…Says court affirmed ex-Minister as ‘Ministry of Foreign Affairs‘

A former career diplomat with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, former Head of Mission in Jamaica and onetime High Commissioner in Namibia, Amb. Lilian Onoh has sent a strongly worded petition to the Chief Judge of the High Court of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), alleging that a judge, Justice Keziah Ogbonnaya, has refused to release the certified true copy of the judgment she delivered in an action instituted against her (Amb. Onoh) by the former minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama.

She also alleged that Justice Keziah Ogbonnaya delivered her judgment and recognised Geoffrey Onyeama as “the Ministry of Foreign Affairs” – in “a landmark ruling with both domestic and international implications, and which will make Nigeria a global laughing stock for years to come.”

The petitioner also accused the judge of judicial misconduct, bias, corruption just as she alleged that the judge (Ogbonnaya) issued a death threat against her and journalists covering the court proceedings in the libel case instituted by Onyeama.

Ambassador Onoh further accused Justice
Ogbonnaya of a sustained pattern of hostility, including refusal to hear pre-trial motions, imposing “arbitrary fines payable only in cash without receipts” and compelling her to bear the full cost of electronic facilities and diesel required to participate in her own defense via Zoom from the United States.

“This was not only a violation of my fundamental rights but blatant judicial corruption,” she stated.

The 30-page petition reads in part:

“On 4th June 2025, Justice Keziah Ogbonnaya delivered her judgment and recognised
Geoffrey Onyeama as the MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS – a landmark ruling with both domestic and international implications and which will make Nigeria a global laughing stock for years to come.

“The immediate international ramification of the judgment is that all diplomatic missions in Nigeria and abroad, the United Nations, World Bank etc would need to acknowledge that Geoffrey Onyeama is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nigeria. On the domestic front, it immediately erases the actual administrative institution known as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and the President of Nigeria, the National Assembly, Central Bank of Nigeria, all Nigeria’s 109 diplomatic Missions etc. would also need to acknowledge this legal status as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs granted Geoffrey Onyeama by Justice Keziah Ogbonnaya . This judgment not only ridicules Nigeria, it raises questions about the vetting of the credentials of those appointed as judges in Nigeria.

“I previously lodged a complaint to you, the Chief Judge of the FCT, about acts of bias,
misconduct, personal vitriolic attacks and abuse of process and power by Justice Keziah
Ogbonnaya during the initial phase of this trial in November 2023; in particular, her refusal
to hear my pre-trial Motions to Dismiss the case on multiple procedural grounds, including lack of personal jurisdiction; and her decision denying me the right to defend myself before attempting to deliver judgment on 11th December 2023. She declared that she would
address these motions only AFTER the conclusion of the case, during her judgment, in contravention of all known legal systems in the world. Indeed, that is exactly what she did.

“However, in retaliation for my writing a petition to you – a petition which was widely
reported in Nigeria and which forced Justice Ogbonnaya to allow me to testify via zoom in accordance with the 2023 Evidence Act – Justice Ogbonnaya did the unthinkable. At the next court sitting on 11th January 2024, she issued a death threat to me and all the
journalists in court that were covering her unethical conduct of the trial and said:
“WHOEVER WRITES WHAT IS NOT TRUE AGAINST ME WILL DIE.”
(Please see attached report from Premium Times, 11th January 2024; and Twitter posts by Prof. Chidi Odinkalu and Aisha Yesufu).

“Nobody had lied against her. She was the liar who repeatedly abused me and my
family as well as my lawyers from her bench and did not like her atrocious conduct
reported, hence her murder threat to me and the journalists in court for reporting her
conduct.

“Despite the wide media coverage given this death threat by a sitting judge, neither
your office nor the National Judicial Council (NJC) or even the Inspector General of Police
took any action against Judge Keziah Ogbonnaya for this felony which is clearly spelt out under Section 327 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act and which carries up to 7 years’

“In a further act of retaliation, Justice Ogbonnaya forced me to pay for the right to
defend myself by insisting that only I bear the cost of providing the electronic equipment
not just for my own testimony but also for the testimony and cross examination of Geoffrey
Onyeama and his witness, costing me millions of Naira at the 2023-early 2024 exchange rate of USDl to NGNSS0-730. Furthermore, she insisted that in order for me to defend myself, I had to pay thousands of Naira for diesel for each court sessions, IN CASH, without any treasury receipts given. That is corruption.

“She also imposed arbitrary fines of hundreds of thousands of Naira on me, which I
had to pay in cash, before being allowed to defend myself. No single treasury receipt was ever issued to me, even though these fines are in the court record of proceedings. That is corruption.”

Ambassador Onoh said that the entire
trial process was laced with personal vendetta and abuse of judicial office, and calls for an immediate suspension of the judgment, an investigation into the judge’s conduct, and urgent release of the judgment transcript.

She also expressed fears for her safety, linking the case to an alleged attempt on her life in 2021, which she suspected could be as a result of the pending case.

Onoh disclosed that she has forwarded the petition to the Inspector General of Police, the Attorney General of the Federation, and diplomatic missions including the embassies of the United States, Switzerland, and the European Union.

“I absolutely refuse to join this judicial absurdity that seeks to transform a man into an institution and punish me for telling the truth,” concludes Ambassador Onoh,  a career diplomat who served Nigeria for three decades, including as Ambassador to Jamaica and High Commissioner to Namibia.

Justice Ogbonnaya could not be reached for her reaction to the fresh petition by press time on Thursday just as The Advocate could not ascertained from the FCT Chief Jusge’s office if any action has been taken on the latest petition sent to him.