News
Judge declines to recuse herself from ex-ministers libel suit
Justice Keziah Ogbonnaya of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, on Monday, refused to recuse herself from a libel suit filed by a former Nigerian foreign affairs minister, Geoffrey Onyeama.
In the said suit, Onyeama claimed that a career ambassador in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lillian Onoh, who is also a sister to his former wife, for libel, allegedly defamed him in a series of memos she sent to him while he was the minister.
But in the middle of the proceedings, Mrs. Onoh accused the trial judge of bias against her and urged her to hand off the case and return the case file to the Chief Judge for reassignment to another judge.
When the matter resumed on Monday, counsel to Mrs Onoh, Richard Aneke, asked the judge to recuse herself from the case based on his client’s instruction.
Aneke drew Justice Ogbonnaya’s attention to a pending petition before the Chief Judge of the FCT High Court, seeking a reassignment of the case to another judge.
Ms Onoh also petitioned the National Judicial Council (NJC), asking it to carry out disciplinary against the judge for being overtly partial in her handling of the suit.
Mrs Onoh’s grouse with the judge is that she hails from Enugu State, where Mr Onyeama comes from.
The defendant also argued that the claimant had hatched a plan with the judge to rob her of justice.
But in her ruling on Monday, Justice Ogbonnaya said she was assigned the suit by the Chief Judge of the FCT High Court, Hussein Baba-Yusuf.
The defendant had accused Mr. Onyeama of influencing the transfer of the case from Eleojo Enenche to Justice Ogbonnaya, to get a favourable decision.
“No judge assigns cases himself, it is the Chief Judge of the FCT High Court that assigns cases. It is the same Chief Judge that tells a judge to stop hearing a particular case.
“Unless and until the Chief Judge sends a copy of the petition to me for response, this case will go on.
“Since the Chief Judge has not ordered for the reassignment of this case, this matter shall continue in this court. That is the order of this court,” Justice Ogbonnaya explained.
Acknowledging the presence of journalists at the proceedings, the judge advised Mr Aneke and “emissaries in the courtroom” to convey the court’s order to Ms Onoh.
“The emissaries take this message to her that this court has ordered that this matter shall go on and this judge will not recuse herself. She did not assign the case to me. This matter shall continue to go,” Justice Ogbonnaya said.
Onyeama’s lawyer expresses shock over petition
Mr Onyeama who served in former President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime for nearly eight years attended Monday’s proceedings.
His lawyer, Agada Elachi, expressed surprise at Ms Onoh’s allegation of bias against the judge.
“I am shocked to hear this from the defense lawyer. It is within counsel’s right to say what he has said, but the purported petition in its entirety is based on hearsay,” Mr Elachi, a SeniorAdvocate of Nigeria (SAN) said.
He said the defendant had never witnessed the judge conduct proceedings in the case.
“She has never had any opportunity of witnessing my lord conduct proceedings to show that this court is biased.”
Mr Elachi argued that there was no legal basis for Justice Ogbonnaya to recuse herself from continuing to hear the case.
He further contended that Ms Onoh’s petition was “a ploy to frustrate the hearing of this matter.”
While acknowledging that it was within the Chief Judge’s purview to consider the petition, Mr Elachi contended that “there is no law that requires my lord to stop proceedings in this matter.
“We urge the court to continue with the proceedings pending when the truth of this petition will be unravelled,” Elachi said.
Monday’s hearing was earlier fixed for the adoption of final written addresses, signalling the end of the suit before judgement is handed down.
But the defence lawyer informed the court of pending requests bothering on extension of time to file Ms Onoh’s defence statement out of time and to allow her testify before the judge via Zoom.
Thereafter, Mr Aneke said he could no longer continue with the case because of Ms Ogbonnaya’s refusal to withdraw from the matter.
Subsequently, the judge asked Mr Aneke if he was abandoning his client’s pending applications, which he said no.
“I have my client’s instruction not to proceed with the case, should my lord refuse to recuse herself from the matter. Regarding the motions, I am not abandoning my motions,” Mr Aneke said.
In his response to the issue, Mr Elachi, prayed the court to dismiss the applications on account of Mr Aneke’s intention to withdraw from the case.
In another short ruling, Justice Ogbonnaya said the “pending motions are deemed to have been moved” by Mr Aneke despite his fierce objection to the judge’s continued handling of the case.
“It is the view of this court that since the motions are before the court, the court deems them moved by the 1st defendant’s counsel,” the judge said.
The judge went to reject Mr Aneke’s request for an adjournment to enable him confer with Ms Onoh concerning the application for recusal which the judge declined.
Mr Elachi had sought a N50,000 fine against Mr Aneke for seeking an adjournment.
He said he would only agree for an adjournment if the judge adjourned until Thursday, December 14, which the judge reversed herself, and adjourned the case.
…Mbah: Enugu has a lot of success stories to tell in 3 years
Enugu State has shone brilliantly at the BusinessDay States Competitiveness and Investment Readiness Awards (SCIRA) 2025, carting home the Infrastructure Development Competitiveness Award and Outstanding Performance in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) Award.
Governor Peter Mbah, represented by the Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Engr. Ben Okoh and the Executive Chairman, Enugu State Internal Revenue Service (ESIRS), Mr. Emmanuel Nnamani, received the awards on behalf of the state government in Abuja, Thursday night.
Presenting the awards, the Publisher/CEO of BusinessDay Media Limited, said Governor Mbah had impacted public infrastructure in a way that goes beyond just playing politics.
“In the last six months, I have had the opportunity of travelling to Enugu three times. The first time I visited in January, my taxi driver was eager to take me around. That caught my imagination. I began to ask questions and I began to look around.
“One thing I found especially quite interesting was that Governor Mbah did not set aside everything that he met, which could have been a waste of public resources. He looked at what is good and he rebuilt them; the ones that were not completed, he completed them.
“Two things that struck me because I had to ask a question, where does he get the money? I saw good roads, and I don’t mean good roads in the major highways, I mean good roads even in the communities that are far away from the prime areas of the state capital, Enugu.
“I thought that that is a very good example of a private sector person, who knows what to do with resources, because if you use resources well, you get more from little and that is what the governor has done. And for that, Governor Mbah is receiving this award. He has impacted public infrastructure in a way that goes beyond just playing politics,” he stated.
Speaking, Engr. Okoh thanked BusinessDay for recognising the Mbah Administration’s efforts at rewriting the narrative of the state, stressing that Enugu had a lot of success stories to tell in just three years.
He, however, described the awards as a motivation to do more, noting, “as the governor always says, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Okoh went on to reel out some of the achievements of the administration, saying that “Enugu State has witnessed an unprecedented infrastructural revolution, the type we have never seen since the advent of this present democracy in 1999.”
“Projects that were inherited even from governments that left office in 2007- for instance, the International Conference Centre, Mbah has completed it. Hotel Presidential, the flagship hotel of the old Eastern Region, and the Nigergas Company, which has remained moribund for over 30 years, have been revived.
“Being the commissioner for Works and Infrastructure in the state, I can stand here confidently to say that no government since 1999 achieved what Governor Mbah has achieved in three years.
“I can say that in terms of road construction, in just three years, we have done far more than double what any other government did in eight years. No government in Enugu since 1999 did up to 600Km of roads in eight years.
“Under Governor Mbah, we have 267 smart schools across the state and 260 Primary Healthcare Centres to our credit.
“We are developing the New Enugu City, a world-class smart city. The present Enugu City is about 14,000 hectares, while the New City is approximately 10,000 hectares. To put this in perspective, the New Enugu City is almost the same size as Paris, Milan or Barcelona, making it one of the largest planned urban developments in Africa.
The New Enugu City is also larger than Manchester or the entire Phase One of the Federal Capital City, Abuja, which comprises the districts of Asokoro, Maitama, Maitama Extension, Wuse I (Zone 1 – 7), Wuse II, Garki I (Area 1 – 11), Garki II, the Central Business District, Three Arms Zone, Guzape I, and Guzape II.
This is the first time a state in Nigeria would be undertaking an integrated infrastructure development, which is what we have in the FCT where all the facilities in the modern city are underground, and telecommunications lines- the fibre optics, the electrical cables, water pipes, everything is underground. It is not just a vision; the projects are already ongoing.
“There is no particular sector that Governor Peter Ndubuisi Mbah has not touched, be it tourism, security, agriculture, education or even transport sector where the administration floated Enugu Air, built five ultramodern transport terminals and launched over 150 CNG buses,” he said.
It is also recalled that the Mbah Administration has disrupted the state’s IGR space, where he used reforms and technology to grow the state’s IGR exponentially from N26.8bn in 2022 to N37.4bn in 2023, N180.5bn in 2024, and N406.7bn in 2025, with tax revenue accounting for just N51.5bn or 12.6 per cent of the 2025 IGR proceeds.
Meanwhile, BusinessDay is Nigeria’s leading business newspaper and the SCIA recognises and celebrates states that have demonstrated exceptional performance in governance, economic development, infrastructure delivery, investment promotion, and the creation of an enabling environment for businesses and citizens to thrive.
A legal practitioner, Barrister Chinedu Ifeanyi Iloeje, has publicly declared that a man previously believed to be his son is not biologically related to him, following the outcome of a DNA test.
In a public notice published in a newspaper, Iloeje stated that he was allegedly misled by the man’s mother into believing that the individual, identified as Chinedu Francis Iloeje, was his biological son.
According to the notice, DNA testing conducted on the matter established “beyond any doubt” that the man is not his son.
The lawyer further clarified that he never legally adopted the individual, despite the latter bearing the name Chinedu Francis Iloeje.
Disclaimer
Barrister Iloeje explained that the man’s original name is Chinedu Francis Onwualu and stressed that he has no legal or biological relationship with him.
The notice also informed members of the public, the Greater Iloeje Family, the Umuodu Village Union, Uwani Amokwe Town Union, St. Theresa’s Catholic Church Amokwe, Udi Local Government Council, and other stakeholders of his declaration.
He stated that the disclaimer was made in good faith and while of sound mind, urging the public to take note of the clarification.
The publication has sparked discussions on paternity disputes and the increasing reliance on DNA testing to resolve questions of biological parentage.
Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) in the forthcoming 2027 general election, Mr. Peter Obi, has donated N10 million to assist in the renovation of the burnt Mother of Christ Specialist Hospital, Enugu State.
The former Anambra State governor handed over the cheque for the donation to the hospital management team when he visited the hospital yesterday.
The hospital belongs to the Reverend Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of the Catholic Church.
Mr Peter Obi inspecting the burnt hospital
Addressing the hospital management team after inspecting parts of the burnt hospital, the NDC presidential candidate commended them for their efforts in contributing to healthcare delivery services.
Telling them that even though they might feel that they were not being appreciated for what they were doing, Obi, however, described healthcare delivery services and education as among the “most critical needs of society” and urged them not to relent in what they were doing.
Accompanied during the visit by his Chief of Staff, Commissioner for Housing, as well as Special Adviser on Media when he was Anambra State governor, Prof. Stella Okunna, Prof. Patrick Obi, and Dr. Valentine Obienyem respectively, Obi assured the hospital management team that he would continue to support them.
Part of the hospital gutted by the inferno and inspected by Obi was the Children’s Ward.
Expressing gratitude on behalf of the hospital management, the Chief Medical Director of Immaculate Heart Hospital, Nkpor, Anambra State, Rev. Sister Dr. Maria Nkiruka Okafor, eulogised Obi for his sacrifices and selfless contributions to humanity.
Disclosing that Obi had already credited the hospital’s accountant with the N10 million donation and that he was even the person who called her to inform her that he had received the sad news of the inferno and promised to donate towards the renovation, Rev. Sister Okafor described him as a rare politician.
She prayed that God would grant him his ambition to become President of the country and enable him to achieve his desire to transform it.
-
News3 days agoLondon court acquits Alison-Madueke of all corruption charges
-
International3 days ago
$300bn reconstruction aid, sanctions lift’ – US-Iran MoU details emerge
-
News1 day ago
Retired Generals raise alarm over insecurity, say govt must be proactive
-
News23 hours ago
Obi donates N10 million to burnt hospital in Enugu
-
News1 day ago
FG, Enugu State target direct China-Enugu Cargo flights by December – Keyamo
-
News3 days ago
My name has been cleared, says Alison-Madueke after London Jury acquits her of corruption charges
-
News2 days ago
Shocking! Vandals excavate, steal 3km of Port Harcourt–Kaduna Pipeline after spending months in South-East forest
-
News1 day ago
IPoB reshuffles leadership as Nnamdi Kanu dissolves DoS
