The Lagos High Court in Ikeja has rejected Mr. Joseph Aloba’s request to overturn the DPP’s legal advice and the subsequent court proceedings that resulted in the release of Naira Marley, Sam Larry, and other individuals on charges of being involved in Mohbad’s death.
In her decision on Wednesday, Justice Taiwo Olatokun ruled that the Attorney General’s authority to decide whether to pursue a case was legitimately exercised.
Justice Olatokun also ruled that the Attorney General’s (interim acting through the DPP) authority could not be challenged, leading to the suspension of the late Mohbad’s father’s legal rights.
The application was rejected by the court.
However, Mr. Joseph Aloba, who was present in court today along with some other Late Mohbad supporters, was unhappy with the decision.
Wahab Shittu, the applicant’s attorney and senior advocate of Nigeria, said his client was prepared to test the decision on appeal despite the DPP’s refusal to comment on it.
Background
The Aloba family’s attorney general and the DPP, who are listed as the respondents, are the defendants in the lawsuit that the applicant, Mr. Joseph Aloba, filed on behalf of.
One of the arguments used by the applicant was a lack of fair hearing, according to Shittu, the applicant’s attorney.
The coroner’s inquest, which had not yet finished its investigation into the cause of the late Mohbad, was pre-empted by Mr. Aloba’s claim that the DPP’s legal advice, which freed the duo of Naira Marley and Sam Larry, had already taken place.
He noted that the DPP’s legal counsel had freed important suspects who had been named and charged with the coroner’s case.
Ayinde Ibrahim, a legal assistant in the DPP’s office, claimed in their counter affidavit that, contrary to Mohbad’s father’s claim, the suspects who received legal advice were only discharged after being found guilty.
The respondents traced the steps involved in getting the DPP’s legal advice, the DPP’s role, and the kind of information that the DPP, the Coroner, and the applicant had access to while asking the court to reject Mr. Mohbad’s application in the name of justice.
