Th e Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, has adjourned till July 27 the N300million fundamental rights enforcement suit fi led against the Inspector-General of Police by suspected kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, popularly known as Evans When the matter came up, Justice Chuka Obiozor adjourned the suit after declining to entertain the case on the basis that the defendant’s lawyer, Olukoya Ogungbeje, had yet to pay the punitive cost of N20, 000 awarded against him.
At the last adjourned date, the judge noted that while Ogungbeje wrote to the court, seeking an adjournment on the grounds of ill health, he did not send a copy of the letter to counsel to the police. According to the judge, it is unprofessional for a lawyer to communicate with a judge without carrying the other parties along. Justice Abdulaziz Anka, who awarded the punitive cost against Ogungbeje on July 13, had said the lawyer would not be given audience in court until he paid the N20, 000 to the police for failing to inform them of his absence in court at the last sitting Counsel to the Commissioner of Police in Lagos, Effi ong Asuquo, noted that Ogungbeje gave him a post-dated cheque for N20, 000 but he rejected it, as it was not the order of the court. Justice Obiozor agreed with the police lawyer and directed Ogungbeje to comply with the order and pay up the cost awarded against him.
