A judge of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja, Valentine Ashi, who ordered ex President Olusegun Obasanjo not to publish his autobiography, My Watch is dead
Africa News24 (AN24) reports that Justice Ashi was said to have died at a private hospital in Abuja on Thursday after reportedly suffering a liver ailment.
According to a court official, the judge’s family informed the court about his demise early on Friday.
The late Ashi was called to bar in 1987, served as a lecturer at the Nigerian Law School, Abuja campus, in 2001 and was appointed a judge in FCT on July 15, 2010.
Justice Ashi had made the headlines in December 2018 when he ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Department of State Services (DSS) and other security agencies to arrest Diezani Alison-Madueke, former minister of petroleum resources, within 72 hours.
The Cross River-born judge issued a warrant for Madueke’s arrest to enable the EFCC to apprehend and arraign her for alleged financial crimes in Nigeria.
Ashi had also barred former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2014 from publishing his autobiography, My Watch.
The judge sacked Ali Modu Sheriff, former governor of Borno state in 2016 as acting chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), describing the process that led to his emergence as illegal.