Eze Ndigbo Of Ajao Estate Challenges Conviction, Lagos Chiefs Law

The self-acclaimed Eze Ndigbo of Ajao Estate, Frederick Nwajagu, convicted by a Lagos State High Court on January 16, 2025, for unlawfully parading himself as a titled chief in Lagos, has appealed the verdict.

Nwajagu, in his appeal before the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal, is challenging the constitutionality of Sections 26-36 of the state’s Obas and Chiefs of Lagos State Law (1981).

The convict asks the appellant court to declare that the Sections of the law violate sections 39 and 40 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).

Justice Yetunde Adesanya, the Lagos State High Court, sitting at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), had convicted and sentenced Nwajagu to one year imprisonment for parading himself as a titled chief in Lagos without authorisation.

Justice Adesanya, however, discharged and acquitted the convict of the terrorism offence, holding that the state failed to prove the charge beyond all reasonable doubts.

The 69-year-old Eze Ndigbo was arrested on April 1, 2023, by the Department of State Services (DSS) over an alleged threat to invite members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to Lagos to secure properties of Igbo people in the state.

In his Notice of Appeal, filed by his lawyer, Emefo Etudo, Nwajagu urged the upper court to overturn the lower court’s judgment regarding his conviction and grant him a full acquittal and discharge.

The convict argued that he was jailed even though his activities, which were channelled towards the Igbo-speaking community in Ajao Estate, were constitutional, falling within their rights to freedom of association and expression as guaranteed under Sections 39 and 40 of the 1999 Constitution.

As of now, no date has been set for the hearing of the appeal.