The Nation Newspaper

Tag: MAN

  • Man in court over rights activist’s death

    The Lagos State Government yesterday arraigned Seun Oladapo in court for the alleged murder of a rights activist and community leader, Kunle Fadipe.

    Oladapo was arraigned before Justice Atinuke Ipaye of the Ikeja High Court in Lagos.

    He is standing trial on a five-count charge bordering on murder, robbery and assault occasioning harm.

    Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Mrs Idowu Alakija said the offence contravened Sections 221, 295 (2)(a) and 171 of the Criminal Law.

    The charge reads: “That you Oluwaseun Oladapo on the 4th day of July 2014 at about  0300hr at 1, Harmony Estate, Ifako-Ijaiye, Iju Lagos in the Ikeja Judicial Division whilst armed with an offensive weapon to wit a knife did rob one Kunle Fadipe of a large sum of money and murdered him by stabbing him severally on numerous parts of the body”.

    The defendant was also charged with the murder of one Cecilia Owolabi; the assault of one Abiola Owolabi and Folahanmi Fadipe.

    He pleaded not guilty.

    The defence counsel, Worer Obuagbaka, informed the court that he got the file not too long ago and pleaded with the court to allow him to go through it.

    ”The proof of evidence was served on me this morning less than an hour ago. My perusal of the proof of evidence showed that there was an autopsy report attached. This is a serious offence and the defendant needs adequate time to prepare for the trial.”

    Mrs Alakija said the prosecution was prepared to go on with the case adding that two of its witnesses were in court.

    Ruling, Justice Ipaye said the defence should be given ample time to prepare for the trial.

    She adjourned the case till August 17 and 18.

    Fadipe was stabbed to death on July 4 last year.

  • Man, 50, bags nine years for defiling minor

    Man, 50, bags nine years for defiling minor

    A 50-year old man identified as Nosa Edebiri has been sentenced to nine years imprisonment for defiling an 11-year old girl.

    He was sent to jail by an Oredo Magistrates Court presided over by Mrs. Caroliine Oghuma after he pleaded guilty to the one-count charge preferred against him.

    Police Prosecutor Sergeant, Kehinde Adebiyi, informed the court that the offence was committed on June 2 at Saint Saviour road in Oredo local government.

    Adegbiyi said the convict bought fish worth N250 from the victim where she assisted her mother to sell.

    He stated that the convict asked the minor to follow him home to collect the money for the fish but when the minor got to his room, he locked her up and forcefully had unlawful carnal knowledge of her.

    He noted that Nosa threatened to kill her and her parents if she disclosed what transpired between them.

    “Unfortunately, the minor’s parent observed that she was not comfortable as she was feeling pains in her abdomen, it was then she told her parents what happened to her.

    “Immediately, the minor parent came to the police station to report,  she was examined and test was carried out same at Central hospital where it was confirmed that the minor lost her virginity.
    Delivering judgment, the Magistrate said, “You do not deserve any mercy even though it is the first time you are appearing in court.

    “I consider the offence condemnable since you took advantage of the vulnerable minor.

    “I hereby sentence you to nine years imprisonment without option of fine, to serve as deterrent to others,” Oghuma said.

     

  • ‘My man is cruel, uncaring’

    A middle age woman, Jacinta Iniekung, has asked the Agege Customary Court in Lagos to dissolve her 17-years marriage, accusing her husband, Edet of abandoning her.

    Mrs Iniekung, a resident of 7, Alake Street in Ojota, Lagos, said her husband accused her of promiscuity.

    she said: “My husband’s attitude changed immediately we got married because I was the one who rented the house we lived in. Since then, he never made his intention known to me,” she said.

    The petitioner said she wasn’t told her husband was building a house in his hometown until he completed it.

    She said: “Two years after our wedding,” we lived as strangers. He mostly slept outside. We never had our own moment. Mrs Iniekung said she had lost count of the number of times her husband locked her outside before she returned from work, adding that when she could no longer stand the maltreatment she left his house.

    “It’s been seven years since I left the house and he hasn’t granted me access to see our children. Our second child was four-year-old when my husband brought a letter from welfare office which stated that our children should be in his custody,”she said.

    Mrs Iniekung said she was opportune to see her son six years after she left but he couldn’t recognise her.

    “The reason I brought his case to court is because I heard he is relocating to AkwaIbom with our children and I really don’t know what my fate will be if they go. I am not happy; we gave birth to these children together, “she added.

    The court’s President, Pa Adekunle Willams, ordered the respondent to appear in court on July 23.

  • Judiciary: Last hope of common man on earth or where?

    SIR: I had just lost an appeal at the Court of Appeal and as a result I fell into coma legally. When after some days I managed to shed off the effect of the judgment, I got to my chambers to be greeted by my clients who were equally dazed by the judgment. It was then very difficult to discuss the judgment with them but because they were in court when the judgment was delivered, and as educated people they drew my attention to that part of the judgment where their Lordships said the trial Court ought to have struck out the case but yet their Lordships proceeded to dismiss their appeal instead of doing what the trial Court omitted to do. This opened the way for our discussion of possible appeal to the Supreme Court. But before I could tell them that their Lordships erred in law and that an appeal to the Supreme Court can succeed even on that ground alone, I fell into another coma: How could I suggest an appeal to the Supreme Court having regard to their ages and even mine when I know that in the next 10 to 15 years it will not be determined?

    At that point I decided to put the drafting of the Notice of Appeal on hold and to write this piece, hoping it may serve as a forerunner to reduce the life-span of the appeal at the Supreme Court.

    To the extent that I do not conduct my business in reasonable propinquity to the Supreme Court, I may not know the exact causes of the delay in determining appeal at the Supreme Court. But there is delay, not just delay but phenomenal and inordinate delay with grave implications for the legal system and the security of the nation. The brief explanation here is that if litigants are not sure that their rights will be determined while still alive, they are likely to resort to self-help. Ironically, those who in the past argued for speedy dispensation of justice hinged their call for reform on the economic advantage as investors always prefer countries with legal systems that boost their Midas touch. Such call is not necessarily bad but my concern is justice to the common man whose farmland may have illegally been taken away and other causes of action common to the citizenry.

    I wish to sincerely offer my suggestion through this medium. This drag on the determination of the rights of citizens should be the concern of everybody in the country. This is particularly so that the NBA, which is supposed to be the mouth-piece of the Bench is too busy organising elections that are as, if not, more sophisticated than the general elections in the country and embarking on some enterprises without legal footing, like the seal and stamp project.

    The call for the involvement of the public is based on my conviction that only a constitutional amendment increasing the number of the justices of the Supreme Court to at least 35 can reasonably abate the delay in determining appeals by the apex court. With such number of the justices of the Supreme Court, at least three divisions of the court can then be created at different locations in the country. After all, the decision of the Supreme Court is not supreme or final because it is housed in one building in Abuja but because it is the last court.

    I hope my clients and I will still be around in 10-15 years to witness the verdict of the Supreme Court. This is supposed to be the feeling of advocates and even the NBA so that litigants do not toil for nothing; otherwise, they will forever be guilty for leading litigants to take the first step in litigation. As for the general public, if you fail to lend your voice on this issue you may be a victim some day.

     

    • Dr. Moses Ediru

    Lafia,

    Nasarawa State.

  • Man held with 47 jerrycans of petrol

    Man held with 47 jerrycans of petrol

    A middle-age man, Innocent Nwevo, was yesterday in Lagos arrested with 47 jerrycans of petrol.

    He was arrested by Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and Ojodu Local Council Development Area (LCDA) officials.

    The suspect, who claimed to be a food vendor, said he knew that the business is illegal but was forced into it because of what he called his failing business. He claimed he was in introduced to the business by one Mr John who resides in Mowe, Ogun State.

    Nwevo said he had six shops, adding that things became difficult for him when his workers went away with his money.

    He said he buys the fuel from Mowe and transports it in a vehicle to sell for around N5000 for 50 litres.

    Ojodu LCDA Executive Secretary Mallam Ahmed Jaji, said the team acted on a tip off that a tenant in a shop opposite Sunday Retail Market in Ogba, was stockpiling and illegally selling petroleum product.

    Jaji said he mobilised his team for an on-the-spot assessment of the place, adding that initially they didn’t get the suspect. He said they later got him and discovered several gallons of petrol, “carefully concealed behind foodstuff and other commodities in his shop”. To avoid the mobbing of the suspect, he said the team took him and the exhibit to the council.

    “We thank God that an action that could put our lives and properties in jeopardy was averted today, because, who knows what could have happened if this bunkerer was not apprehended or imagine , a keg out of the several kegs bursts, the whole environment and this area would have been in crisis.

    “Thank God, we were able to avert this.  However, having succeeded in nailing the suspect, our next line of action is to hand him over to the appropriate law enforcement agencies for further necessary action.  Though, I have at the same time intimated the relevant government agencies especially, Lagos State Government about the discovery”, Jaji said.

     

  • Man docked for ‘killing’

    A 22-year-old man, Benedict Ogheneorvo, who allegedly stabbed one Emmanuel Jacob to death with an iron from an umbrella, yesterday appeared before an Ebute Meta Chief Magistrate’s Court in Lagos.

    The accused is facing a charge of murder.

    Prosecuting Sergeant Maria Dauda, told the court that the offence was committed on May 18 along Deji Oworu Street, Alapere, Ketu, Lagos.

    Dauda said that the accused stabbed the deceased on the neck to death with an iron from an umbrella.

    She said that the offence contravened Section 221 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos

    The plea of the accused was not taken by the court.

    Chief Magistrate K.O. Ariyo ordered the accused to be remanded at the Ikoyi Prisons pending the receipt of legal advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPPs).

    The case was adjourned till July 31.

     

  • Man, 34, bags nine months jail

    A 34-year-old man, Ebenezer Olusola, is to spend the next nine months in prison for selling Indian hemp.

    Olusola was convicted by a Federal High Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital after he confessed to selling the hard drug to interested consumers.

    Delivering judgment, the presiding judge, Justice Isaq Sani, who read the “confessional statement” of the convict to the open court, ordered that Olusola was found guilty of the charge against him.

    “I have gone through all the evidences before this court as presented by the prosecution, which included the statement of the convict in writing.

    “In the said statement, you, (Ebenezer Olusola) admitted that you started selling Indian hemp to the public since January, 2015 to earn N1,000 daily.

    “Olusola also agreed to this court that he was guilty of the offence by pleading guilty. These and many other evidences have proven you guilty of the offence and you are hereby convicted thereof,” Justice Sani ordered.

    He, therefore, sentenced the convict to nine months in prison without option of fine, commencing from February 25 this year which was his date of arrest.

    Earlier, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) prosecutor, Mr Charles Ugwuja told the court that the convict, on February 25 at Odo-Ori, Igede-Ekiti, in Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Area of Ekiti State dealt in 200 grammes of carnabis sativa otherwise known as Indian hemp.

  • Economic prosperity tops agenda at MAN’s luncheon today

    The need to fundamentally restructure Nigeria’s monetary framework to induce vast expansion in industrial activity with single digit lending rates, increasing employment opportunities and a market-determined exchange rate mechanism, will top discussions at Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) 2015 Business Luncheon for MDs/CEOs, holding today  at MAN Centre Complex, Ikeja, Lagos.

    Renowned economist and industrialist Mr. Henry Boyo will be Guest Speaker at the luncheon organised by Ikeja chapter of MAN. Boyo, who is Managing Director of Cocosheen Nigeria Limited, will be speaking on the theme, ‘Nigeria: the Sensible Road to Economic Prosperity’ He will be joined by Governor of Lagos State Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode as Special Guest of Honour, while Dr. Frank S.U.Jacobs, President of MAN is Guest of Honour.

    In his paper presentation the advance copy of which was made available to The Nation, Boyo will be pushing forward the argument that the economy appears trapped in a paradox of deepening poverty with increasing export revenue because of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) practice of capturing export dollar revenue and substituting naira at its unilaterally determined exchange rate of exchange, before payment of consolidated naira allocations to the three tiers of government.

    Boyo argues that CBN’s conscious, deliberate and misguided payment policy of substituting naira allocations for dollar-derived revenue results in market imbalance, which ultimately weakens the naira exchange rate. He said the challenge of excess liquidity in the system caused by the obnoxious payment arrangement is responsible for the unacceptably high inflation rate, high cost of funds and interest rates.

    “The humongous cash surplus in the system is pitted against less goods and services. The market imbalance drives higher prices, fuel inflation. Inevitably, incomes will buy less and less goods and services. Higher incomes buy less because of the rising general price level. N18,000 wage can now only buy about half of what it could buy initially,” he said, adding that it is also responsible for high cost of funds because in the process of trying to reduce the excess money the CBN out bids the common man or the real sector.

    Boyo therefore, recommended that the earlier Nigeria begins to use dollar certificate or coupons (strictly not cash) for payment of monthly allocations to the three tiers of government the earlier the nation would return to the path economy prosperity.

    The paper explained in graphical terms, for easy comprehension, that with the use of dollar certificate, instead of the CBN getting dollar from the government and substituting it with naira, the bank regulator would rather give the certificates to beneficiaries who would go to banks to change the certificate into naira.

    The economist said by using the dollar certificate, interest rate, inflation and debt rates would come down. “It has so many ramifications, and the earlier it is adopted, the better,” he said.

  • Man docked for alleged theft of turkey, sausage

    A 22-year-old unemployed, Emeka Ifyjerike, was yesterday charged before a Badagry Chief Magistrate’s Court in Lagos for allegedly stealing a carton of turkey and some sausage valued at N9,500.

    The accused, whose address is unknown, is facing a charge of stealing.

    The prosecutor, Inspector Innocent Uko told the court that the accused committed the offence on June 7 at about 4pm at Olowololowo Market at Morogbo area of Badagry.

    Uko said the accused stole the carton of turkey and sausage from the complainant, Mrs Bola Osan at her shop.

    “The accused went to the shop and when he noticed that no one was there, he took a carton of turkey and some sausage from the shop.

    “Before he could run away with it, the complainant saw him and he was caught with the help of some people,” he said.

    Uko noted that the offence contravened Section 285.

    Counsel to the accused, Mr Ayo Makun, pleaded with the court to grant him bail on liberal terms.

    In his ruling, the Magistrate, Mr Abiodun Etti, granted the accused bail in the sum of N20, 000 with a surety, who must provide evidence of tax payment to the Lagos State Government.

    Further hearing in the case has been fixed for August 12.

     

  • Man docked for ‘beating woman to a pulp’

    A 32-year-old man, Emeka Obiora, who allegedly beat his neighbour, Peace Gaius, to a pulp, yesterday appeared before an Apapa Magistrates’ Court, Lagos.

    Obiora, a resident of Ijora-Badia area of Lagos, is standing trial on a two-count charge assault and breach of peace.

    According to the prosecutor, Corporal John Iberedem, the accused committed the offences on May 14 at his apartment in Ijora-Badia.

    Iberedem said the accused unlawfully assaulted Peace by beating her with a plank.

    “Gaius was badly injured by the accused and was taken to the hospital for treatment. The accused claimed that the complainant was very rude to him,’’ he said.

    Iberedem said the offences contravened Sections 54 and 171 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

    The accused pleaded not guilty to the charges.

    According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Section 171 stipulates three years imprisonment for assault occasioning harm.

    The Senior Magistrate, Mr G.L. Hotepo, granted the accused bail in the sum of N20, 000 with one surety in like sum.

    The case was adjourned till July 10 for mention.