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Tag: accused

  • Housewife accused of calling pastor ‘prostitute’

    Housewife accused of calling pastor ‘prostitute’

    A housewife, Nkiruka Ibeanu, was yesterday arraigned before the Igbosere Magistrates’ Court for allegedly calling a pastor, Lovelyn Mba, a prostitute and threatening to kill her.

    Ibeanu, of Abijo in Ibeju-Lekki area of Lagos, was charged before Magistrate B. I. Bakare with threat to life and breach of peace.

    Prosecuting Sergeant Innocent Odugbo said there was a disagreement between the women, sometime last December in Ajangbadi, Lagos.

    Odugbo alleged that Ibeanu conducted herself in a manner likely to cause breach of peace by calling Mba a prostitute.

    He added: “The defendant also sent text messages to the phone of the complainant, saying, she would kill the complainant.”

    According to him, the offences contravened Sections 56 and 166 (d) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

    Ibeanu pleaded not guilty.

    Magistrate Bakare granted her N50,000 bail with two sureties in the like sum. The sureties, he said, must be employed and have verifiable addresses.

    He adjourned till March 29.

  • 23 INEC workers accused of receiving N350m bribe from Wike object to trial

    23 INEC workers accused of receiving N350m bribe from Wike object to trial

    THE planned arraignment of 23 workers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) charged with bribery and corruption has been put off.
    The INEC officials are accused in a seven-count charge of allegedly receiving N360 million bribe from Governor Nyesom Wike in connection with the December 10, 2016 rerun legislative elections in River State
    The arraignment has been postponed to April 7 in view of the objection raised by the INEC officials against their trial in Abuja.
    The INEC officials are: Shittu Mohammed Lamido (Shettima), Henry Owokure, Peter Ewetade, Mrs. Mary Jummai Tunkoyo Pennap, Gwatana Jibril, Ivase Stephen and Abdullahi Ogabo.
    Others are Gayus Hassan, Hussaini T. Yahaya, James Ogwuche, Karimu F. Aminu, Adedokun Najeem Ayotunde, Balogun Funmilayo and Adams O. Kadiri.
    Also named in the charge are Akinwande R. Adesoji, Lukeman Olabimpe, Tiamiyu R. Arowolo, Akinwoye Amodu, Nwoha Yusuf, Patrick Anuke, Iro Abali, Nwosu G. Oluchi and Arukwe Chinelo.
    The officials, who have all been on the bail granted them by the police, were brought to the Federal High Court, Abuja around 8.30am today in vehicles provided by the police.
    But lawyers to the defendants, led by Ahmed Raji (SAN), told the court that the INEC officials have filed applications challenging the territorial jurisdiction of the court.
    Raji said the defendants are challenging the decision of the prosecution to want to try the case in a court in Abuja when the alleged offences for which they were charged were allegedly committed in Rivers State.
    He urged the court to resolve the issue of jurisdiction first before requesting the defendants to plea to the charge.
    Alilu said he intends to oppose the defendants’ applications and sought a date to be allowed to file a counter affidavit to that effect.
    Justice John Tsoho acceded to Alilu’s request and adjourned to April 7 for hearing of all applications.
    The defendants, who are described as electoral officers and workers of INEC were said to have between December 7 to 10, 2016 at Port Harcourt, Rivers State, conspired to convert the sum of N360,000,000 directly from bribery and corruption in connection with the Rivers State re-run election, which took place on December 10, 2016.

  • I was wrongly accused of stealing, says Ibori

    I was wrongly accused of stealing, says Ibori

    Former Delta State Governor James Ibori has said he was wrongly accused and maligned by those who called him a thief.

    “I am not a thief; I cannot be a thief,” he said yesterday at his home town, Oghara, where his kinsmen held a thanksgiving service for him, following his release from a United Kingdom (UK) prison.

    Ibori said the biggest pain he felt over his travails was the suffering his people went through because of his absence.

    Speaking at the special thanksgiving service at the First Baptist Church, Ibori also said his joy was that he was alive and back with his people.

    The former governor, who hailed the crowd of politicians, clergy, traditional rulers and other enthusiasts, said he was aware those behind his travails wanted to separate him from his people.

    He said: “They want me to go to the corner where I won’t be seen.”

    The former governor said he was sure he would return home because he put his affairs in God’s hands.

    Ibori said: “Today, I have decided to speak for myself. I am not a thief; I cannot be a thief. Today is the day they say I should give testimony to God. For those who know me, you know that my life is a testimony itself. I have said it over and again that my life is fashioned by God, directed by God, sealed, acknowledged and blessed by God. I believe that since the day I was born.

    “Like the Archbishop said, when this whole commotion started, what was most painful to me was the pain and suffering that my people were going through.

    “It has nothing to do with me as a person because, for some reasons, like I said to you, I drew my strength from God. So, somehow, I knew that God would stand by me. I knew that one day, this day would come. I am indeed very pleased that I can now stand before you and look at your faces, the faces that I have missed, and those of you who have indeed suffered the pains of my absence. It has nothing to do with me.

    “So, when I reflect, it gives me joy that all your prayers, God has answered them, with your support and solidarity with me all through this period. It is indeed not what I can begin to say.

    “Like what our former Chief of Staff, Francis , said it is ‘ungbikuable’. If I am to give testimony of my journey, you will not leave here. The only testimony that I have is the fact that I am back and alive in your midst. And again, I say that I never had any doubt in my mind that I would get back home.

    “When I looked at how things were going, I discovered that they wanted to separate me from you, my people. They wanted me to go to the corner where I wouldn’t be seen. That’s how I see it. At a point, I called my older brother (former Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan): ‘How to get home is what I am about to do now’. It was a pragmatic decision.

    “I am happy to be home with my people. There is nobody who can battle with the Lord. An Urhobo adage says there is time for everything (okiemute). A day will come when I will tell my story and everyone of you will hear me. Today is to thank God.”

  • Two accused of killing man, 63

    An Ebute Meta Chief Magistrates’ Court in Lagos yesterday remanded two men, Emmanuel Udoh, 35, and Mohammed Seidu, 21, in prison, for allegedly killing a sexagenarian.

    Magistrate H.O. Omisore said the accused should be kept in Ikoyi Prisons, pending advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). Omisore adjourned to April 13.

    The accused were charged with murder and conspiracy.

    It was alleged that the duo pushed one Mukaila Oluseye, 63, who hit his head on the ground and died.

    The duo were said to have pushed the sexagenarian to death because of his refusal to pay a N100 fare.

    Prosecuting Inspector Julius Babatope said the offence was committed on February 5 on the Ijaiye-Ojokoro Junction.

  • ‎Court frees accused man after seven years without trial

    ‎Court frees accused man after seven years without trial

    Justice Sedoten Ogunsanya of a Lagos State High Court, sitting in Ikeja Tuesday set free a 40 year old man, Dona Jamari, accused of armed robbery after spending seven years in prison custody without trial.

    A Police prosecutor had alleged that the defendant, armed with a sharp dagger knife, razor blade and charms ‎robbed one Habib Saidu of a Samsung handset valued at N16, 000.00.

    The defendant was said to have committed the offence on March 25, 2009.

    The prosecution had then alleged before the court that the defendant committed armed robbery contrary to Section 402(2)(a) of the Criminal Code Law Cap C17 Vol. 2 Laws of Lagos State, 2003.

    However, at the resumed hearing of the matter Tuesday, counsels from the Office of the Public Defender (OPD), Jamiu Alapo and K.O Adebayo told the court that the prosecution has not been forthcoming with witnesses to give evidence in the matter in spite of several adjournments over the last seven years.

    The defence counsels pleaded with the court to release their client from prison custody for lack of diligent prosecution by the prosecution in the interest of justice and fairness.

    They submitted that there was no need to continue to hold the defendant in Ikoyi prison custody since prosecution has since 2009 stopped coming to court‎.

    The trial judge, Justice Ogunsanya upheld their submission and granted their prayer and ordered immediate release of the custody from prison custody.

    The defendant, Jamarin, walked out of the court a free man at 11: 30a.m.

     

  • Co-accused’s absence stalls Ex-NIMASA DG’s trial

    Co-accused’s absence stalls Ex-NIMASA DG’s trial

    The trial of a former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), , was stalled at the Federal High Court in Lagos Friday due to the sixth defendant’s absence.

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned him and nine others, including two companies, before Justice Saliu Saidu.

    They were accused of conspiring to convert N3.4 billion belonging to NIMASA.  The commission said the money “was derived from stealing”.

    EFCC said the alleged offence contravened Section 18 (a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition/Amendment) Act of 2012 and punishable under Section 15 (3).

    The other accused are Captain Ezekiel Agaba, Ekene Nwakuche, Felix Bob-Nabena, Captain Warredi Enisuoh, Governor Juan, Ugo Fredrick, Timi Alari and two companies Al-Kenzo Limited and Peniel Engineering Services Limited.

    All of them were in court Friday, except Juan, who was said to be in prison custody due to his inability to meet a bail condition granted him in a separate charge by a Lagos High Court.

    His lawyer, Ige Ashemudare, said: “The sixth defendant is not in court. He is confined in prison custody. He has not been able to perfect the bail condition as we speak. He’s still in custody.”

    EFCC’s lawyer Festus Keyamo said he was informed about Juan’s inability to meet his bail condition.

    He, therefore, did not oppose Ashemudare’s application for an adjournment.

    “In the circumstance, all of us (prosecution and defence counsel) have put heads together to agree on a date, subject to the convenience of the court,” he said.

    The accused persons alleged converted the money to their use between December 2013 and July 15 last year.

    In count one, the defendants allegedly “conspired among themselves to commit an offence, to wit: conversion of N1, 151,214,000.00, property of NIMASA, money derived from stealing…”

    EFCC said on December 23, 2013, the defendants allegedly converted N861.5 million. On July 7 and 15 this year, they allegedly converted N235.4 million.

    Akpobolokemi, Agaba, Nwakuche and Al-Kenzo were accused of converting N60 million, which they “derived from stealing,” among others. They all pleaded not guilty to all counts.

    Akpobolokemi is facing four criminal charges at the Federal High Court, and one at the Lagos High Court.

    In one of the pending charges, his co-accused is a former Niger Delta militant, Government Ekpemupolo (alias Tompolo), who a bench was issued for his arrest.

    Trial has begun in one of the charges before Justice Ibrahim, with two witnesses already called.

    However, no witness has testified in the case before Justice Saidu, who‎ adjourned till February 17 and 18.

     

  • Court clears seven of beating up policemen

    Court clears seven of beating up policemen

    A Lagos State Magistrate’s Court in Igbosere Monday discharged seven men of the allegation that they attacked police officers on duty with dangerous weapons, due to the absence of the Investigating Police Officer (IPO).

    The accused are: Bada Saheed, 29, Damilola Olayiwola, 23, Musibau Lateef, 18, Ajayi Tobi, 21, Tunde Lekan, 20, Seun Adeoti, 18, and Seun Tayo, 18.

    The men, whose addresses were not given, were standing trial on a one-count charge bordering on unlawful attack on policemen.

    During their arraignment on December 10, the prosecutor, Inspector Ingobo Emby, told the court that the defendants committed the offence on Dec. 8, at 11:30 p.m, at Obalende Motor Park, Lagos.

    He alleged that the defendants attacked policemen who were on duty with dangerous weapons.

    The offence, he said, contravened Section 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

    The accused had pleaded not guilty to the charge.

    Monday, the magistrate, Mrs. F. F. George, struck out the case due to the absence of the complainants and the IPO.

    Cases should not be dumped in the courts, she said, if the complainant had no interest in prosecuting.

  • Accused not on murder scene, says witness

    Accused not on murder scene, says witness

    •Doctor: 29 pellets extracted from body
    •Lawyers make no-case submission

    None of the seven persons being tried for the murder of former Ekiti State Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW),  Omolafe Aderiye, was seen on the scene on September 25, last year, an Ado-Ekiti High Court heard yesterday.

    Justice Lekan Ogunmoye also heard that 29 pellets were removed from the deceased’s body during autopsy by pathologists at the State University Teaching Hospital (EKSUTH).

    These were part of revelations at the trial of the  seven persons accused of complicity in Aderiye’s murder.

    The accused are Adebayo Aderiye , Adeniyi Adedipe , Sola Durodola, Ajayi Kayode , Oso Farotimi , Sola Adenijo and Rotimi Olanbiwonnu.

    The defence lawyers made a no-case submission.

    The police earlier testified that none of the accused was arrested on the murder scene.

    Aderiye’s personal assistant Gbolahan Okeowo, who was cross-examined by defence lawyers, said he did not see any of the accused at the deceased’s office where he was murdered.

    Answering questions from Victor Saliu counsel to Aderiye, Durodola and Kayode, Okeowo said he was with  the deceased with two others – Wale Ibidapo and Akinyemi Adedeji –  when the incident occurred.

    Under cross-examination by Biodun Fasakin counsel to Adedipe, Okeowo admitted not seeing any vehicle around when the incident occurred.

    He also said he did not see Adedipe.

    The witness told the court that the late Aderiye’s office was partially fenced with barbed wire, which was removed about two months after he was murdered.

    Under cross-examination by Lekan Olatawura counsel to Farotimi and Olanbiwonnu, the witness said he was aware that the penalty for murder is death, adding that his evidence would assist the court in arriving at a just decision.

    When asked by the counsel if Farotimi and Olanbiwonnu were responsible for the murder, the witness replied: “No, they are not. They were not on the murder scene that day.”

    Okeowo also admitted that the first son of the deceased, Yinka Aderiye, was not on the murder scene.

    Responding to questions from  Adetunji Osho counsel to Adenijo, Okeowo said he did not see the accused (Adenijo) on the murder scene.

    After the cross-examination, Okeowo told the court he had something else to say but he was overruled by the judge.

    Dr. Abidemi Emmanuel Omonisi, a consultant anatomy pathologist from EKSUTH, led in evidence by prosecution counsel Ahmed Tafa said he was served with a coroner form by the police to perform autopsy on the body.

    He tendered two pictures of the body and three copies of x-ray, which were admitted and marked Exhibits 5A, 5B and 14A-C.

    Omonisi said the autopsy, conducted on October 4, last year, showed that the lower chest, upper abdominal region, the right thigh and the left leg were lacerated with gunshot wounds.

    The doctor said: “We recovered 20 pellets from the chest and upper abdomen, five pellets from the right thigh and four from the left leg making a total of 29 pellets recovered from the body of the late Omolafe.

    “We also recovered a shell containing the pellets from the abdominal cavity.”

    The 29 pellets were marked and admitted as Exhibit 15; the shell was marked and admitted as Exhibit 16. A medical report on the findings submitted to the police was marked and admitted Exhibit 16.

    Shortly after the doctor was discharged from the witness box, defence lawyers made a no-case submission for their clients but Justice Ogunmoye noted that under the Administration of Criminal Justice Law, such a submission would have to come by way of written address.

    The case was adjourned till December 1.

  • Hajj Commission accused of sabotaging pilgrims’ airlift

    The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has been accused of sabotaging the activities of Kaduna State Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board in the ongoing airlift of pilgrims from Saudi Arabia to Nigeria.

    A member of Kaduna State Amirul Hajj Team and Commissioner for Local Government, Alhaji Muhammad Bashir Saidu, levelled the allegation in an interview with newsmen in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, yesterday.

    Alhaji Bashir also accused the Chairman of NAHCON, Barrister Abdullahi Muktar Muhammad, of usurping the powers of Kaduna State Pilgrims Board and annexing it to his office.

    He said that Alhaji Muhammad had promised that pilgrims would be airlifted from the Holy Land on first-in, first-out basis during the launch of the maiden flight to Saudi Arabia at Kaduna Airport on August 23.

    The Commissioner pointed out that Kaduna State pilgrims were the first to be airlifted during this year’s Hajj and he wondered why its pilgrims were not the first to be airlifted back home.

    “Instead of airlifting Kaduna pilgrims first, NAHCON had concentrated on Kogi and Kwara pilgrims,” he said. “When it came to Kaduna State, the commission sent 300 passenger-capacity aircraft with several NAHCON pilgrims on board.”

    Lamenting the situation, the Hajj team member said NAHCON had asked Kaduna State pilgrims to report to Jeddah only to be abandoned by the commission for about two days.

    Alhaji Bashir pointed out that NAHCON is supposed to be a mere regulatory agency because individual state pilgrim boards are to deal directly with the air carriers.

    “Right now, the commission has relegated state pilgrim boards to a third party, which is not supposed to be so,” he said.

    According to the commissioner, when his team and the Chairman of Kaduna State Task Force on Hajj 2015 as well as the Overseer of Kaduna Pilgrims Board went to Jeddah to find out what was delaying the airlift of pilgrims, “nobody listened to us”.

    He further pointed out that the team asked for a flight schedule and up till the time of filing this report, “no one has given us anything.”

    Alhaji Bashir accused the NAHCON chair of deliberately frustrating the return journey of Kaduna pilgrims in order to portray the state government in bad light. He promised that the government would probe the alleged sabotage.

    Efforts to reach Malam Uba Mana, the spokesperson of NAHCON through his Saudi phone line failed.

  • Yuguda accused of plotting crisis in Bauchi

    The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation (APCPCO) has accused Bauchi State Governor Isa Yuguda of plotting to cause the cancellation of Saturday’s election, to provoke a state of emergency.

    The campaign organisation’s Director of Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said in a statement made available to reporters in Daura that it had intelligence reports that Yuguda was planning to cause crisis in the state.

    He said the crisis was meant to give the impression that elections in the state, which put the APC in a lead, were inconclusive and therefore called for a cancellation. The statement said: “We have it on good authority that Governor Yuguda is planning to engineer violence across Bauchi State to provoke a state of emergency so that elections across the state, which put the APC in a strong lead, will be seen to have been marred by violence.

    “We make bold to say that this plot by the Bauchi  governor to write off the electoral wishes of the people is anti-democratic, pernicious, subversive and absolutely unacceptable.

    “In the light of this development, we call on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to be railroaded by  Governor Yuguda and other anti-democratic forces into taking actions that may jeopardise the tranquility we have so far enjoyed in the course of this election.

    “We urge the teeming supporters of the APC presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, in Bauchi State and across the country to be abreast of this development and never fall for the demonic plot to write off their franchise as clearly expressed in last Saturday’s Presidential and National Assembly elections. We enjoin them to be resolute, vigilant, peaceful and law-abiding.”