Former Edo State Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Osaze Osemwingie-Ero, who was arrested by police in France in November 2019 for allegedly belonging to a Nigerian mafia organisation, yesterday, accused the Italian government of unlawfully manufacturing and doctoring evidence with the sole purpose of jailing Nigerians.
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He said the Italian government had disclosed in a publication that 20 Nigerians were sentenced to 140 years in prison and the proof of their offences was a forged manual called, “The Green Bible”.
Addressing newsmen in Benin City, he faulted the Italian justice system for unjustly profiling some Nigerians, persecuting and setting them up to be jailed in Italy under Article 416-BIS.
Osemwingie-Ero said he was found innocent and discharged of the charges levelled against him by the Italian government.
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He, however, expressed disappointment over perceived lackadaisical attitude and response of the Nigerian government during his trial in Italy.
He said: “As you would recall, upon my arrival in Nigeria, I and my team of supporters set in motion a campaign to release the over 300 Nigerians that were being held in the Italian prisons over trumped-up allegations.”
The campaign, he said, demanded the immediate release of all Nigerians detained across Italy in various prisons falsely accused of belonging to Nigeria Mafia, using Article 416-BIS, compensation to Nigerians, who have served various sentences having been unjustly tried and convicted under Article 416-BIS of the Italian Criminal Code on the forged Green Bible.
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MEANWHILE, few months after the Legal Practitioners’ Privileges Committee (LPPC) announced the automation of the application process for the conferment of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), senior legal practitioners have lamented that the new approach has become a pain for senior lawyers.
The lawyers, who decried difficulties experienced in the online application process called on the privilege to extend the duration of the application to allow qualified and deserving legal practitioners to complete the process.
Speaking to journalists in Benin City, Benjamin Okorie Esq. called for the intervention of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to ensure that deserving legal practitioners are not denied the privilege of the SAN rank conferment, which is the peak attainment in the legal profession.
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Also, Uyi Ekeosa of Ekeosa Chambers in Benin City, called on the LPPC to take responsibility for the failures in the new portal and extend the date of application.
On his part, Igbinosa Edebiri, said: “With the digitalisation and automation of the application process, we anticipated a hitch-free application process but this is not the case as most of us were logged out of the site without completing the process. I urge the legal practitioners’ committee in the spirit of fairness to ensure that the date of application is duly extended.”
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