Obudu Born High Court Judge Who Ordered Diezani Arrest, Sacked Sheriff Is Dead

By Jonathan Ugbal

Justice Valentine Ashi of the Federal Capital Territory High Court reputed to have ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Nigeria’s secret police, the SSS and other security agencies to arrest former petroleum minister within 72 hours has died.

Ashi died on Friday at an undisclosed hospital in Abuja due to a liver ailment with his family reported to have informed the court that same day.

The Obudu born judge was called to bar in 1987 and began lecturing at the Nigerian Law School in 2001.

He was appointed a Judge of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory on July 15, 2010 and is noted for several judgments which set the agenda for public discourse.

Asides the warrant for Mrs. Madueke’s arrest which was aimed at enabling the EFCC arraign her for alleged financial misconduct, Justice Ashi had in 2014, barred former President Olusegun Obasanjo from publishing his autobiography, ‘My Watch,’ the Cable Reports.

In 2016, he sacked Ali Modu Sheriff, former governor of Borno state, as acting chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), describing the process that led to his emergence as illegal paving way for Ahmed Markarfi.

Several tributes have been written so far with Mr. Baba Isa, an Ogoja born legal practitioner based in Abuja, taking to Facebook to bid the judge farewell.

“As an old boy of Government Secondary School, Obudu, I have always look forward to the day I will appear before the Honourable Justice Valentine Bekeh Ashi, of the FCT High Court, Abuja, who is also an old boy; now that will never be, for I hear the Court has risen never to sit again,” Isa wrote on Friday.

He continued: “My Lord, may the Lord of lords whom you served grant your reliefs of eternal rest as contained in your motion ex parte. My Lord, oh My Lord.”