The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nigeria Newspapaer

  • Breaking: Kidnapped Lagos Fire Service boss, others freed

    Kidnapped Director of Lagos State Fire Service Rasaki Musibau and six others have been released, the police said Wednesday morning.

    They were released at about 11:45pm inside the forest where the kidnappers kept them by a joint security force.

    Already some suspects have been arrested in the operation still ongoing in the forest at the time of this report, The Nation gathered.

    The victims were kidnapped at about 8pm on April 6 along the Ikorodu-Epe Expressway while on their way to Lagos.

    According to the statement by police spokesman Bala Elkana, a Deputy Superintendent (DSP), they were released unhurt and have been reunited with their families.

    Read also: Police confirm killing of 21, rustling of 50 cows in Kajuru Attack

    “The victims have since reunited with their families. The command’s tactical teams are still in the creeks and forests combating the hoodlums.

    Water-tight security measures are emplaced across the state to forestall future occurrence. “The command deeply appreciate the supports of Lagos State Government and the good people of Lagos who stood by us and also provided useful information that facilitated the prompt rescue of the victims. Together we will continue to make Lagos State one of the safest states in Nigeria,” he said.

  • Man to die by hanging for killing girlfriend in Ondo

    An Ondo State High Court sitting in Akure has sentenced a man, Chukwudi Onweniwe, to death by hanging for killing his undergraduate girlfriend two years ago.

    Onweniwe, had strangulated his girlfriend, Nifemi Adeyeoye, an HND student of Rufus Giwa Polytechnic to death in Owo, Ondo State.

    After reviewing the case, the presiding judge, Justice Ademola Bola, found Onweniwe guilty of murder and sentenced him to death by hanging.

    The convict was charged on four-count charge bordering on endangering life, abduction, rape and murder.

    The prosecutor, Jumoke Ogunjebi, who filed the charge on February 20, 2017, called five witnesses, including the mother of the deceased, to testify against the convict.

    The convict abducted Nifemi and took her to a farm near Alayere, Ogbese, raped her and then snuffed life out of her by strangulating her to death.

    Nifemi’s mother, who testified before the court, said her daughter had told her she was going to visit her friend on the fateful day.

    According to her, she did not know the convict though he was said to be her daughter’s boyfriend.

    Besides, the bereaved mother said she did not see her daughter again until policemen invited her to come to the mortuary to identify a corpse whether it was her daughter.

    Two motorcyclists who saw the duo together on that day also testified in the case and one of them told the court that he carried them to a spot in town.

    Delivering his judgement, Bola said Onweniwe was arraigned before the court on May 22, 2017 and he had entered a “not guilty” plea when the four-count charge preferred against him was read to him.

    The judge said that an autopsy was carried out by Dr. Pelemo of Ondo State Specialist Hospital, Akure.

    Pelemo, which revealed abnormal state of the deceased’s neck and fracture of the skull.

    He explained that it suggested that the deceased had been attacked by an object with a blunt edge which led to her death.

    The police witness, Inspector John Aderibigbe, said one of the motorcyclists who testified in the case had come to report the suspicious movement of the convict and the deceased at the police station.

    He explained that the case was later transferred to the Special Anti-Cultism Squad in Akure.

    The judge said the convict had confessed to the officers of the squad according to the testimony of one Ayoola Famoriyo and had taken his team to the spot where he hid the corpse of the deceased.

  • Anarchy looms in Rivers, CSOs cry out

    Members of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Port Harcourt, Rivers state on Monday took to the streets to protest against the continuous stay in office of the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Obo Effanga.

    The groups, identified as the “International Society of Social Justice and “Human Rights and Advocate for Justice International”, were led by Dr. Jackson Omenazu and Young Bassey.

    The duo led their supporters in a joint protest to the operational offices of some security agencies in the state urging them to appeal to  INEC to redeploy Effanga to avert looming crisis.

    The CSOs took their protests to the Director for Security Services (DSS) and the Nigeria Police.

    They accused the INEC in the state of partisanship, insisting that his continuous stay in the state will spark anarchy and further deaths in the state.

    Addressing their hosts at different offices, the leader of the protest, Dr. Omenazu said, “We are here to present a letter of protest to the Police Commissioner on what we have observed as civil society organization, about the conduct of the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), in the state.

    “As law enforcement Officers, we believe you are saddled with responsibility of prosecuting any erring government agent that has compromised his or her office.

    “Our findings have indicated that the state REC, Obo Affanga’s actions and inactions may throw the state into unimaginable crisis, Anarchy looms in the state because of his conducts and we are calling on the CP to please for the sake of peace, avert the anarchy that is looming in the state by calling the REC to order.

    “When an electoral umpire becomes bias, it is a catalyst to anarchy and we don’t want anarchy in this state any more. Rivers state has had engulfed in crisis, enough blood has been shed.

    “We don’t want to see him; Rivers people don’t want to have anything to do with him anymore. INEC headquarter should please send in another REC that will conduct free and fair elections so that Rivers people can have peace.

    “His continuous stay and presiding and superintending over elections in this state is a call to anarchy and the only way to avert it, is for him to leave the state in peace,” he insisted.

  • Court to decide ex-SEC DG, Gwarzo’s fate on April 12

    A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Maitama has scheduled ruling for April 12 to determine whether or not to uphold the no-case submission made by suspended Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mounir Gwarzo and an Executive Commissioner in the agency, Zakawanu Garuba.

    Gwarzo and Garuba are being tried on an amended five-count charge filed by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC).

    They are accused of misappropriating public funds estimated at N115million and conferring corrupt advantage on a public officer.

    The defendants resorted to making a no-case submission at the conclusion of the prosecution’s case.

    Lawyers to the defendants, Abdulhakem Mustapha (SAN) and Robert Emukpoeruo, as well as prosecution lawyer, Raheem Adesina, adopted their written submissions on Monday, following which the trial judge, Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf fixed April 12 for ruling.

    Mustapha (for Gwarzo) urged the court to uphold his client’s no-case submission and hold that the prosecution has failed to lead sufficient evidence to warrant requiring the 1st defendant to enter a defence.

    He said the no-case submission was brought under sections 302 and 303 of the Administration if Criminal Justice Act (ACJA).

    Mustapha argued that the prosecution failed to make out any prima facie case against his client. He added that the evidence adduced were all contradictory.

    He noted that the prosecution, in its written address in opposition to the submission, relied on the law on certain political office holders, but admitted that SEC was not listed in the law.

    Mustapha urged the court to dismiss the charge, and discharge and acquit the 1st defendant.

    Emukpoeruo (for Garuba), argued in similar vein and urged the court to discharge and acquit his client.

    In his counter-submission, Adesina urged the court to dismiss the defendants’ no-case submissions and order them to enter their defence.

    Adesina argued that there was the need for the defendants to explain to the court where they get the severance package from since there was nowhere in Exhibit ICPC 3 before the court where severance package was mention.

    According to him, there was no single word of severance benefit in the SEC Board resolution if July, 2002 (Exhibit ICPC 3), adding that what was approved and collected was severance benefit when the first defendant never retired from SEC.

    Earlier, Adesina informed the court about an amendment to the charge, following which the defendants took fresh plea and pleaded not guilty.