Francesca Hangeior

Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has stepped down from a case involving suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.

Justice Egwuatu was assigned to hear the suit, but on Tuesday, he announced that he would no longer handle the matter.

He made this decision after Senate President Godswill Akpabio wrote a petition questioning his impartiality.

Although the case was scheduled for hearing, when the court clerk called it up, the judge ruled that he was stepping aside.

He said he would return the case file to the Chief Judge, who would assign it to another judge.

On March 4, Justice Egwuatu issued an interim order stopping the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges, and Public Petitions from proceeding with disciplinary actions against Akpoti-Uduaghan.

She was accused of violating Senate rules.

The judge ruled that the disciplinary process should not continue until the case was decided.

He also gave the defendants 72 hours to explain why the court should not stop them from investigating the senator without following the rules laid out in the 1999 Constitution, the Senate Standing Order 2023, and the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges) Act.

Justice Egwuatu allowed the senator to serve legal documents on the defendants using substituted means.

The court ordered that the documents be given to the Clerk of the National Assembly or pasted at the National Assembly premises.

They were also to be published in two national newspapers.

The interim order came after the senator filed an urgent application.

However, despite the court’s ruling, the Senate Committee still held its meeting and suspended her for six months.

Later, after the defendants applied, Justice Egwuatu amended his earlier order.

He removed the part that prevented the Senate from taking any action while the case was ongoing.

Meanwhile, Akpabio’s legal team, led by Kehinde Ogunwumiju, questioned the court’s authority to interfere in Senate affairs.

Liberian President Joseph Boakai is facing a $10m lawsuit filed before the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice in Abuja, Nigeria.

The suit alleges his involvement in the unlawful suspension and character assassination of Liberia’s Director General of the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority, Ms. Emma Glassco.

The lawsuit claims that in February, President Boakai arbitrarily suspended Glassco over alleged “financial inefficiency.”

The Republic of Liberia is named as the sole respondent in the suit.

Filed on Monday, March 14, 2025, and marked ECW/CCJ/APP/19/25, the lawsuit was submitted by Glassco’s legal team, led by former Chief Justice of Liberia Kabineh Ja’nneh, and attorney Sayma Cephus.

The suit argues that Glassco’s suspension violated due process.

Glassco further asserts that she was never investigated or found guilty by any anti-corruption agency in Liberia.

However, she alleges that her reputation was tarnished by the suspension, which she contends was carried out without legal procedures.

She claims that the decision portrayed her as a person lacking integrity.

“The applicant states that the respondent has subjected her to public humiliation, harassment, and intimidation, far beyond any treasonable offense. The respondent instructed nearly all state institutions to conduct criminal investigations, attempting to incriminate her and justify the illegal suspension,” the suit reads.

Among her demands, Glassco is seeking $10m in compensation for the emotional and psychological trauma, public humiliation, false stigmatisation, and ongoing harassment she claims to have endured.

She also requests special damages totaling at least $175,000 to cover the unexpired portion of her four-year contract, which she argues has caused unnecessary financial hardship for her and her family.

Glassco also seeks a declaration from the court that the respondent’s actions were illegal and in violation of Liberia’s tenure laws, which resulted in significant harm to her professional standing and psychological well-being. She is requesting at least $5m in compensation for these damages.

Additionally, Glassco demands a public apology from President Boakai, which should be published in all major newspapers, aired on radio and television, and displayed on Liberia’s official government website.

She asserts that this is necessary to repair the damage done to her reputation, which was unjustly tarnished by false allegations of corruption and the baseless investigations that followed.

Glassco further seeks $250,000 in litigation costs to be paid by the respondent.

The applicant also notes that she has twelve months remaining on her contract, which was prematurely terminated, and that her salary and allowances have been suspended.

As of now, no date has been set for the hearing of the case.

A truck loaded with food items, including oil and sugar, intended for the Muslim community’s Iftar distribution in northern Nigeria, was hijacked in Gombe State.

According to the Public Relations Officer of the Gombe Police Command, DSP Buhari Abdullahi, the hijacking took place after the initial offloading of the items, leading to public panic about the whereabouts of the remaining supplies.

In an interview with Punch on Monday, Abdullahi explained that the truck, which was carrying foodstuffs donated by Seyi Tinubu for distribution during the Ramadan fasting period, had already delivered around 90% of the goods at the All Progressives Congress (APC) secretariat. The remaining items were being transported to another location when the hijacking occurred.

“The truck was carrying Seyi Tinubu’s foodstuffs meant for Iftar. “Unfortunately, there wasn’t any security involvement until the situation escalated, and we realized something was wrong,” Abdullahi said.

The police responded to the situation promptly and invited the truck driver for questioning. The driver confirmed that the supplies were meant for Gombe State and explained that he had already delivered the bulk of the items before the hijacking.

Abdullahi emphasized the need for proper security measures when distributing such items, noting that crowd management should involve police personnel to prevent incidents like this from occurring.

“The ideal situation is that whenever you want to distribute items, security personnel should be engaged for crowd control.

“Unfortunately, we were not informed about the distribution until the truck was hijacked, and by then, people had begun to panic, leading to the situation,” Abdullahi said.