.png)
Yesterday, the Federal High Court in Lagos prevented the local Police, as well as the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from taking lottery operators into custody for allegations in offering their services without operating license. The court also restrained the afore-mentioned authorities from causing disturbance in the operators’ businesses under the same allegations.
According to Justice Mohammed Idris’ ruling, shutting down the lottery business of the companies in question would not be legal. As mentioned above, the operators have been blamed for not obtaining additional (complementary) licenses after being granted with an official operating license by the National Lottery Regulatory Commission (NLRC).
Wesco Pools & Lottery Ltd and Western Lotto Nigeria Ltd, which were constituted as plaintiffs, urged the Federal High Court to determine whether their operations could be shut down by the defendants after being allegedly blamed for not obtaining additional licenses from local competent authorities in spite of the fact they have previously received nation-wide licenses by the Commission.
Justice Idris ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, dismissing the objections of the defendants.
Lagos’ Federal High Court Justice Rules in Favor of Plaintiffs
The plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against the Lagos State Lottery Board, the EFCC, the DSS, the attorneys-general of the states of Ogun and Lagos, the Ogun State Internal Revenue Service, the commissioners of Police in the two states, as well as the Inspector General of Police.
As mentioned above, Justice Mohammed Idris declared that the defendants alone or combined are not eligible to taking any actions against the plaintiffs’ businesses, including closures, detentions, arrests, as well as disrupting their operations in any way. According to Justice Idris, the nation-wide operation permits were a reason good enough for the plaintiffs not to see their businesses shut down.
Under the court’s ruling, an order was given against the defendants, stripping them off the opportunity to cause disturbance in the plaintiffs’ businesses in any way, considering the fact that competent authorities had given them national licenses under the 2005 National Lottery Act. Also, the plaintiffs provided a supporting written statement, saying that two earlier rulings of the Federal High Court in Abuja resolved a previous conflict over supremacy between the National Lottery Regulatory Commission and the states.
Both Western Lotto Nigeria and Wesco Pools & Lottery confirmed that the two ruling were based on the fact that the issue had been covered by the National Lottery Act. According to the plaintiffs, the defendants had still been threatening to use the EFCC, DSS and the Police in order to initiate raids on the two companies’ business premises in the states of Ogun and Lagos, despite the court’s rulings. The two operators also shared that the defendants had also threatened them to disrupt their lottery operations.
The post Federal High Court in Lagos Prevents Authorities from Disrupting Local Lottery Operators’ Businesses appeared first on Casino News Daily.
No comments:
Post a Comment