Imprisonment
Court jails three for Facebook scam
Justice C.L. Dabup of the Plateau State High Court sitting in Jos, on Wednesday sentenced three internet fraudsters, Nbubuisi Kerian Ozomba, Paul Obide and Samuel Chukwuebuka Nduchukwe to one-month imprisonment. The trio were convicted for obtaining money by false pretence through the social media platform, Facebook. They were arrested in a sting operation by the Abuja Zonal Office of the EFCC following intelligence on their alleged involvement in an internet-related scam. Investigation revealed that Ozomba created a Facebook Account with the name James Hicks with a profile picture of an American military officer and obtained the sum of $350 USD from Mary Lovely, a Filipino; while Obide (alias Javier Espinal) posed as a military officer from Spain and obtained $2000 from another Filipino, ...
Appeal court affirms sentence of Gombe ex-commissioner
The Court of Appeal, Gombe Division, has affirmed the conviction of a former Commissioner for Culture and Tourism and Chairman of Shangon Local Government Area, Samuel Bulus Adamu. The ex-commissioner had on July 23,2020 been convicted and sentenced to 32 years imprisonment over a case of fraud, cheating and money laundering brought against him by Gombe Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. The lower court had ruled that the EFCC proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and consequently convicted and sentenced Adamu to a cumulative 31 years imprisonment on the seven count charge preferred against him. Adamu, was convicted for awarding N97.64 million contract to a non-existing company, inflation of contract and payment of contractor above his threshold. But diss...
Laurent Gbagbo files for divorce, to end 30-year marriage
Ivory Coast’s former president Laurent Gbagbo filed for divorce on Monday from his wife of three decades, his lawyer said, days after his highly anticipated return to the country. Gbagbo’s lawyer Claude Mentenon said in a statement that after years of “rejected requests for Simone Ehivet to consent to an amicable separation”, the ex-president had asked an Abidjan court for a divorce. The announcement comes four days after Gbagbo returned to Ivory Coast following a decade’s absence, during which he was tried for crimes against humanity during the post-election conflict of 2010-11. Simone Gbagbo wielded significant political influence as first lady, and was arrested alongside her husband in April 2011 after he refused to concede defeat, sparking a conflict that left some 3,000 people dead. G...
Lagos begins plea bargain session for Kirikiri inmates
In an effort to decongest correctional centres, the Lagos State Ministry of Justice on Thursday held a plea bargain session for some inmates at the Kirikiri Maximum Correctional Centre. The plea bargain session was the first of its kind to be held at a correctional centre in Lagos State. Newsmen reports that the previous practice was for counsel to incarcerated inmates to write to the Attorney-General of the state to consider plea bargain agreements for their clients. A total of 27 inmates – 16 males and 11 females – were beneficiaries of Thursday’s plea bargain session. The Lagos State Attorney-General, Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN), the state Solicitor-General, Titilayo Shitta-Bey, and some of the ministry of justice staff kick-started the initiative. The state Directorate of Public Prosecuti...
How love affair gone bad led to imprisonment of Prophet Israel Oladele
When the Lagos State Court of Appeal granted the Senior Shepherd-in-Charge of the Celestial Church of Christ, Genesis Global, Prophet Israel Oladele Ogundipe, a post-conviction bail last week, on grounds of failing health, quite a number of people, particularly members of his congregation, were very happy with the news. This is because the televangelist’s previous bail applications were all turned down. Oladele was arraigned on seven counts bordering on obtaining by stealing, inducing delivery of money by false pretences, unlawful conversion of property and forgery, fraudulently collected N14m and £12,000 in various tranches from the complainant between August 30, 2002 and 2005. He was found guilty on two counts of stealing and unlawful conversion of property not delivered. And on November...
Femi Falana: EFCC can mandate bank MDs, executives to declare assets
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is charged with the responsibility of enforcing the provisions of all laws relating to economic and financial crimes, Africa’s leading human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) has said. Consequently, according to the senior advocate, the anti-graft commission is empowered to cause investigations to be conducted into the properties of any person as stipulated under Section 7 (1) (b) of the EFCC Act, 2004. Also yesterday, Transparency International (TI) argued that if the provisions of the Bank Employees, etc. (Declaration of Assets) Act, 1986 were effectively enforced, Nigeria could save between $15 billion and $18 billion illicit financial flows (IFFs) annually. Falana clarified the roles of the EFCC in a response to inquiries on whethe...
Femi Falana: Bala Mohammed punished Abuja residents for trespassing but defends open grazing
Naijaloaded Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), says Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, while serving as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, demolished people’s houses because they encroached on government land. Falana, therefore, stated that it was funny that Bala could turn around to say that herdsmen have a right to stray into people’s land and reside in forest reserves without government permission. The senior advocate said this in a write-up he sent to newsmen on Saturday. He wrote, “Under the Bala Mohammed administration in the FCT, thousands of houses were demolished on the grounds that they were illegally built on landed properties belonging to the Federal Government. “The ex-minister wanted to demolish the entire Mpape housing over a million people. He had claime...
Two men bag three years in jail for drug trafficking
A Federal High Court, sitting in Jos on Thursday, sentenced two men, Masa’udu Ishaku, 28, and Isiaka Garba, 30, to three years imprisonment each for trafficking 868 kilogrammes of Tramadol. Justice Musa Kurya sentenced the defendants after they changed their pleas to guilty for drug trafficking. Kurya held that since the defendants changed their pleas to guilty, and also pleaded for leniency, he would temper Justice with mercy. “You are hereby sentenced to three years imprisonment each, beginning from the day you were remanded in the Correctional Centre. “This sentence is to serve as a deterrent to other young people out there, who might think of engaging in such criminal act,’’ he said. Kurya, who frowned at the increased cases of young people trafficking hard drugs in the country, pledge...
U.S. threatens to take action against detainers of Myanmar’s president, others
The U.S. has threatened to take action against those responsible for the detention of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, as well as President Win Myint in Myanmar. “The United States is alarmed by reports that the Burmese military has taken steps to undermine the country’s democratic transition, including the arrest of State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian officials in Burma (Myanmar). “President (Joe) Biden has been briefed by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan,” White House Spokesperson Jen Psaki said in a statement. Earlier, Western media reported that Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint were detained along with other members of Myanmar’s ruling party in an early morning military raid on Monday. “We continue to affirm our strong support for Burma’s democratic ins...
Egypt court acquits TikTok stars jailed over ‘debauchery’
An Egyptian appeals court has acquitted two young women imprisoned for “attacking society’s values” over videos they published on TikTok. The women had been sentenced to two years in prison last July for “breaching public morals”. “The court of appeal accepted the appeal filed by Haneen Hossam and Mawada al-Adham against their imprisonment … on charges of incitement to debauchery and attacking society’s values,” a court official said on Tuesday, asking not to be named. Hossam, 20, was acquitted after being jailed for encouraging women among her 1.3 million subscribers to broadcast videos in exchange for money, while al-Adham’s two-year sentence for publishing indecent photos and videos was cancelled. Hossam’s lawyer Hussein El Bakar told Thomson Reuters Foundation that her client, a studen...
DR Congo frees 26 prisoners for Laurent Kabila’s assassination
Jubilation at the Makala prison in Kinshasa Friday as Congolese president Felix Tshisekedi pardoned at least 26 men, who were convicted for planning the assassination of ex-president Laurent Kabila in 2001. They include Colonel Eddy Kapend, a prominent figure, Nono Lutula, a former special advisor on security and Leta Mangasa, and a former head of the National Intelligence Agency. Tshisekedi freed the men through a presidential decree read on state television over the weekend. He said the pardon was out of “humanity, compassion and national reconciliation”. The ex-Congolese president, Laurent Kabila was assassinated at the presidential palace in Kinshasa on January 16, 2001. Despite a long probe into his murder, the exact circumstances of Kabila’s assassination is still in contention. Seve...
Olisa Metuh leaves Kuje prison
Former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, has been released from Kuje prisons following the court judgment that upturned his conviction. Newsmen gathered that Metuh left the prison about 4.46pm. on Thursday. Metuh was joyful, according to one his close aides who spoke with newsmen after he left the correctional faciility at Kuje where he had been held since February 25, 2020. “Yes, Oga has just left about two minutes ago,” one of Metuh’s aides told newsmen. He was seen off by the FCT Comptroller of Correctional Facilities and the head of Kuje Correctional Facility. Metuh was sentenced by Justice Okon Abang to seven-year imprisonment on the allegation of money laundering on February 25, 2020. However, the Court of Appeal penultimate Wednesd...
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