Lagos Attorney General’s Withdrawal of Criminal Trial of Owonla Perversion of Justice: Petitioner
A businessman and hotelier, Otunba Hassan Alli, has reaffirmed that the discontinuance of the criminal case against the alleged notorious land grabber Moroof Owonla by Lawal Pedro (SAN), Lagos’ Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, is in total disregard to the interest of justice and the rule of law.
He also said Pedro’s actions showed gross bias, injustice, and danger to the Administration of Criminal Law of Lagos State and against the public interest.
According to a statement by the aggrieved businessman, in response to the attorney general’s publications on the subject matter, Alli noted that the attorney general’s action was aimed at promoting abuse of the legal process.
The police recommended Owonla for prosecution after diligent investigation and duplicating the case file with the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) under the tenure of former Attorney General Moyosore Onigbanjo.
The development led to the DPP issuing legal advice and filing eight-count charges against Moroof Owonla after verifying the facts in the case file.
However, Owonla, in defiance of the lawful court, refused several court appearances ordered by Justice Adenike Coker of the Ikeja Division of the High Court, a move that prompted the judge to issue a bench warrant against him.
In a twist of trial, Pedro became the attorney general and filed a discountenance of the case in exercising his prosecutorial power of nolle prosequi.
Expressing his dissatisfaction, Alli noted that the action is in a clear departure from the provisions of section 211(3) of the 1999 (amended) Constitution, which empowers the attorney general to exercise nolle prosequi.
He pointed out that under Section 211(3), it was stated clearly that in exercising his power, the attorney general “shall have regard to the public interest, the interest of Justice and the need to prevent abuse of legal process.”
The businessman refers the attorney general to the case file where the police, who investigated the criminal allegations, revealed that the court order in suit no ID/1722/92 relied on by Owonla to loot his 33 Rooms Hotel in Ayobo area is fake following the response letter from the Office of the Chief Registrar of the Lagos High Court.
He emphasised that it was fallacious, untrue, and a distortion of material facts by the attorney general to conclude coherently that the IP0 of the case was petitioned for bias investigation in Alagbon when investigation on the case was concluded at the Police Headquarters of FCID, Abuja.
Alli stated that it was crystal clear from the content of the discountenance letter that the attorney general was out on a mission of deliberate bias and injustice against the legal process, stressing that his actions are contrary to the public interest, thereby raising empty and non-existent defences for the criminal actions perpetrated by Owonla and his thugs against him.