A Federal High Court in Benin, Edo State, yesterday sentenced the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Dr. Osagie Obayuwana, to one month in jail for contempt in a case pending against him before the court.
Justice Adamu Hobon, who sentenced Obayuwana, had last week adjourned till yesterday, for the hearing of committal proceedings and expressed concern over Obayuwana’s continued absence in court despite an earlier order directing him to appear in person over the case.
The court then ordered the Commissioner of Police to execute the bench warrant by effecting Obayuwana’s arrest. However, when the case came up for hearing,? Obayuwana who was present in court could not escape the court order as he was ordered remanded in prison custody.
The committal proceedings were brought against the Attorney-General and the State Secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria, A C N, Chief Osaro Idah, by the Churchgate Industries Limited over the State
Government’s alleged refusal to obey an injunction given against it in 2003 by the Federal High Court, Benin City.
The court had, after hearing a case by Churchgate, restrained the government from interfering with the management of Bendel Brewery Limited constituted by Churchgate, which was then the core investor as a result of a privatisation agreement between the State and Churchgate in 1992.
The injunction of the Federal High Court was later upheld by the Court of Appeal, Benin on October 17, 2006, which dismissed the appeal filed by the government for lacking in merit.