Offence
Senator Okorocha: Police still holding two of my political allies
Former governor of Imo State Rochas Okorocha has appealed the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to save two political allies, Casmir Ugbor and Ojukwu Ukonu, who he said were wrongly arrested and linked as suspects of the jailbreak of April 5. The two suspects in police custody, according to a statement the senator released through his media adviser, Sam Onwuemeodo, were arrested alongside their wives for offence he said they never committed. Senator Okorocha claimed that their only offence was that they belong to his political family. The senator has also faulted the police on the date it stated it arrested the duo, insisting that they were arrested three weeks ago and not on May 27 as it now claimed in their recent press statement. Okorocha said: ‘In the press release, we called on the Co...
Nigerian government urged to dialogue with Sunday Igboho
A former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, has advised the Federal Government to dialogue with the Yoruba activist, Chief Sunday Igboho, instead of plotting to arrest or harm him, a situation, he said, portends danger to national stability. Fani-Kayode, in a post on his social media pages on Friday, which he also sent to newsmen, said arresting, detaining or killing Igboho will be the “biggest mistake” that the Federal Government can make. He added that the activist has not broken any law of the nation and that he represents the thoughts and aspirations of over 70 million Yoruba people as he is seen as a hero by the same people. “I will say this just once. The biggest threat to the peace and stability of Nigeria today is the plan by some hardliners in the Federal Government to ...
Ebonyi governor: South East benefited more from APC government than PDP’s 16 years
Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State and Chairman of South East Governors’ Forum weekend, said the South East benefitted more from the Buhari-led All Progressives Congress, APC, federal government than from Peoples Democratic Party’s sixteen years of governance. Speaking to newsmen in Lagos through his Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Barr. Orji Uchenna Orji, Umahi said the Igbo have had a fair-play under Buhari’s administration in terms of economic and infrastructure development. According to him, the N10Billion Airport rehabilitation, the 2nd Niger Bridge, the Enugu-Port-Harcourt Expressway and other infrastructures are pointers to the benefits the South East States are getting from the Buhari administration. “These are indications that this administration is helping t...
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...
Kogi criminalises hawking by children during school hours
Kogi Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mr Wemi Jones, says it is now an offence in the state for a child of school age not to be in school or seen hawking during school hour. Jones stated this on Thursday in Lokoja, at a stakeholders’ sensitisation meeting on the newly enacted Kogi State Education Law. According to Jones, the new law is contained in Section 9 of the Kogi Education Law. ”If any child is seen hawking or doing anything during school hour, that child shall be apprehended by the Special Marshals that will be put in place. “The parent or guardian of such child (must) come to give reasons why the child is not in school, and we are very serious about this,” he said. Jones said that the proliferation of private schools has become a source of concern and worry to t...
Five more suspects arrested over murder of Afenifere leader’s daughter
Five more suspected killers of Mrs Funke Olakunri, 58-year-old daughter of the national leader of Afenifere, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, have been arrested by the police. Recall that the deceased was gruesomely murdered in July, 12, 2019 by suspected kidnappers along the Ore-Lagos highway. The suspects include Lawal Mazaje, 40, from Felele, Kogi State; Adamu Adamu, 50, from Jada in Adamawa State; Mohammed Usman, 26, from Illela, Sokoto State and Auwal Abubakar, 25, from Shinkafi, Zamfara State. Four suspects had earlier been arrested by the police, in connection with the murder case and had been arraigned before the court . They include Muhammed Shehu, 26, Mazaje Lawal, 40, Adamu Adamu, 60 and Awalu Abubakar, 25. They were arraigned on three count charge of conspiracy to kill, murder and kidnappi...
Senate advocates stiffer penalties for employers involved in ill treatment of employees, child labour, others
The Senate on Tuesday, passed for second reading, a Bill which seeks to review the Labour Act to provide stiffer penalties for various offences ranging from ill treatment of workers by employers, modern slavery, child labour to discrimination against women in the work place. The legislation titled ‘A Bill for an Act to amend the labour Act Cap L1, LFN, 2004 to review labour fine and other related matters, 2021,’ is sponsored by Senator Francis Onyewuchi (Imo East). According to the draft Bill, Section 21 proposed a fine of N500,000 and N1,000,000 from the present fine of N800 and N500 for first and second offences relating to “Breach of terms and conditions of employment”, as it relates to the wage hour, nature of employment, leave and contracts of employment, among others. Section 46 also...
ICPC drops forgery charges against ex-presidential aide
File Photo The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has amended the corruption and certificate forgery charges it filed against an ex-presidential aide, Okoi Obono-Obla. The amendment, coming less than two months after Obono-Obla and his co-defendants were arraigned by the commission, reduced the number of counts from 10 to five. The amended charges filed at the High Court of the FCT, in Apo, Abuja, on March 4 and seen by newsmen on Sunday, also revealed that the anti-corruption agency has backtracked on its allegations of certificate forgery sensationally levelled against Obono-Obla in 2019. Obono-Obla, a former special adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Prosecutions, was suspended by the President as the chairman of the Special Presidential Inv...
Juliet Ibrahim: I once suffered depression
Popular Ghananian actress Juliet Ibrahim has opened up that she once battled depression. Ibrahim made this known when she spoke to newsmen on Saturday. She said: “Yes, I have once battled with depression. I am a woman of many stories and that is what makes me who I am. I have had a lot of experiences that I felt I had to share with my ever-growing fan base. Writing my memoir was very therapeutic for me. I honestly did not realise how strong I was until I put together all my experiences in the memoir. I have had experiences that would probably break the average person but I survived. I drew inspiration from the fact that many African women share similar stories and have a lot in common but sadly, have no medium to share these stories. It is always a case of women being judged or stigmatised...
EFCC arraigns three FIRS directors, six other officers for N4.5 billion fraud
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on Thursday, arraigned Peter Hena, former Coordinating Director of Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS and eight other officers of the agency before Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja. The others are Mohammed Bello Auta (Director of Finance), Amina Sidi (Finance and Account department), Umar Aliyu Aduka (Internal Audit), Mbura Mustapha (Deputy Manager), Obi Okeke Malachy (Services Group), Obaje Napoleon Adofu (Head of Budget), Udo-Inyang Effiong Alfred (Officer II) and Benjamin Jiya (Assistant Director) . They were docked on a 42- count charge bordering on corruption, fraud and criminal misappropriation of funds to the tune of N4,558,160,676.9 ( Four Billion, Five Hundred and Fifty-eight Million, One Hundred an...
Bayelsa bans open grazing, vows to arrest armed herders
Bayelsa State Government has enacted a law prohibiting open grazing of livestock in the state. The law, Livestock Breeding, Rearing and Marketing Regulation Law 2021, was signed into law by Governor Douye Diri on Monday at the Executive Chamber of Government House, Yenagoa. Governor Diri said the essence of the law is to ensure harmonious living between cattle dealers and other inhabitants of the state and to forestall the violent clashes being experienced in other parts of the country. His words: “Bayelsa State welcomes all and sundry to eke out a living legitimately. The people of Bayelsa want to have a mutual and harmonious relationship with non-natives and natives. The essence of the law is to avert and forestall any clash between herdsmen, farmers, natives and non-natives as experienc...
NBC fines Channels TV, inspiration FM N5 million each for broadcast code infractions
The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has directed Channels TV and Inspiration FM Lagos to pay a fine N5 million each for infractions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code. Prof. Armstrong Idachaba, the Acting Director-General of the commission, announced this in a statement made available to newsmen on Thursday in Abuja. Idachaba explained that NBC on Monday, April 26, served Channels TV a letter indicating the station’s culpability and liability for infractions of the Code in respect to its broadcast of “Politics Today” of Sunday, April 25. The acting D-G stated that the station violated Sections 3.11.1(b) and 5.4.3 of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code. Similarly, Idachaba said that on May 2, in its World Report, Inspiration FM Lagos aired broadcast of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) maki...