Bench warrant: Lagos govt wades in Ibeto’s case

The Lagos State government has intervened in the case of industrialist Cletus Ibeto and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before a Lagos High Court.

A letter dated December 4, 2023 and signed by the state Director of Public Prosecutions, Babajide Martins on behalf of the Attorney General of the State and Commissioner for Justice, was sent to the registrar of Justice O. Ogala’s court notifying them of the take over the case with number ID/2149C/2023.

The letter reads, “I am directed to notify the honourable court that pursuant to Section 211 (1)(b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), the honourable Attorney General of Lagos State shall take over proceedings in the afore-referenced matter.”

Ibeto’s lawyers had petitioned the state government after the court on November 3 issued a bench warrant against him for non-appearance in the 10-count allegations of fraud against him.

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Some human rights lawyers had also asked the EFCC to review their prosecution of the land dispute because it was not criminal in nature.

In a statement, Samuel Nwadigo, Aseikomo Oteiku, Stephen Ogbe and Peter Ugwoke said the latest issuance of a bench warrant on November 3 by a Lagos High Court in Ikeja against Ibeto was criminalising a civil transaction.

They said the certified true copies of the documents and a judgement in a civil suit before a Rivers State High Court shows that sometime between 2016 and 2017, Sir Daniel Chukwudozie reached an agreement with Chief Ibeto to purchase a portion of his land located in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, and made partial payments over a period of 18 months, and could not complete the payment before the disagreement.

The lawyers said rather than comply with the court order or conclude his pending appeals in the matter, Chukwudozie petitioned the EFCC, which filed a 10-count charge of N4.8 billion fraud against Ibeto outside the jurisdiction of the matter.