A Chief Magistrates’ Court sitting in Kano, on Wednesday ordered the remand in a correctional facility of a 35-year-old man, Sani Rabiu, for alleged sodomy.
The defendant, who lives at Kofar Waika Quarters Kano, is being charged with ‘unnatural’ offence.
The Prosecutor, Miss Asma’u Ado, informed the court that defendant committed the offence on Aug. 5, at Kofar Waika Quarters, Kano.
Ado alleged that on the same date at about 10:30 a. m, the defendant deceived and lured a 10-year- old boy into his living room situated at Waika Quarters and had anal sex with him several times.
According to the prosecutor, the offence contravenes Section 284 of the Penal Code.
However, the defendant denied committing the offence.
Magistrate Mustapha Sa’ad-Datti, ordered that the defendant be remanded in correctional centre pending receipt of the State Director of Public Prosecutions’s advice. NAN
A Wuse Zone II Magistrates’ Court, Abuja, has fixed Aug. 31 for the arraignment of two staff members of the Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority (OGFZA) for alleged forgery and falsification of documents. Magistrate Mabel Segun-Bello fixed the date through the hearing notices issued and delivered to parties in the suit by the bailiff in accordance with Order 3, Rule 7 of the court. The two staff members, who are defendants, include Mr Wasiu Sule, the Head of Legal Services and Secretary to OGFZA’s Board and Mr Alenju Ngofa, who is the Human Resource Head of the organisation. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the court had earlier fixed July 23 for their arraignment following the suspension of the 64-day industrial action embarked upon by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) but the absence of the trial judge stalled the proceeding. The court had, on March 16, gave the Commissioner of Police, FCT Command, three weeks to produce the defendants for arraignment. The court gave the order after counsel to the nominal complainant, Nkereuwem Akpan, informed the court that the accused persons had evaded service of court processes on them despite several attempts. The magistrate then fixed April 26 for their arraignment but the JUSUN strike action hindered the sitting. NAN reports that while the complainant is Mr Olufunmilayo David Omosule, the 1st and 2nd defendants are Sule and Ngofa respectively. The magistrate also gave the police commissioner the go-ahead to investigate the defendants on allegations levelled against them. NAN reports that OGFZA and Omosule had been locked in legal battle over the legality or otherwise of the plaintiff’s suspension, following his petition against some management staff of the agency on alleged corruption. Omosule had alleged that the defendants wilfully and maliciously distorted his records “to appear as though he does not possess any requisite qualification to be employed at OGFZA or any qualification at all to be considered for promotion.” He said their action was tantamount to forgery and falsification of documents contrary to Section 363 and 364 of the Penal Code, which is detrimental and injurious to his person. The agency had via a letter dated April 18, 2011, suspended Omosule as the manager of its Abuja office, on the grounds that he refused to comply with its letter dated Dec. 3, 2010, which had directed him to present the originals of his credentials for verification. Omosule, however, refuted the claim of the authority, stating that he made available to the organisation, Certified True Copies (CTCs) of his educational certificates /credentials, including GCE ‘O Level certificates and degree certificates as instructed. Omosule had claimed that the originals of his credentials were misplaced in untraceable circumstances as at 2010 when the report to submit originals was made. The claimant also averred that the CTCs of his certificates submitted to the agency were certified by the issuing institutions, which included West African Examination Council and the University of Ado-Ekiti, then Ondo State University, Ado-Ekiti respectively. The claimant is therefore seeking the court ‘s declaration that he was still a staff of the organisation and entitled to all the rights, privileges and benefits due to him by reason of his employment. He is praying the court for an order directing the defendant to reinstate him to the position of a director, on grade level 17, a position he claimed his contemporaries were currently. Omosule is equally seeking for the order of the court to direct the agency to pay all his outstanding salaries, benefits and entitlement since 2011. In addition, he is asking the court to order the organisation to pay him the sum of N50 million as exemplary and general damages.(NAN
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), yesterday, drilled the immediate-past governor of Bayelsa State and senator representing Bayelsa West in the National Assembly, Seriake Dickson.
The grill follows the invitation by the Commission over allegations bordering on abuse of office and misappropriation of public funds during his eight-year rule of Bayelsa state, between 2012 and 2020.
The former governor, who arrived at the headquarters of the EFCC in Jabi, Abuja, at about 11am, was still being grilled as at the time of filing this report by operatives of EFCC.
Though details of the allegations against the governor were sketchy, a source familiar with the case disclosed that they relate to issues of assets declaration and misapplication of intervention funds and other assets belonging to the Bayelsa State government.
Wilson Uwujaren, spokesman of the EFCC confirmed the invitation of the former governor.
Meanwhile, Dickson has dismissed allegations bordering on his assets declaration and misapplication of state funds in a petition filed by a non governmental organisation (NGO) as ‘frivolous’, insisting that his family assets were acquired in 2007 with loans.
In a statement, yesterday, the former Bayelsa governor said: “About two weeks ago, I received an invitation from the EFCC to clarify some issues relating to asset declarations as alleged by an NGO.
“On account of our busy schedule at the time, I wrote to inform them and we agreed to reschedule the interview for today.
“As a law abiding citizen and with a life long commitment to supporting law enforcement and security agencies, I honoured the invitation today as rescheduled. I understand that the subject matter of the inquiry relates to investments of my family trust, which I incorporated while being a member of the House of Reps, to hold my family assets and investments which were made between 1996 and 2012 before I became governor.
President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered Nigerian military to subdue perpetrators of the ongoing massacre in Plateau.
Despite heavy troops’ presence in the state, scores of indigenes have been murdered in recent weeks.
The marauders attack in broad daylight, steal, kill, rape and destroy farmlands.
Communities in Riyom and Bassa Local Government Areas are worst hit.
In one of the invasions, on July 31, 5 locals died and 85 buildings set on fire at Jebbu Miango.
The Army scrambled a rebuttal after some natives declared that Maj.-Gen. Ibrahim Ali, the General Officer Commanding 3 Division in Rukuba, was on an “evil mission”.
Ali, Commander of the Special Task Force, Operation Safe Haven (OPSH), was accused of acting on an “order” to wipe out the Miango chiefdom.
It was gathered that the President approved a special operation after a comprehensive security report by the National Security Adviser’s office.
General Ali conveyed the directive on Monday while addressing the troops deployed in Tangoron community of Riyom LGA.
“The Commander-in-Chief, President Muhammadu Buhari has asked us to gun down anybody seen carrying illegal weapon and we must carry out the order.
“Those people must be criminals. You have to go into the bush and clear them wherever they are hiding”, he said.
Ali further disclosed that the time frame for the operation is ten days.
The GOC visited some areas in Miango and Biyei attacked by the killers.
The Niger State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mohammed Idris, was on Sunday kidnapped by gunmen at Baban Tunga village of Tarfa Local Government Area of the state.
The Secretary to the State Government, Ahmed Matane, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria in a telephone interview on Monday.
Mr Matane said that the gunmen who came on about fifteen motorcycles with sophisticated weapons kidnapped the commissioner at about 11 p.m. during a downpour in the area.
He said that the kidnappers had yet to make contact.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Wasiu Abiodun, confirmed the incident to NAN and promised to provide more details later.
The Chief Press Secretary to the governor of the state, Mary Noel-Berje, also confirmed the development in a statement on Monday.
“The commissioner was said to have been kidnaped by bandits at about one o’clock in the early hours of today from his home at Baban Tunga village in Tafa Local Government of the State.
“Security agencies are however already trailing the bandits with a view to apprehending them,” the official said.
The people of Ndiaga Amechi Awkunanaw, in Enugu South Local Government Area of Enugu State have sent an SOS to the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Baba Alkali over incessant harassment of the villagers by the officers of the SWAT, Force CID, Abuja.
In a petition to the IGP, they said the SWAT operatives had laid siege on the community and had been on a prowl, hounding every member of the community.
The petition was signed by the legal representative of the community, Barr. V.C. Nwadike.
Enquiries showed that the issue bordered on land dispute between two parties in the community.
In the petition, the community said, “we have, however, now become aware that this unfortunate vendetta was orchestrated against the community by Mr. Kingsley Eze, in order to forcefully take over our communal/ancestral land.
“We are equally aware that the law permits us to defend our property, just like any other owner of a property, against any forceful or unlawful takeover of same, and we cannot therefore be annihilated, completely wiped out or jailed because we resisted abusive use of a few compromised mobile police officers on illegal duty, who were hired and gave themselves out as hirelings and whose presence on the land is clearly to support the greedy, acquisitive tendencies of a land grabber who has selfishly instigated and unleashed them (SWAT, FCID, Nigeria Police Force, Abuja) against the community.”
They disclosed that in the morning of August 4, 2021, “a contingent of SWAT invaded the land in question and chased our members away from their land, apparently for the purpose of putting the land grabber in possession of our land. We are raising this alarm to appeal to the Inspector-General of Police, who is known for professionalism and respect for the rule of law and respect for human rights, to call these officers to order, bearing in mind that it doesn’t fall within the purview of the Police Force to dabble and decide issues bordering on land.
“We consulted with our lawyers and they had written to the Inspector-General of Police, against the use of various police units by the land grabbers to harass and intimidate members of the community, including the use of some mobile police officers assigned as personal guards to the land grabber, and it appears that the more we complain the more emboldened and reckless they have become, in their invasion of the community with force and arms.
“We don’t want any disruption of peace, law and order or bloodshed in our community, hence this clarion call on the IGP to stop this abusive use of members of the SWAT, Abuja and ensure an impartial and unbiased policing that can inspire confidence in, and respect for the Police.”
Meanwhile, one of the counsels to the community, Barr. Ike Ozo further told journalists that he was surprised the police could wade into a purely civil matter and was using the same to harass the villagers.
He noted that, “it is very strange to some us to hear that the police are intervening in a very civil matter that is devoid of any cloak of criminality; what is in contention between the parties is that some dissident group is not comfortable that my clients were appointed by the villagers to be the land committee.”
He said the party instigating the case had earlier gone to the media to make spurious claims, stressing that all their claims were punctured.
He added that rather than follow the law to press their claims, they had now resorted to the crude use of the police to harass and intimidate innocent villagers.
“Recently, they went to court and brought a civil suit before an Enugu State High Court where they are seeking for declarative reliefs and injunctions against claims. We are yet to join issues with them because our time is still running, when we heard that they have invited the police from Abuja to intervene in a land dispute that has nothing to do with any criminal issue.
“So, we are really shocked to hear that the people from Abuja have been here for days harassing the people. They came down to Enugu and are harassing innocent, decent citizens of Enugu State, just because they are managing their ancestral lands, and which they have authority to manage. The much they can do is go to court, which they have done in suit No. E399/2021, where they are challenging the authority of our claims,” the lawyer said.
He recalled that the other party earlier went to court and lost, leading to a fresh election which brought his clients in as the managers of the said communal land.
“So, we have every authority both legally, judgement wise and by the authority of the community to really be in charge of the management of this ancestral land.
“I have not seen anything our client has done to warrant police intervention, rather this is one of the areas of police rascality in operations,” he declared.
In the meantime, a community leader, Mr. Nnaji Sunday, and wife of one of the detainees, called on the police and the Enugu State Government to stop a reign of terror on their community.
At the moment, it was gathered that a detachment of police mobile force 76 from Nsukka were guarding the land, a development described by the community and their lawyers as unlawful.
They urged the IGP to order that they vacate the land immediately.
Suspected gunmen on Friday evening killed a man in Ekiti State and kidnapped his wife and daughter whom they took to an unknown destination.
The deceased, whose identity was yet to be ascertained, was said to be travelling in company with his wife and daughter in a Lexus 330 Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) along Ewu-Ayetoro-Ekiti road in Ido/Osi Local Government Area of the state, when the gunmen rained bullets on his vehicle.
Although rumours had it that there were five people in the vehicle, the Police Public Relations Officer, Ekiti command, Sunday Abutu, countered the claim, saying they were only three.
It was gathered that the occupants of the vehicle, who were said to be guests at an occasion in the area were returning home when they were waylaid by the bandits.
A source said: “The man and the family were returning to their base when they were waylaid. The victim was shot in the head and chest.
“They didn’t take the vehicle; they only left the man’s body while other people in the vehicle were taken away.
“There was a pool of blood inside the Jeep and this made people to suspect that those who did the work were kidnappers.”
Confirming the incident, Abutu added that the sympathisers could not do much to save the victim, as he died on the spot.
“The report we got is that the family was traveling along that route and suddenly some suspected gunmen fired gunshots at them, killed the husband and took away the wife and their daughter.
“The police have mobilised to the spot and are combing the surrounding forests with other agencies like the Amotekun Corps, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, local hunters and vigilance groups.
“Killing and kidnapping are two evils all of us as patriotic citizens must join hands with security agencies to defeat.
The Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) BEECROFT has arrested one Joseph Udodigwe, Director, JI Promotion Ltd., and five other staff members of the company for allegedly extorting unsuspecting members of the public.
The Commander of NNS BEECROFT, Commodore Bashir Mohammed, said this in a statement on Friday in Lagos.
Mohammed said that the arrest was done by NNS BEECROFT security patrol team popularly known as ‘OPERATION MESA’ on Wednesday, Aug. 4 , at Nnamdi Azikiwe Street, Idumota on Lagos Island.
According to him, preliminary investigation by the patrol team revealed that Udodigwe, in collaboration with his cohorts, forcefully collected money from passers-by and customers using the company’s Point Of Sale (POS) service.
“Additionally, Ji Promotion Ltd., disguised as a gaming and betting spot where customers are deceived to pay for prizes they have allegedly won without being given,” the Commander said.
Mohammed also said that some of the items used by the fraudsters to lure and defraud unsuspecting citizens were recovered, upon conduct of the raid by NNS BEECROFT patrol team.
“These items include: two 17’’ coloured ultra slim LG TV sets, one national star iron, one firewheel kerosene stove model 33, one 21 FU9RB LG TV set and one DVD Home Theatre System.
“Others are: one ZH950 Abro gasoline generator, one Sunikko wall clock, one bus side mirror, one wrapper pack of paper, one bus spare tyre and four new packs of materials, two small bags with and without clothes, one track suit and two short wooden benches.”
Commodore Mohammed warned non-conformists breaking the law and order of the state to desist from such, while he said that he had handed over the suspects to the Police for prosecution.
He said that the Chief of Naval Staff, (CNS) Vice Adm. Awwal Gambo, was committed to supporting other law enforcement agencies in eradicating illegalities within NNS BEECROFT’s maritime and land area of responsibility.
“Therefore, the NN will not rest on her oars in carrying out this task,” Commodore Mohammed said. (NAN)
Eyewitnesses on Friday revealed that armed robbers that attacked two commercial banks in Iree, Osun State, walked customers out of the premises before they attacked the banks.
Three of those who were on the premises of the United Bank for Africa and Access Bank located side by side on Iree/Ikirun road, also told City Round that the robbers numbering over 20 asked them to leave the premises because they didn’t want to injure anyone.
“They told all of us not to struggle with them and they walked us out of the premises before they commenced operation. They launched attacks on the two banks at the same time. Some of their men also cordoned off the Ikirun/Iree road to prevent attack while the operation lasted. They arrived at the banks some minutes after 4pm and operated unhindered for over 30 minutes. They later fled in four vehicles through Iree/Ada road,” one of them who spoke on condition of anonymity told our correspondent.
A reliable security source also told our correspondent that the robbers took Ada/Igbajo road and tried to connect Imesi-Ile to escape to Ekiti State when a hunter blocked them in a forest in Igbajo and forced them to abandon their vehicles.
He added that a combined security team comprising policemen and men of Hunters Group of Nigeria chased after the robbers who fled into the bush.
Also during the attack, one Jelili Dauda, a constabulary was reportedly killed at the Iree Divisional Headquarters by the robbers.
Four other civilians shot by the robbers were said to be receiving treatment in different hospitals within the state. Dauda, 30, is survived by two wives and three children. He was reportedly killed with explosives after several bullets fired at him did not penetrate.
His elder brother, Lateef Dauda, in an interview with City Round said the deceased demonstrated uncommon bravery, describing his death as “painful and devastating.”
He said the deceased had been buried according to Islamic rites at Iree Muslim Cemetery, calling on the police and well-meaning Nigerians to assist the late Jelili’s family.
Giving an update on the robbery on Friday, Osun State Commissioner of Police, Wale Olokode, said the robbers threw improvised explosive devices and fired several shots into the station located beside the affected banks.
He said, “Before the attack, some IEDs were thrown into our station to incapacitate the police and at the end of day, one constabulary was killed. They attacked the locations simultaneously. The three places came under attack almost the same time, meaning that the robbers would have been about 20. Unspecified amount of money was taken away and the armed robbers operated in four vehicles. At the approach of policemen, the armed robbers fled. They later abandoned their vehicles and entered the bush on foot.
A magistrate court in Yola, Adamawa state, has remanded Aminu Yar’Adua, son of the late former President Musa Yar’Adua, over the killing of four people in an auto crash.
Yar’Adua, a student of the American University of Nigeria (AUN),Yola, was charged with causing death by dangerous driving.
In the police first information report (FIR) tendered in court by Zakka Musa, the prosecutor, the 36-year-old, while driving along Yola by-pass on June, 23 2021, was said to have been over speeding and in the process, crushed six people with his vehicle.
According to NAN, the report said four of the victims were killed in the accident while the other two were injured, with the victims all hailing from Sabon Pegi, Yola south local government area.
“Those that died in the accident were identified as; Aisha Umar (30), Aisha Mamadu (32), Suleiman Abubakar(2) and Jummai Abubakar (30), while, Rejoice Annu (28) and Hajara Aliyu(27) sustained injuries,” the report reads.
According to NAN, the prosecuting officer told the court that the relatives of the late Aisha Umar, Suleiman Abubakar and Jummai Abubakar had demanded the sum of N15 million from the defendant as compensation.
But when the FIR was read to the defendant on Thursday, he denied committing the offence and described the allegation as untrue.
The prosecutor then asked the court to adjourn the matter to enable him duplicate the case file and forward to the department of public prosecutions (DPP) for legal advice.
Jummai Ibrahim, the magistrate, granted the prosecution’s request and adjourned the matter till August 19 for further mention.
The magistrate also ordered that the late president’s son be remanded in prison until the next adjourned date.
