A Lagos-based businessman and hotelier, Hassan Alli, has opposed the attempt by the Lagos Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Lawal Pedro (SAN), to withdraw a criminal charge filed by his office against one Moroof Owonla, also known as Kaka Moroof, over alleged felony and malicious damages.
The Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) arraigned Owonla and two others before Justice Adenike Coker of the Lagos State High Court in Ikeja over allegations of land-grabbing.
The DPP had filed an eight-count charge against Owonla and his co-defendants, Olu-Aminu Yemisi Abdulaziz and Ganiyu Amin, over an alleged conspiracy to commit a felony.
They allegedly forcefully entered a property at No 34, Faguson Osagie Street, Ayobo, Lagos, carting away building materials valued at N30 million.
However, after several adjournments, the defendant failed to appear before the court to take their plea, prompting Justice Coker to issue a bench warrant for their arrest on April 25, 2024.
But, in a surprise move, the Director of Public Prosecution, Jide Martins, who had earlier issued legal advice indicting and recommending the defendants for trial, filed a notice of discontinuance of the case on behalf of the attorney general.
In the notice copied to the inspector general of police and the court, Martins said the decision to withdraw the charge against the defendants was based on fresh facts recently discovered in the case.
The Ministry of Justice’s letter dated May 21, 2024, addressed to the IGP, Force CID Admin Team 6, Abuja, and signed on behalf of the attorney general and commissioner for justice, stated that the ministry arrived at its decision to charge Owonla based on wrong information.
“From the foregoing, the only legal conclusion is that the Defendant has a valid right of claim on the land by virtue of the judgement and execution of the same which have not been set aside,” said the letter. “Therefore, the defendants have no case to answer for any alleged occupation of the land at any time after the judgement and execution.”
However, Alli described the move as Pedro’s alleged ploy to deny him justice. He claimed Pedro was a lawyer to Owonla before he became the attorney general.
Alli also claimed that the development demonstrated Pedro’s alleged bias in the matter because the former Attorney General, Moyosore Onigbajo (SAN), during his tenure, approved the defendants’ trial after the office of the DPP reviewed the police report and other supporting facts.
The complainant showed a letter written by Pedro’s chamber relating to a land matter involving Owonla, which bolstered his position on bias.
He alleged that rather than present the defendants in court, the new attorney general initiated a meeting which he tagged ‘Restorative Justice Meeting’ against arraigning Moroof Owonla and his co-defendants in court.
Alli added, “I am indeed shocked to know that the judiciary has become so weak and predictable by non-state actors like Moroof Owonla, who continue to perpetrate criminality and boast of his connections with people in authority, which is not healthy for Nigeria’s judicial system and the justice sector.
“I demand justice from all government agencies, all authorities in Nigeria, all well-meaning Nigerians who are in one way or the other affiliated to the justice delivery system in Nigeria including the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Lagos State House of Assembly Justice Committee, Federal House of Representative, Senate Committee on Justice, National Judicial Commission (NJC), Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).”
He, therefore, sought the intervention of “all lovers of justice” to wade into this case to avert injustice kindly being meted out on me by improper discontinuance of the criminal infraction occasioned against my person by Moroof Owonla, “who is boasting of his strong connection with the attorney general of Lagos.”
“If this type of evil and injustice is allowed to have its way with me, it could also be the turn of any law-abiding citizens of Nigeria tomorrow,” Alli said.
