the case of FBN Quest & Another vs. Nestoil & Others, the Court of Appeal’s ex parte orders are not only egregious but a chilling sign of judicial capture, smacking of dirty practices at best and corruption at worst.

On Thursday, 27th November 2025, at exactly 2:00pm, Justice Yargata Nimpar delivered a ‘ruling ’ that appeared like a thief in the night, a ghost and unscheduled, the said decision came upon a Motion Ex-parte which was not heard not argued in open court, yet it surfaced, fully written, signed, stamped, and delivered as though it had lived a full life on the Court of Appeal docket.

For many Nigerians, the judiciary has again weathered the storms. Veterans of the legal system describe this episode as “a daylight heist… a judicial armed robbery without guns.”

The controversies over wide ranging ex-parte applications, it would seem, has found its way to the Court of appeal, an intermediate court with limited original jurisdiction as donated to it by statute.

In this instance, barely two weeks ago, we reported the ex-parte orders against NESTOIL and the other defendants listed in the suit before the Federal High Court which led to the transfer of the suit to another judge.

The said interim orders were vacated by effluxion of time, being that ex-parte orders last for only 14 days.

The court however ordered parties to maintain status quo and adjourned the Motion on Notice for hearing by the consent of the parties. That Motion is still pending before the Federal High Court.

It would seem that in order to frustrate that pending Motion, the Plaintiffs somehow filed a similar application to the Court of Appeal which was granted an order ex-parte directing the Lower Court not to take any further steps, including determining the pending application filed by Plaintiffs (now Appellants).

This magically resurrected, fast-tracked application seem to have been rubber-stamped at the fictional “Appeal Bench of Shadows,” as insiders have begun calling it.

A CASE THAT NEVER EXISTED — YET RECEIVED A JUDGMENT

Our Judiciary correspondent gathered that when the court’s official list for the day was released, nothing seemed amiss. No controversial cases. No unexpected hearings.

But somewhere inside the dusty chambers of bureaucracy, a secret file was already being prepared and by 2pm, a judgment carrying the signatures of an entire appeal panel had surfaced — even though none of them had appeared in open court and when the case itself had never been argued before any High Court, making an appellate ruling legally impossible.

By evening, whispers had turned into rumblings. Court workers who handled the mysterious document reported unusual instructions: No public sitting; No mention on the court list; No access to case filings; No digital record and No audio recording of proceedings. Yet an order was made retrospectively to undo a completed act! which is yet another impossibility in law, because the exparte order cannot restore what has been already executed.

“It was like dealing with a ghost file,” one clerk said. “It appeared from nowhere and disappeared into official archives as though it had always existed.”

This judgment, once delivered, spread like wildfire, with legal scholars calling it “a constitutional impossibility.” Veterans said they had never seen anything similar since the 1970s.

Enquiries from our judiciary correspondents indicate that an application can only be hinged upon a valid Notice of Appeal against a decision of a lower court before any application can be entertained at the Court of Appeal.

Further Investigations by our judiciary correspondent reveals that no such Notice of Appeal has been filed nor served on the respondents; no parties have been invited to Settle Records and no Records of Appeal have been transmitted.

One wonders the platform or upon which grounds the ex-parte order was made, observed one senior lawyer, especially as a similar pending application filed by the Appellants has been adjourned for Hearing by the Federal High Court.

Furthermore, the case at the trial court before Justice Osiagor has not been heard on its merits, which documents was placed before the appellate court and all applications before the judge has not been heard or is the court of appeal now a trial court.

A JUDICIARY AT A CROSSROADS

Public outrage rose quickly. Lawyers described the situation as “a hijacking of justice by shadowy interests.” Civil society groups demanded explanations.

A Judiciary where justice can be manufactured behind closed doors…a legal system where influence not merit, decides outcomes…and an institution tested by the weight of powerful external forces, et cetera should not be allowed to thrive.

AN ERA-DEFINING SCANDAL

This judgement will stand as one of the most dramatic challenges ever faced by Nigeria’s justice system. The shockwaves has rippled far beyond the courtroom — touching politics, business, security agencies, and public trust.

One thing is clear: This is the kind of judicial earthquake that rewrites history, shakes institutions, and forces a nation to confront the truths it fears the most. Our judicial correspondences were able to get an incline of the ex-parte orders made by the Court of Appeal as follows:

AN ORDER of interim restorative injunction reversing all steps taken by the Respondents and/or persons purporting to act on the instructions of the Respondents and which steps or actions were taken pursuant to the order of the Federal High Court coram Osiagor, J made on the 20th day of November 2025 pending the hearing and determination of the Appellants’ Motion on Notice filed on the 26th day of November 2025.
AN ORDER of interim injunction restraining the Respondents, their agents, servants, affiliates, and privies from interfering with and interrupting the Receiver/Manager in the performance of his duties pending the hearing and determination of the Appellants’ Motion on Notice filed on 26th November 2025.
AN ORDER staying further proceedings at the lower court pending the hearing and determination of the Appellants’ Motion on Notice filed on the 26th November 2025.

A SHOCKING DEPARTURE FROM JUDICIAL NORMS

Therefore, the Lagos Court of Appeal’s decision to grant ex parte orders in FBN Quest & Another vs. Nestoil & Others stunned the legal community as ex-parte rulings are meant for rare emergencies and hardly exercised by appellate courts. By acting without hearing both sides, while the matter was already before the Federal High Court, the Court of Appeal has undermined the principle of natural justice and distorted its own role.

NIGERIAN IMAGE AT RISK

At a time when Nigeria is striving to reposition its global reputation, this case sends the wrong message. It portrays the country as one where courts can be hijacked by private interests, where fairness is discarded, and where corruption lurks behind judicial robes. For investors and international partners, it reinforces damaging stereotypes of weak institutions and compromised justice.

AN URGENT CALL FOR INVESTIGATION

These orders are not just irregular — they are evidence of judicial capture. They must be investigated urgently. The Chief Justice of Nigeria, the National Judicial Council, the President of the Court of Appeal and the Nigerian Bar Association cannot remain silent. If appellate courts become arenas for ex-parte adventures, Nigeria’s justice system risks collapse under the weight of manipulation.

CLOSING NOTE

The Court of Appeal’s conduct in FBN Quest & Another vs. Nestoil & Others is more than a misstep, it is a warning sign of judicial capture. If Nigeria is serious about restoring its image and strengthening democracy, this case must be investigated, accountability enforced, and reforms implemented. Anything less would be an abdication of the judiciary’s sacred duty to uphold justice. We must not allow that to happen.
A very Senior lawyer emphasize that the exparte order of the court of appeal lagos division in Nestoil has the possibility of eroding administrative control of Heads of superior Court from assigning or re assigning matters within their respective courts. Furthermore both the President of the Court of Appeal and the Chief Justice of Nigeria may not have the authority to disband a panel and re- constitute another panel over any matter in their respective courts. This decision is a total anarchy to the judiciary and urgent steps must be taken to vacate the strange Court of appeal exparte order.

The conduct of the court of appeal justices is not excusable anywhere in the world and it’s indeed has brought the court of Appeal justices who constituted the panel to ridicule

News

Pius Akutah’s Alleged Fraud at Nigerian Shippers Council Uncovered

Published

2 days ago

November 28, 2025

milcah

Investigations by Nigerian Concord Newspaper reveal that the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers Council, Mr. Pius Akutah, has allegedly misappropriated public funds for a lavish lifestyle.

According to our findings, within months of assuming office, Akutah allegedly purchased a bulletproof SUV valued at approximately N850 million. In addition, he is reported to have acquired over twenty exotic SUVs for use as a convoy.

Akutah is also said to have acquired multiple high-value properties, including three in Abuja’s Maitama and Asokoro districts worth over N2 billion, and two in Lagos’ Banana Island valued at N1.8 billion. These acquisitions appear far beyond the scope of his official salary and allowances.

Further investigation suggests that Akutah may be using public funds to support political ambitions, including allegedly grooming militants across 23 local government areas in Benue State for a potential 2027 gubernatorial bid.

Staff of the Shippers Council reportedly claim that Akutah frequently accesses the council’s treasury without proper authorization. Some insiders have indicated that a petition will soon be filed with the EFCC, ICPC, and the Presidency to report his alleged misconduct.