A human rights lawyer, Barrister Victor Giwa, has petitioned the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mazi Afam Osigwe, alleging a plot by an FCT High Court to revoke his bail and remand him at the Kuje Correctional Centre until the conclusion of his trial.
Giwa, who is being prosecuted by the Nigeria Police Force over an alleged forgery charge, is standing trial before an FCT High Court sitting at Apo Resettlement, presided over by Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie.
In a petition dated January 23, 2026, the lawyer accused the court of bias and claimed he could no longer get justice from the presiding judge. He alleged that recent developments in the trial point to a predetermined plan to incarcerate him.
“Mr President, recall that I wrote you a letter dated 25th November, 2025 to officially inform you of the situation regarding the judicial proceedings in FCT High Court No. 30, Apo before Hon. Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie,” Giwa wrote. “The situation has degenerated beyond injustice and has become dirty and somewhat indescribable.”
According to him, Justice Onwuegbuzie on January 21, 2026, hurriedly struck out six applications he filed between May and December 2025 challenging the court’s jurisdiction. He claimed the ruling, delivered following an oral application by the prosecution, was designed to pave the way for the revocation of his bail.
“The concluded plan is to send me to Kuje Correctional Centre, from where I would be attending my trial,” Giwa alleged.
He further accused the judge of granting all applications brought by the prosecution while refusing every application he filed, including a request for the temporary release of his international passport to enable him travel for medical treatment and to see his family.
Giwa also alleged that the court has refused to provide him with the certified true copies of the record of proceedings, despite repeated requests. He claimed that court sessions are often marked by intimidation, adding that more than eight policemen regularly accompany the nominal complainant, Asabe Waziri, a staff member of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), to court.
The lawyer said he had openly expressed his loss of confidence in the court but that proceedings continued regardless. He also disclosed that he had filed four applications to the Chief Judge of the FCT seeking the recusal and reassignment of his case, as well as a petition to the National Judicial Council (NJC) against Justice Onwuegbuzie in December 2025.
Giwa urged the NBA President to urgently intervene to prevent what he described as an unlawful plan to revoke his bail and have him remanded in prison.
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