The Nation Newspaper

Tag: MAN

  • Man hits woman with hammer

    A 56-year-old man, Patrick Amam, was yesterday arraigned before an Apapa Magistrate’s Court in Lagos for allegedly hitting a woman, Nanya Dutse with a hammer on her forehead.

    Prosecuting police Corporal John Iberedem told the court that the accused committed the offence on May 6 at his residence.

    Iberedem said Amam unlawfully assaulted Dutse, “causing her bodily harm.”

    “The complainant said she mistakenly poured part of the water she had fetched from a well on the body of Mr Amam’s wife who was standing by the same well. Dutse said Amam’s wife did not give her the opportunity to apologise to her, only for Amam’s wife to be shouting and insulting her.

    “The complainant said the woman went into her apartment and reported the matter to her husband who came out with a hammer in his hand. Dutse said the accused did not even listen to her side of the story, instead he pushed her away and hit her on her forehead with the hammer,” Iberedem said.

    The prosecutor said the offence contravened Section 171 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

    The accused pleaded not guilty.

    Senior Magistrate G.L. Otepo granted the accused N50,000, bail with one surety in the like sum and adjourned the case till May 18.

  • Man remanded for theft

    Man remanded for theft

    Chief Magistrate Abimbola Komolafe of an Ikeja Chief Magistrate’s Court has ordered a 58-year-old man alleged to have stolen a N120,000 phone to be remanded in prison custody pending the advice of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).

    The prosecutor, Inspector Eramus Nnamonu, alleged that the defendant used a toy gun to rob one Chief Omololu Adegbuyi.

    Peter, whose residence is unknown, was said to have committed the offence on February 24, this year at Gbagada Junction, Lagos.

    The accused was arraigned on a one-court charge of stealing before Magistrate Komolafe.

    According to the Police Prosecutor, Inspector Nnamonu, the offence was contrary to  Act, Cap. 398 vol. XX11 of the Federation of Nigeria 1990 as amended.

    However, when the charge was read to the defendant,  he pleaded not guilty to the one count charge preferred against him by the police.

    But Chief Magistrate Komolafe rejected his plea, saying that the court would wait for the advice of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP).

    Subsequently, the prosecutor urged the court to remand the accused, pending the advice of the DPP.

    The court granted his request and ordered the defendant to be remanded in prison custody.

    Chief Magistrate Komolafe adjourned the matter till June 4, this year.

  • Man ‘steals’ N5, 000 with friend’s ATM card

    A 20-year-old man, Sunday Jerry, was yesterday arraigned before a Badagry Chief Magistrate’s Court in Lagos for allegedly stealing N5,000 with a snatched  automated Teller Machine (ATM) card.

    Prosecuting police Inspector Innocent Uko told the court that the accused committed the offence on March 29 in his apartment.

    He said the accused used the ATM card belonging to the complainant, Mr Adeshola Folayegbe, to withdraw N5, 000 from his account.

    According to him, the accused and the complainant are friends.

    “The accused and Folayegbe are close friends and they live in the same apartment. So he had access to his ATM card because of their closeness. He stole the ATM card while his friend was sleeping and sneaked out of the house to withdraw N5, 000 from his account.But unfortunately for the accused, his friend got a debit alert via his mobile phone on the transaction,” Uko said.

    The offence contravenes Section 285 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

    The accused pleaded not guilty.

    His counsel, Mr Debo Adewale urged the court to grant him bail, he would not jump bail.

    Magistrate Abiodun Etti granted the accused N50, 000 bail with a surety who must provide evidence of tax payment to the Lagos State Government.

    The case was adjourned till May 4.

     

  • Man, 31, in court for alleged N53.6m theft

    A 31-year-old man, Kehinde Lateef, on Monday appeared before a Tinubu Chief Magistrate’s Court in Lagos for allegedly stealing N53.6 million from Sterling Bank.

    Lateef, a former student of Lagos City Polytechnic, lives at 16, Igbeyin Adun Street, Ikorodu, Lagos.

    He pleaded not guilty to the three-count charge of conspiracy and stealing.

    Prosecuting Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Chidi Okoye, however said Lateef committed the offences with others, who are now at large, on February 22, at Sterling Bank Headquarters on the Marina in Lagos.

    He said the accused stole N53.6 million by making illegal transfers online through the bank’s Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBBS) Instant Payment platform from two customers’ accounts.

    “The accused was able to gain access to the bank’s system because he was a student on industrial attachment in the year 2013 at the time of the fraud. He made the illegal transactions to accounts domiciled in other banks,” the police said.

    Okoye said the transactions were blocked when the bank discovered the illegal transfers.

    “While N52.5 million was salvaged, N1.1million was already withdrawn by Lateef and his syndicate. After thorough investigations, Lateef was apprehended after two years,’’ he said.

    According to the prosecutor, the offences contravene Sections 285 and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

    Magistrate A.O. Awogboro granted Lateef N200, 000 bail with two sureties in the like sum.

    He adjourned the case to May 6.

  • Man accused of impersonation

    Man accused of impersonation

    A 52-year-old man, Ikechukwu Ubana, has been arraigned before the Oshodi Magistrate’s Court in Lagos for allegedly impersonating an Army Lieutenant.

    The charge reads: “That you Ikechukwu Ugbana on March 30 at about 8am at Ikorodu Road Mile 12 Lagos in Ikeja Magisterial District did impersonate to be a serving Lieutenant of the Nigeria Army by showing an identity card no: 53245 with F/No NA/53/245 and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 77 (b) of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State.

    “That you Ikechukwu Ugbana  on the same date, time and in the above mentioned Magisterial District did unlawfully be in possession of identity card with Nigerian Army Logo, bearing Captain Nwoseh Ifeoma  F/No NA 251998, card no. 580690 and Ugbana Identity card no. 53245, F/NO. NA/53/245 and thereby committed an offence punishable under section 328 (d) of the criminal Law of Lagos State.”

    The defendant pleaded not guilty.

    Magistrate Akeem Fashola granted him N100, 000 bail with one surety in the like sum.

    He ordered that the surety must be the defendant’s relation and must show evidence of tax payment for three years.

    Magistrate Fashola adjourned the matter till April 28.

     

  • Manufacturing sector’s capacity utilisation averages 52%, says MAN

    Capacity utilisation  in the manufacturing sector in Nigeria has remained at an average of 52 per cent over the last 12 months, the umbrella body of manufacturers in the country, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN)  has said.

    Its President, Dr Frank Jacobs, who spoke at the weekend in Lagos, said the manufacturing sector remained the major driver of economic growth in the country, adding that its contribution to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) stood at 9.2 per cent.

    He, however, warned of dire consequences for the economy if the Federal Government fails to urgently take steps towards diversifying the revenues base of the country as the fortunes of oil prices, the mainstay of the economy, continue to witness a major downturn.

    He said if the government could sustain with its broad-based incentives, the possibility of capacity utilisation of the manufacturing sector improving further is high, noting that manufacturing sector’s contribution to GDP leaped from 6.81 per cent reported after the rebasing exercise to 9.2 per cent.

    “Manufacturing is growing strongly, despite power deficit. The manufacturing sector is a much bigger, faster-growing sector under the new series,” he said.

    He said manufacturers have continued to demonstrate their belief and confidence in the economy through their continued investment in the sector. Major areas of investments include; plants and machinery/spare part, land and building vehicles, furniture and fittings as well as new construction of other infrastructures.

    Jacobs warned that a country that is largely dependent on one source of revenue, such as Nigeria, runs the risk of operating an economy that is dictated by external market forces.

    Quoting the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) he said: “The nation’s economy still depends heavily on the oil and gas sector, which contributes 82.9 per cent of export revenues, 70 per cent of government revenues and 11.2 per cent of the GDP in 2013.”

    According to Dr. Jacobs, despite the country’s oil wealth and the relative improvement in the GDP growth, the United Nations Human Development Index (UNHDI) revealed that poverty was widespread, with over 67.9 per cent of the population living on less than $2 a day in 2013/14.

    He argued that years of deficient planning and adverse policies led to the misdirection and under utilisation of the nation’s huge resource endowment, saying “These resources have not been effectively utilized to yield maximum economic benefits. This is one of the primary causes of unemployment and poverty in Nigeria.”

  • Man of the people

    It was a hard fought battle. President Goodluck Jonathan and Gen Muhammadu Buhari threw everything they had into the contest. Being the incumbent president, Dr Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had an almost inexhaustible war chest to prosecute his campaign. Name it; money, men and materials, he had them all.

    But, Gen Buhari, an ascetic man by nature, did not have the president’s kind of resources. What he had going into the March 28 presidential contest was enormous goodwill. Many believe in Buhari because of his clean public record. They see him as the kind of leader that our country needs at this point in time. Nigeria is at a crossroads and many Nigerians feel that we need a man of Buhari’s character to take us out of the doldrums.

    A vote for Gen Buhari was therefore a vote for the transformation of Nigeria. The election was Gen Buhari’s to lose. Even though nothing is 100% sure in elections, it was clear as daylight that Gen Buhari would carry the day in the March 28 poll. It was not an easy ride to the presidency for Buhari though. Thrice he contested between 2003 and 2011 and thrice he lost not because he did not have what it takes for the job, but because his time had not come.

    Gen Buhari was fourth time lucky yesterday and his luck may yet rub off on Nigeria. Expectations are high from his fellow countrymen, who have been at the receiving end of bad leadership in the last few years. Nigerians will be impatient with him because of what they are going through under the outgoing President Jonathan. But we need not blame the president too much.

    The president’s men failed him and the country. They were given an opportunity to serve their fatherland, but they failed to discharge this enormous responsibility to the best of their ability. They were interested in power, but were not ready to  give commensurate service. They were more interested in the perks of office and not the job itself. By the time of the election, Nigerians were fed up with the Jonathan administration. There was nothing they wanted more than for the president to go, with or without election.

    When the election was shifted from its initial February 14 date to last Saturday, the electorate felt bad. They wanted nothing to stop them from exercising their rights to pick a leader of their choice.The six-week postponement on supposed  security ground did not save the president from defeat. Rather than stop the Buhari momentum, the shift fuelled the people’s anger against their president.

    With the outcome of the election they have forgotten all about the postponement, which delayed their election of the man they believe would bring back smiles on their faces. Truly, these are not the best of times for our dear country, which is in dire need of  purposeful leadership, and the electorate chose Buhari over Jonathan because they see that quality in him.

    Nigerians rejected President Jonathan at the polls because he lacks what it takes to reinvent Nigeria. For six years, he could not lay hands on the Nigerian problem, yet he wanted to remain in office. Gen Buhari’s emergence as president-elect, some will say, calls for celebration because it is the dawn of a new era, but painfully there is nothing to cheer about his election because things have gone bad, damn too bad in our country for too long. It is a time for us to ponder over the Nigerian project because the incoming president and his team have a lot of work to do.

    The mood of our country to
    day does not call for celebra
    tion as such, rather we should be full of prayers for the incoming government. Gen Buhari needs our prayers to succeed. After giving him our mandate, it will cost us nothing to support him with prayers in the enormous task of taking our country to greater height. We cannot end this without commending President Jonathan for his show of sportsmanship in conceding defeat even before Gen Buhari was formally declared winner. With his action, Dr Jonathan has shown that he truly loves Nigeria.

    As he prepares to leave office, we wish him all the best and pray that in the next few weeks to his exit, he will work closely with Gen Buhari to ensure a smooth transition. It was Gen Buhari’s lot, as military ruler,  to save us from a drifting democratic government in 1983 and he delivered. Thirty-two years after, fate has, again, thrust on him the arduous job of repairing the country. May God guide him right. Congratulations, Mr President-elect.

     

    With elders like Orubebe…

    The show of shame was watched globally last Tuesday. As Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman Prof Attahiru Jega was about starting the business of the day at the National Collation Centre (NCC) where results of the March 28 presidential election from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were being collated,  former Niger Delta Minister and failed governorship aspirant Godsday Orubebe, who calls himself an elder, took the floor after being recognised. He and his accomplice, Col Bello Fadile, having seen the handwriting on the wall that their candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan, would lose decided to go for broke.

    As if possessed, Orubebe started by pouring invectives on Jega. Jega, he claimed was partial. According to him, the INEC chief refused to receive their petitions challenging the elections in Kano, Katsina, Kaduna and Jigawa states, whereas Jega immediately raised a panel to probe the All Progressives Congress (APC) complaints about Rivers State election. Fadile stoked the fire, saying that he brought the petition, which Jega refused to accept. He also accused Jega of giving the election  results to APC before releasing them.

    In the face of it all, Jega, who apparently knew their game plan, was cool and calm. When he spoke, he cut both men to the size. To Fadile, who is known to work with National Security Adviser (NSA) whose office engineered the curious six-week extension of the elections, Jega said : “I have not seen any results, I have not given anybody any results. For you to engage me on that issue, I think frankly it is not fair to me… how can I speak on something I have not seen”.  The one who calls himself an elder looked so ordinary after Jega finished with him. “Let us be careful about what we say or do and let us not disrupt a process that has ended peacefully and in a matter of hours, we will be able to finish it. Mr Orubebe, you are a former minister… you are a statesman in your own right, you should be careful about what you say or what allegations you make and certainly you should be careful about your public conduct”. With elders like Orubebe, how can the church and society grow? As for Fadile, we leave him to his conscience, that is if he has one.

  • Man arraigned for allegedly defrauding Nestle of N100m

    Man arraigned for allegedly defrauding Nestle of N100m

    A 48-year-old man, Giles Nwokolo, was yesterday charged before a Magistrate’s  Court sitting in  Ikeja for allegedly defrauding Nestle Foods Nigeria Plc of N100 million.

    Nwokolo was arraigned before Chief Magistrate Abimbola Komolafe on a five-count charge bordering on conspiracy, fraud and stealing.

    Prosecuting police Inspector Eranus Nnamonu, alleged that the defendant fraudulently tricked Nestle Foods Nigeria Plc to pay him N100 million, an amount said to be greater than the value of services he rendered to the company.

    According to the charge sheet, the defendant, being a staff of Fobim Investment Ltd, with intent to defraud Nestle Foods Nigeria Plc, fraudulently forged some terminal invoices used in collecting terminal charges from the company.

    The charge stated, “That you Giles Nwokolo, being a staff of Fobim Investment Limited, sometime between 2009 at Fobim Investment Limited, No. 23 Caulcrick Crescent Apapa Lagos in the Lagos Magisterial District, did steal about N100 million, property of Nestle Foods Nigeria Plc.”

    Nnamonu said the offence is punishable under Section 278 of Criminal Code Cap 42 Laws of Lagos State.

    However, when the charge was read to the defendant, he pleaded not guilty.

    Magistrate Komolafe granted him bail in the sum of N1million with two sureties in the like sum.

    He ordered that the sureties must be blood relations and must show evidence of tax payment for the period of three years.

    She, thereafter, adjourned the matter till April 23, for hearing.

  • Police arraign man for robbery

    A 23-year-old man,Damilare Oshikoye, has been arraigned before an Ikeja Chief Magistrate Court for alleged robbery.

    Oshikoye was arraigned before Chief Magistrate Mrs A.O Komolafe on a two-count charge  bordering on conspiracy and robbery.

    The prosecutor, Eranus Ibekwe Nnamonu,  an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP),  told the court that the defendant and others at large, conspired amongst themselves to commit felony to wit; robbery and thereby, committed an offence, adding that the offence was committed on February 28, at field Powerline, Odogunyan,  Ikorudu Lagos State.

    According to him, the defendant and others at large on the same day robbed Chinyere Nwanko of one Blackberry Touch 2 valued N17,000, a Nokia Asha phone valued N13,000, a woman handbag valued N3,000 and also cash sum of N110,000 totalling N143,000.

    The prosecutor told the court that the offences committed are contrary to and punishable under Sections 409 and 295 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria 2011.

    The defendant pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to him.

    Chief Magistrate Komolafe granted him a N100,000 bail with two sureties in the like sum and who must be a blood relation.

    The sureties must also have evidence of tax payment within the last three year, swore to an affidavit of means and also verification of sureties addresses.

    She adjourned the case till April 30, 2015.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Man, 20 arraigned for stabbing friend

    A 20-year-old-man, Sunday  Afolabi, has been arraigned at a Lagos Chief Magistrate Court for allegedly stabbing his friend, Badmus Taiwo.

    Afolabi is facing a two -count charge bordering on conspiracy and felony before Chief Magistrate Mrs. A.O. Komolafe.

    The prosecutor, Eranus Ibekwe Nnamonu, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, (ASP),   alleged that the defendant and one other said to be at large, unlawfully inflicted wound on Badmus Taiwo by stabbing him on his chest with a broken knife which caused him harm.

    The prosecutor said the offence was contrary to and punishable under Section  244 (a)  of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2011.

    Nnamonu also alleged that the defendant and one other at large, came together to commit conspiracy and felony and thereby committed an offence contrary to  Section 409 and punishable under Section 404 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria, 2011.

    When the charges were read, the defendant pleaded not guilty.

    Chief Magistrate Komolafe consequently granted him bail in the sum of N30,000 with two sureties in like sum.