Lakeshaw Attorneys

Nigeria is a multi-religious nation with as many religions as there are tribes. Research shows that there are at least 200 tribes in Nigeria. It follows then that at least there are at least 200 religions in this country. For all these tribes to be able to live as one and in peace and to have progress, the people of Nigeria decided and agreed that the Nation and states therein "shall not" adopt any religion as "state religion". Chapter IV of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (As amended), particularly section 10 provides thus:  "The Government of the Federation or of a State shall not adopt any religion as State Religion.” Just as the Hausa, Yoruba and Ibo are the major tribes in Nigeria, Christianity and Islam are the major religions in Nigeria. Now, there will always be majority and minority. And as we see every now and then, those in the majority do always and usually dominate over the minorities. Just as it is not in the Constitution

Until the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 (ACJA) was passed into la w, it was the norm that upon an appeal being entered at the Appellate Court, the trial court ought to pend proceedings upon an application from the Appellant or upon being notified by the Appellant. Although an appeal on it own does not constitute a stay, it is desirable that the trial court stay proceedings upon becoming aware of the appeal in order to avoid a situation of conflicting decision which probably could render the decision of the Appellate court useless and nugatory. This was the position in both criminal and civil litigations. S. 306 of the ACJA, 2015 states thus: "An application for stay of proceedings in respect of a criminal matter before the court shall not be entertained." The provision of the above section is pari materia with the provisions of the ACJL in the States of the Federation where the ACJA has been domesticated. There are lots of assumptions on what this section of th

  Service of originating court processes (court processes) is one of the factors that confers jurisdiction on the court to entertain or sit on a matter. Failure to serve a process on the other party will strip the court of the jurisdiction to hear and determine a matter no matter how meritorious.  There are two ways by which service of court processes may be effected. Firstly, personally. And the second is by substituted means.  To effect a proper service, a party must be served the originating process personally, that is in person. However, where it happens that the defendant cannot be served personally, the party who wants to serve him can serve him by substituted means after obtaining the leave of court to so serve him.  The list of service by substituted means is without end. Basically, it depends on the facts surrounding how best the person to be served will come to know about the pending matter in court. The Rules of various courts in Nigeria makes provision for substituted servi

Adedapomola G. Lawal, Esq INTRODUCTION : In the state where I practice law, it has become a routine that everyday there must be at least 10 people at the court to get orders for reversal of funds which were fraudulently transferred from their account to other accounts in the same or other banks. The story is usually the same, upon presenting the orders to the bank, there will be no money in the account to satisfy the amount in the order. Anytime I happen to be in court when these people come for the order, I usually ask the same question which is "Hope your bank has contacted the beneficiary bank so that they can lien the account?" And the answer is usually NO. WHY? I ask. Then they say, "we are required to come with a court order before our bank can do that." And I will be like 😲.  In my jurisdiction, when you are defrauded in this way, you can say goodbye to your money. Sadly, before you can get the order for reversal your money will be gone.🙁 This made me c

Service of court processes is fundamental to the jurisdiction of the court. Thus before a court can exercise jurisdiction over a matter, it must be satisfied by credible evidence that the opposing party has been served with the process initiating the matter or cause. Failure to serve the process on the other party(ies) constitute a clog in the wheel of the jurisdiction of the court. Due to the current corona virus pandemic and in order to keep the wheel of justice moving unimpeded, efficiently, speedily and to safeguard the health and lives of members of the Bench and judiciary staff and members of the Bar and other court users , the Kwara State High Court has issued a Practice Direction titled "Kwara State High Court Practice Direction No. 1 of 2020". The Direction has five (5) Items bordering on applicability, filing and service of processes, obtaining new dates for pending cases, admittance of persons to court premises/court rooms and physical court sittings. However, on

The provisions of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria are sacred and as such they must be complied with and every institution must conform to its provisions. Furthermore, every law made in Nigeria must be in conformity to the provisions of the constitution and any law made that is contrary to the constitution is void to the extent of its inconsistency. In 2015, as a way of reviewing the already existing legal framework for criminal prosecution in Nigeria, the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 (the Act) was passed into law by the National Assembly. Among the provisions of the Act is a part dedicated to Detention Time Limits (Remand Proceedings) covering from sections 293 to 299. Subsequent to the passage of the Act in 2015, the Act has been domesticated by many states of the federation with some modifications. However, the provisions of the Act and the laws of the states on remand proceedings remain substantially the same though the titles for this part h