Judge berates Evans' lawyer, fines him N20K
The lawyer who sued the Inspector General of Police on behalf of the arrested kidnap kingpin has been fined by a judge.
The Guardian reports that aside the tongue lashing Ogungbeje has from a Federal High Court judge, Abdulaziz Anka, he was also told to pay a fine of N20,000 for wasting the court's time.
Ogungbeje, claiming to be representing Evans who has been in detention since he was arrested on June 10, 2017, the lawyer had sued the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, and the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Lagos State Police Command, for allegedly infringing on his fundamental human rights.
Ogungbeje had urged the court to mandate the police to either charge the suspect to a court or to release him as he was being detained illegally, and also wanted the police to pay the suspected kidnap kingpin the sum of N300 million.
However, on the date assigned to the case, the lawyer failed to appear in court and instead wrote to the judge requesting for an adjournment because he was sick and needed to treat himself.
The action of Ogungbeje was said to have angered Justice Anka, a vacation judge who was warned never to waste the time of courts as he was always doing with frivolous cases and desist from acts unbecoming of a legal practitioner.
Justice Anka also awarded the N20,000 against him for what he described as unprofessional conduct.
It was noted that the lawyer also failed to send a copy of the letter to the police counsel, Emmanuel Eze, who was in court on the day.
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