The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Robert Egbe

  • Guards ‘steal’ diesel from DSTV office

     

    Two guards, Oke Oreyede, 36, and Wilson Emmanuel, 22, on Wednesday pleaded guilty to a charge of stealing diesel from a firm, DSTV, in Lekki, Lagos.

    Oreyede and Emmanuel were charged by the police before Mrs. G. O. Oghie of an Igbosere Magistrates’ Court, Lagos alongside three of their colleagues.

    The other defendants are Adia Godbless, 30, Shola Adeleke, 32 and a woman, Tessy Bitrus, 30.

    They were all arraigned on five counts of conspiracy, receiving stolen property and stealing.

    Prosecuting Sergeant Okete Ejime alleged that the defendants committed the offences on July 19, at about 1:30 pm, at Oniru Estate, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos.

    He said they stole 100 litres of diesel valued at N250, 000, property of a company, DSTV.

    The defendants, he added, were security guards of the company but failed to prevent the item from being stolen.

    “One of the defendants, Bitrus, received the 100 litres of diesel with the knowledge that it was stolen,” Ejime said.

    The court heard that the offences contravened Sections 285, 326, 408 and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

    Godbless, Adeleke, and Bitrus, who denied the charge, were granted N200, 000 bail each with two sureties each in the like sum.

    The sureties must show evidence of two years’ tax payment.

    Magistrate Oghie remanded Emmanuel and Oreyede in prison custody and adjourned the case till August 11, for mention and review of facts.

  • Shonekan’s son ordered to appear in court

    Shonekan’s son ordered to appear in court

    An Igbosere Magistrates’ Court in Lagos on Wednesday ordered Mr Adeboye Shonekan, a son of former Nigerian interim president, Ernest Shonekan, to appear in court following a complaint he made to the police about two men.
    Both men, Lucky Nwene, 38, and Friday Obinna, 37, were arraigned by the police from the Maroko Police Station, Lekki, last May 5, before Miss Olanike Olagbende.
    They are standing trial on a count of breach of peace contrary to Section 166 (C) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
    Prosecuting Corporal Friday Mameh told the court that the offence for which they were charged occurred last March 26, at No. 4, Walter Carrington Crescent, Victoria Island, Lagos.
    He alleged that Nwene and Obinna, both employees of an engineering firm in Victoria Island, entered the premises of Mr Shonekan without any invitation during a social gathering organised by the ex-president’s son.
    He added that the defendants were found sitting in Shonekan’s living room without any lawful reason and their conduct caused a breach of the peace.
    The defendant denied the charge and Magistrate Olagbende granted them bail in the sum of N150, 000 each with two sureties each in the like sum.
    When the matter came up yesterday, the magistrate enquired about the whereabouts of the complainant in the matter.
    She observed that Shonekan, a principal witness in the case, had not put in an appearance in court during the prosecution of the case.
    The Magistrate ordered that a witness summons be issued to compel Shonekan’s appearance in court at the next adjourned date.
    The matter was adjourned till September 21, for mention.
  • NCC seizes N8b pirated works in five years

    NCC seizes N8b pirated works in five years

    The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) has seized 7,918,605 units of pirated copyright works worth N8.113 billion from 256 anti-piracy raids in the last five years.

    The Director-General of the commission, Mr. Afam Ezekude, said this at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) and pre-AGM lecture of the Intellectual Property Law Association of Nigeria (IPLAN) held last Friday in Lagos.

    Ezekude, reacting to the lecture titled: “Intellectual Property Rights and National Development”, stated that in five years, 54 criminal convictions had also been secured against copyright offenders at the Federal High Court in the areas of film, book, music, cable and software piracy.

    The commission is also prosecuting about 172 criminal copyright infringement and civil cases at the Federal High Court, Ezekude disclosed.

    Earlier, chairman of the occasion, former Commissioner, Nigerian Law Reform Commission, Professor Egerton Uvieghara, in his opening remarks, tasked the National Assembly to concentrate more lawmaking than oversight duties.

    He said: “Members of the National Assembly do more of oversight functions than law making,” he said, urging them to “reform the copyright laws so as to ensure Nigeria’s copyright system meets the prevailing needs of the creative industries.”

    “We cannot be talking about development without Intellectual Property put in proper perspective,” Uvieghara added.

    Welcoming members, including lawyers and other stakeholders to the pre-AGM lecture, the out gone President of the association, former Dean, School of Law and Security Studies, Babcock University, Ilishan Remo, Ogun State, Professor Bankole Sodipo, focused on the work that had been done in various sectors of Intellectual Property.

    Mr. Sola Dosunmu, a staff of British American Tobacco (BAT), spoke on Plain Packaging Product versus Intellectual Property Rights while Mr. John Asein, an Intellectual Property Management Consultant, presented a paper on “An Appraisal of the Draft Amendment to the Copyright Act.”

    Mr. John identified non-committal of industry players to the reform process; weak advocacy and competing national issues; slow pace of the legislative process; low level of awareness amongst stakeholders; non ratification of the international treaties as some of the challenges encountered in the process of passage of the bill.

    He urged stakeholders and copyright interest groups to play more visible roles in the formulation and direction of copyright policies, noting that Section on Business Law and IPLAN must work closely with the Nigerian Copyright Commission, Ministry of Justice and the legislature for a well-coordinated reform process.

  • We have video evidence to nail Tarfa – EFCC

    We have video evidence to nail Tarfa – EFCC

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Friday told a Lagos State High Court sitting in Igbosere, that it had electronic evidence to convict Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Rickey Tarfa on the charge of failure to declare his assets.
    Tarfa was arraigned on March 9, before Justice A. A. Akintoye on a 27-count charge, including ‎refusal to declare his assets, making false statements, offering gratification to a public officer and failure to declare his assets in the Assets Declaration Form.
    This suit is different from a two-count charge of obstructing officers of law from carrying out their official duties and attempting to pervert the course of justice, also filed against him by the EFCC, but before Justice Aishat Opesanwo.
    At the resumed hearing yesterday, EFCC counsel, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, told the court that the commission had enough evidence including a video recording of Tarfa’s allegedly incriminating conduct at the EFCC office.
    He said that the embattled SAN was placed under electronic surveillance when he twice declared a wrong age in the age declaration form and when he refused to declare his assets in the Assets Declaration Form.
    “We have electronic evidence of the defendant’s conduct. We are keeping our gunpowder dry while waiting for the trial to begin,” Oyedepo said
    The EFCC counsel made this submission while opposing an application by defence counsel, Anthony Idigbe SAN, to quash the charge against Tarfa for lack of jurisdiction among others.
    The commission filed a 12 paragraph counter-affidavit sworn to by Moses Awolusi, an operative of the agency as well as a written address dated March 21, and urged the court to discountenance all the prayers of the applicant.
    Oyedepo cited a plethora of authorities to back his submissions and said Section 27 of the EFCC Act empowered the commission to investigate and prosecute the defendant for the alleged offences.
    He added that the action of the anti-graft agency was not in any way a contravention of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.
    Besides he said he would also be relying on the record of the court on March 9, 2016, in which the court ordered the registrar to read and explain the charge to the defendant, to which he said he understood and pleaded not guilty.
    Again, he said the agency did not need the fiat of the Lagos State Attorney-General before he could prosecute the defendant because the agency is an independent commission empowered to investigate and prosecute any offence related to economic and financial crimes.
    On the issue of declaration of assets, Oyedepo argued that Tarfa was investigated for offering gratification to a public officer, “therefore the Act imposed a duty on him to declare his assets”.
    Tarfa, who was represented by several lawyers including four had earlier argued, through Idigbe, that the EFCC could not be a complainant, investigator, as well as a prosecutor in the case.
    Idigbe said: “We submit that this is contrary to natural justice, equity and good conscience. This is also in breach of Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution as amended, which requires that every citizen should have fair hearing, in order to guarantee the independence and impartially in every proceeding.
    “The procedure that such charge should get the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP)’s advice was not followed.”
    Idigbe also stated that Sections 172 and 209 makes a provision for compulsory declaration of assets by public officials, but that Tarfa “is not a public official. The charge respecting that cannot be sustained.”
    On his client’s refusal declare his assets Idigbe stated that was the state’s duty to prove its case and that Tarfa had no obligation to provide any fact to an investigator.
    “Any law which compulsorily asks a suspect to declare his assets must conflict with his right to remain silent,” he said.
    Idigbe also accused the commission of duplicity and ambiguity, saying counts one to 27 were mere duplications. The charges, he added, did not disclose when and where the alleged offences were committed, while page 13 was signed by an Assistant Detective Commander rather than a legal officer.
    Justice Akintoye adjourned till April 22, for ruling.

  • Lagos tax officer remanded for contempt

    Lagos tax officer remanded for contempt

    A Lagos State Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday ordered the remand in prison custody of a Lagos State tax official, Mr. Taiwo Ajulo, for alleged contempt in facie curiae (in the face of the court).
    Magistrate A. T. Omoyele made the order after repeatedly warning Ajulo of the consequences of talking back to the court while being spoken to by the magistrate.
    Ajulo, who was not on trial, was invited by the court to shed light on a complaint that the state’s tax office in Alausa may have demanded an unfair sum from two sureties before it would issue them tax clearance certificates.
    Both men had applied to stand as sureties for a businessman, Tunde Kareem, who was granted N1 million bail after pleading not guilty on March 23, to an allegation of the theft of 61 pieces of air conditioners worth N15 million.
    They told the court that they paid N7,500 as tax on their income, a sum they claimed the tax office considered inadequate.
    The sureties, one of whom identified himself as Mr. Anabuike Emeka, alleged in court yesterday that Ajulo had a go-between who obtained the sum of N120, 000 cash from them out of N200, 000 which the tax officer demanded.
    The other surety, who refused to give this reporter his name, told the court that the tax officer and his female go-between asked for N100,000 per surety, but he and his co-surety bargained for N30,000 each.
    “They told us it’s N100,000 each but we bargained for N60,000. Later they said it was N120,000 and we paid. We paid it to the woman,” he said.
    The sureties claimed that they paid the money in cash, but the tax officer demanded that the entire N200,000 must be paid before tax clearance would be issued to them.
    However, Ajulo denied collecting any money from the sureties.
    “We gave them an assessment based on the Lagos State chart. I don’t know anything about any money they paid,” he added.
    Nevertheless, the sureties insisted that they paid N120,000 and one of the sureties showed the court, from his phone, his call log with Ajulo, so as to establish the conversations he had with the tax officer on the matter.
    The magistrate wondered why tax money should be required to be paid in cash instead of through a bank.
    She condemned the practice and told him that it was improper for a tax officer to demand money from sureties.
    “These people have paid tax of N7,500; how much more tax do you want them to pay? Tax is based on income not bail sum,” the magistrate added.
    Ajulo, however, vigorously denied accusation of any fraud on his part, but kept replying the court despite repeatedly being ordered not to.
    “Don’t talk back to the court, that is contempt of court and you will be arrested,” the magistrate warned him sternly.
    But despite hints from prosecuting Police Corporal Cyriacus Osuji that he should obey the order, Ajulo continued to protest his innocence.
    Magistrate Omoyele was infuriated and ordered Corporal Osuji to ensure Ajulo’s arrest for contempt in the face of the court.
    She signed a remand warrant and Ajulo was arrested and taken away.

  • DPO jailed 10 years over fuel subsidy protester’s death

    DPO jailed 10 years over fuel subsidy protester’s death

    Justice Olabisi Akinlade of a Lagos State High Court sitting in Igbosere on Monday sentenced a former Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Mr. Segun Fabunmi , to 10 years in prison for manslaughter following the death of one Ademola Aderintola Daramola during the January 9, 2012 fuel subsidy protest in Lagos.

    Justice Akinlade also found Fabunmi, a dismissed Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), guilty of shooting three other persons – Alimi Abubakar, Egbujor Samuel and Chizorba Odoh, during the protest, thereby causing them grievous bodily harm.

    She sentenced him to five years on this count, but both sentences are to run concurrently.

    Fabunmi, of No. 12 Oyewole Street, Ogudu, Lagos, who joined the police in 1984, was arraigned on May 5, 2013 by the Lagos State government on a seven-count charge bordering on murder, attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm.

    At the time of the incident, the defendant was the DPO of Pen Cinema Police Station, Agege and had led out his men to Yaya-Abatan area of Ogba following intelligence report that there was a disturbance in that area and that hoodlums were breaking people’s windscreens and holding innocent people hostage.

    He had testified that when he got there, there was break down of law and order and that immediately the hoodlums saw him and the seven other policemen on his team, they started throwing bottles, sticks, cutlasses, stones and Molotov Curtails.

    Fabunmi said he was attacked by the mob, during which the rifle containing 60 bullets went off. But he denied shooting the deceased or anyone else.

    The court agreed with the defendant that there was indeed a mob at the scene of the incident, but concluded that his testimonies on whether or how an attempt was made to snatch his AK47 rifle and who fired the weapon were conflicting.