Jungle republic : ’41’ shot dead in Zamfara

Suspected armed bandits have killed at least 41 persons at Birane village in Zurmi local government area of Zamfara state.

According to Daily Trust, the gunmen struck after intercepting a vehicle conveying bridesmaid and traders to the community market.

They reportedly slit the throat of the driver and then opened fire on the vehicle killing all on board.

The armed bandits then proceeded to the community market and started shooting indiscriminately.

The traders scampered for safety as the gunmen continued their assault unabated.

“They arrived in large number and on motorbikes intercepting and killing people who were coming or going out of the village. About 41 people were shot dead within a short period of time,” Hussaini Abdu, a resident, was quoted to have said.

Abdu said a commercial motorbike rider conveying a woman and her three children was killed and his motorbike burnt.

He added that up till now, the whereabouts of the woman and her children remain unknown.

However, Muhammad Shehu, spokesman of the state police command, said the conflict arose after hunters and local vigilantes mobilised and launched a pre-emptive attack on bandits when they heard that they were preparing to attack their community.

He said instead of the residents to give the security operatives timely information to avert the attack they decided to take law in to their hands by going out to confront the gunmen.

“You know Birane is a very remote community. Yet, I can’t tell you the actual figures of the casualties till after the deputy commissioner operations of the command comes back. He, alongside other officers are there to assess the situation and provide additional security measures.” - Cable Nigeria

Man docked for ‘smuggling’ $23,000 concealed inside cake into Nigeria

One Dim Chukwuneye Williams who allegedly attempted to smuggle $23,000 from US into the country by concealing it inside a cake, on Thursday appeared in an Ebute Meta Magistrates’ Court in Lagos.

Williams, who resides in Anambra, is standing trial on two counts of attempting to procure the commission of acts and unlawful smuggle.

He, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The prosecutor, Inspector Oladele Adebayo, told the court that the accused committed the offences on February 8 at No. 6, Gbolade Adebanjo St., Ilupeju, Lagos.

He alleged that the accused had unlawfully smuggled and concealed $23,000 (N8m) inside a birthday cake.

The Chief Magistrate, Mrs. A.O. Ajibade, granted bail to the accused in the sum of N2m, with two sureties in like sum.

Ajibade said the sureties must own landed properties within the court’s jurisdiction and adjourned the case to March 16 for further hearing.

He said the offences contravened sections 406 and 411 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015 (Revised).

Man jailed for pirating Bible

A Federal High Court in Lagos has sentenced a book pirate, Anthony Okojie, to two years imprisonment for pirating Bibles and religious books published by Bible Society of Nigeria (BSN).

Justice Musa Kurya found Okojie guilty of a one-count charge of piracy and sentenced him without an option of fine.

The judgment which was delivered on January 29, was made available to The Nation by the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC).

Okojie’s sentence commences from the day of his arrest, November 26, 2013.

The NCC arraigned the convict before Justice Kurya on November 26, 2013.

Okojie challenged his arraignment but eventually pleaded not guilty to the charge on February 13, 2014.

During trial, the Commission told the court that it received a letter from the BSN on June 12, 2013 alleging that its products (Bibles and motivational books) were being pirated by Okojie at Sango-Ota, Ogun State.

It said it investigated the claim by, among others, making a test purchase from Okojie. On June 21, 2013, NCC operatives raided Okojie’s shop at Ojolowu Shopping Complex along Abeokuta Expressway, Sango-Ota.

They found and confiscated 376 pirated works (Bibles and motivational books) belonging to the BSN following which Okojie was arrested and arraigned.

The prosecution presented three witnesses and tendered several exhibits to establish its case.

But Okojie neither put in a defence nor called any witness, rather, he filed a no-case submission which was eventually dismissed by Justice Kuya.

The NCC adopted its written address and Okojie’s counsel adopted his no-case submission on November 24, 2015.

The trial finally came to an end with Okojie’s conviction and sentencing.

Speaking on the judgment, NCC Lagos Office Director/Zonal Manager Mr. Obi Ezeilo said the agency will continue to fish out copyright pirates and prosecute them.

He warned pirates to desist from such act. Ezeilo affirmed the Commission’s zero tolerance for piracy and warned bookshop operators to ensure that their premises are not used for copyright piracy. - The Nation

SAD !!! Bus crushes man to death in Lagos

A man was killed on Thursday afternoon after he was run over by a passenger bus on the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lane at Irawo Bus Stop, Ikorodu Road, Lagos.

The Nation gathered that the unidentified man was knocked down by a Primero bus as he tried to cross the expressway at 12:10 p.m.

The accident occurred less than 50 metres away from the Irawo pedestrian bridge.

The vehicle with passengers onboard sped off as a crowd gathered at the scene of the incident.

His corpse was put in the back of a truck by onlookers and taken away after lying on the road till 12:42 p.m.

An eyewitness said the man erroneously took the double- lane road, which is used exclusively by the Primero buses, for a one way road.

Another resident of the area, who gave his name as wale, said he was a few metres away from the scene when the man attempted to cross the road.

Wale said: “I live in the neighbourhood. I was standing at the Irawo bus-stop layby when the accident happened. The guy was trying to cross the road, unfortunately the BRT was speeding. Immediately it hit the guy, the guy fell and rolled under the BRT and was crushed. That was how we discovered that he was dead.

“We picked up his phone and tried to call his parents or family but just one person responded. We couldn’t gain access to his phone because it had a password. So, we removed the sim card and put it in another phone. The guy didn’t look properly before crossing and actually, there is a bridge just nearby. This place is not meant for crossing.”

Officers of the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps (LNSC) and the police, who arrived soon after the accident, assisted in crowd control at the scene.

They declined to speak to journalists, but an LNSC official told The Nation that he learnt the man died after falling off a commercial motorcycle (Okada). But this was disputed by those at the scene.

Another witness, who refused to give his name, said: “I just hear noise ‘gba!’ When I look like this, na so I see BRT pass. Na so dem say man don die o. There was no Okada passing by then. It was only that BRT.”

The accident caused a build- up of traffic on both sides of Ikorodu Road.

An attempt by a stick-wielding mob to vandalise Primero buses trapped on the highway was thwarted by policemen from Owode-Onirin Division, Ajegunle.

The Owode-Onirin Divisional Police Officer (DPO), E. Bernard, approached the mob and persuaded them to allow the vehicles to pass. - The Nation

Corruption republic !!! ‘10 Corruption Cases That Can Fetch Nigeria $74.5billion, N2.5trillion’ - Falana

Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has listed 10 alleged corruption cases that can fetch the Federal Government not less than $74.5bn and N2.5trn if prosecuted.

The lawyer said without resolving these high-profile corruption cases in which the funds were trapped, it would seem that the Federal Government was chasing shadows in its anti-graft war.

Falana listed the 10 cases in a paper titled, “Promoting Transparency and Accountability in the Recovery of Stolen Assets in Nigeria: Proposals for Reforms,” which he delivered in Lagos at a seminar organized by a human rights advocacy group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, in collaboration with the Ford Foundation, USA.

Top on the list of the cases, Falana said, was the alleged diversion of $20.2bn from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

He said the details of the alleged fraud were captured in reports by the National Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative covering 1999-2012.

According to him, NEITI concluded that the $20.2bn fraudulently ended up in the hands of some oil companies and agencies of the Federal Government as opposed to being remitted into the Federation Account.

Falana said the alleged $20.2bn fraud at the NNPC and nine other monumental frauds worried him enough that he had had cause to write a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission calling for the probe of the alleged frauds.

He said, “Convinced that the Federal Government was chasing shadows in the fight against corruption, I have had cause to petition the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to open the allegations of corruption which border on crimes against humanity. In the said petition, I alleged as follows:

“From five cycles of independent audit reports covering 1999-2012, the National Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative revealed that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, some oil companies and certain agencies of the Federal Government have withheld $20.2bn from the Federation Account.

“In 2006, the Central Bank of Nigeria removed $7bn from the nation’s external reserves and placed same as a deposit in 14 Nigerian banks. In 2008, the bank gave a bailout of N600bnn ($4bn) to the same banks. Up till now, the CBN has failed to recover the said sum of $11bn from the banks

“On September 6, 2016, the NNPC announced that arrangements had been concluded to recover the sum of $9.6bn in over-deducted tax benefits from joint venture partners on major capital projects and oil swap contracts. The NNPC is said to have recovered the said sum of $9.6bn but has not remitted same into the Federation Account.”

Falana listed as number four, the alleged outstanding sum of $1.9bn “which ought to be recovered from Mobil Oil Producing Nigeria Unlimited and paid into the Federation Account.”

According to him, the $1.9bn is the outstanding sum out of the $2.5bn which Mobil ought to pay the Federal Government for the renewal of three oil blocks.

Instead of paying $2.5bn,  Falana said, “Curiously, the $600m paid by Mobil was accepted by the Federal Government,” sometime in 2009.

He also tasked the Federal Government to demand accountability on the over $4bn recovered out of “the estimated $5bn stolen by a former military ruler, the late Gen. Sani Abacha.”

“The office of the Accountant General should be asked to account for the recovered loot. Furthermore, the moves to recover the remaining loot of about $800m are being frustrated by Swiss and United States governments,” the lawyer said.

He also called on the Federal Government to forthwith comply with the judgment obtained by SERAP at the Federal High Court which ordered the Federal Government to account for the spending of the recovered Abacha loot under the regimes of ex-Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, the late Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan.

Next on Falana’s list was “the $470m contract awarded to ZTE (a Chinese company) in 2009 by the Federal Government for the construction of CCTV cameras in Abuja and Lagos.”

He asked, “Since the contract was not executed, what then has happened to the $470m?”

Falana also wants the Federal Government to take steps to recover the N2.5trn allegedly paid as subsidy by the Central Bank of Nigeria, to a cabal of fuel importers

“Although the EFCC has charged some suspects to court, the whole fraud ought to be revisited as the investigation into the monumental fraud was compromised by the Jonathan administration,” he said.

Again, he urged the Federal Government to take action towards the recovery of $12.7bn from some oil companies, being the value of 60.2 million barrels of crude oil which the oil companies allegedly stole, “shipped from Nigeria and discharged at the Philadelphia port in the United States from January 2011 to December 2014 and were not recorded locally recorded.”

He said, “The EFCC ought to be directed to recover the $12.7bn from the shipping and oil companies that carried out the fraud.

“If the investigation of the stolen crude oil can be extended to other ports in the United States, China, India, France, United Kingdom etc, Nigeria may be able to recover not less than $200bn during the same period.”

Finally, the human rights lawyer said the Attorney General of the Federation, ought to recover the sum of $13.9bn which telecommunication company, MTN “illegally transferred” out of Nigeria.

“The huge fund should be recovered while the economic saboteurs involved in the illicit transfer should be prosecuted,” Falana said.

 He stressed that “it is imperative for the EFCC to conduct an investigation into the colossal fraud and recover the huge proceeds of the economic and financial crimes to the states’ coffers.”

He also tasked the government on the quick passage of relevant laws that would aid the Federal Government in its effort to recover funds looted by corrupt public officials.

One of such laws, which must be urgently passed, he said, is the Proceeds of Crime Bill.

 When passed into law, the bill, according to him, will address the problem of “absence of a forfeiture law in a distinct legal framework in Nigeria.”

Making a case for the passage of the Proceeds of Crime Bill, in his presentation, Falana said, “In view of the urgent need to chart the law in Nigeria in respect to forfeiture of assets in respect of unlawful activities, it is hoped that the National Assembly will pass the Proceeds of Crime Bill into law.”

He said it was regrettable that despite the existence of a treaty such as the United Nations Convention Against Corruption of 2005, some Western nations still held onto funds stolen from Nigeria and kept in their banks.

He flayed the United States of America and Switzerland particularly for maintaining a puritanical stance to frustrate Federal Government’s effort to recover the funds stolen and kept in the country by Abacha.

 “The government of the United States has filed copious objections to the suit filed by Nigeria in Jersey for the recovery of over $3oom of the Abacha loot. The gravamen of the objection is that the fund be released to the United States to manage on behalf of Nigeria.

“In the same vein, Switzerland has insisted that the sum of $321m of the Abacha loot would not be repatriated to Nigeria unless the World Bank would be allowed to monitor the disbursement of the fund.

“Such patronizing attitudes of western governments cannot be justified having regard to the fact that they had connived with a few unpatriotic Nigerian public officials in the grand looting of the treasury of Nigeria,” Falana said. - Punchng

Daddy Freeze reacts after Dbanj declared he pays tithe

Controversial on air personality (OAP), Daddy Freeze, has replied music star, Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo, popularly known as D’banj for declaring that he pays his tithe.

Dbanj had publicly declared telling OAP that he pays his tithe and he does not care what pastors do with it during his performance at Omotola Jalade’s birthday bash.

Daddy Freeze took to his Instagram page to say he is proud of Dbanj for sharing the same ideology with him.

He wrote: “@iambangalee you appreciate my opinion, thank you and I extend you the same courtesy.

“However, you can’t say you don’t care what the tithe is being used for, that’s wrong!

“It’s why Nigeria, that produced the most people living in extreme poverty on earth, according towww.worldpoverty.io also produced the worlds richest pastors according to Forbes, it doesn’t add up!

“Pastors are disobeying Christ by building schools with tithe money, yet poor church members can’t attend, in contrast to Teachings of Jesus who instructed us to love one our neighbors as ourselves, this he said is the the greatest commandment: MAT22-37-40 These same pastors in their uttermost hypocrisy are telling us to obey malachi while they disobey jesus!

“Nigeria with a population of less than 200 million, has 82.8million people living in extreme poverty, far more than India with a population of 1.3billion which has only 81.5 million poor people.

“Tithe is not, was not and will NEVER be a part of Christianity. Jesus never collected tithes, The disciples and apostles never collected tithes either.

“Jesus NEVER collected first fruit offering either…. our first pastors the disciple and apostles didn’t collect it.

“It’s a curse to obey ‘ tithe’ and ‘first fruit’ under the law and disobey the rest of the law of moses.

“Moses brought the law, but Jesus Christ brought grace and truth.- John 1:17.

Tithing is not of grace. It is of the law.- Matthew 23:23.◄ Galatians 3:10 ►

NIV For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written:

“Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.

“◄ Galatians 5 ►[1] So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law. [4] For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.”

Shocking !!! Huge sinkhole swallows cars and forces families to evacuate homes in Rome

Construction work had been carried out nearby for months and residents said they had felt their houses shake in the days before the collapse.

One woman told Italian state broadcaster Rai: “In the last days while the workers were working, I felt the floor of the house tremble and we were very worried.”

Her son added: “We residents feared problems... It is a miracle that there are no injuries.”

About 22 families were evacuated by firefighters following the collapse at about 6pm on Wednesday. Police closed the road and ambulances also attended, although no one is thought to have been hurt.

Evacuated residents will be put up in hotels until safety checks on their apartment buildings have been carried out.

The cause of the sinkhole is under investigation. Repairs were carried out in the area late last month after a large water leak, thought to have been caused by the construction work.

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The Public Prosecutor's Office reportedly launched an investigation into possible criminal negligence. - The Independent 

Terrorism : Again, Fulani Herdsmen attack woman, daughter in Edo

Fulani herdsmen have attacked a woman and her daughter at Ofumwengbe village in Ovia South West local government area for daring to report them to the police.

The woman, Mrs. Patricia Toweh aged 52 and her daughter, Hannah, aged 18 were inflicted injuries with machete.

Hannah had a deep cut in her forehead and right hand while her mother had her left ear severed and a deep cut of her forehead.

Narrating her ordeal to newsmen, Mrs. Patricia said they were attacked because she reported the herdsmen to the police after they destroyed her two hectares of cassava farm.

Patricia said the herdsmen pointed a gun point at her threatening to shoot her dead but she grabbed the gun and they used machete on her.

She stated that her daughter who rushed to rescue her was also attacked.

The victim recalled that in January this year, she complained to the leader of the Fulani herdsmen in Ofunwengbe community Alhaji Jubrin that her farm has been destroyed by herdsmen.

This, she said, led to the arrest of some of the herdsmen at the Police Divisional station in Okada town but one of the suspects, Alhaji Yellow, was later released.

According to her, “The policemen at the divisional station had visited the farm to witness the destruction and later conducted an identification parade of three elderly men which yielded no result.”

State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Babatunde Kokumo who confirmed the incident said that the command has commenced investigation into the matter.

He assured that justice would be done quickly in the case.

“The woman was brought before me today. We are looking into a way to ensure justice is done speedily.” - The Nation

Ramaphosa emerges South Africa President

Cyril Ramaphosa has emerged as President of South Africa, following elections by lawmakers on Thursday.

This is following the resignation of Jacob Zuma from office of Wednesday.

According to Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng,  Ramaphosa was elected without a vote after being the only candidate nominated in the parliament in Cape Town.

Good @ looting !! 150 deputy directors failed promotion exams - Oyo-Ita

At least 150 deputy directors in the federal civil service who sat for promotion examinations in the last three years failed in their bid to move to the next level.

Winifred Oyo-Ita, head of service of the federation, disclosed this at the second permanent secretary’s quarterly breakfast meeting in Abuja on Wednesday.

“Over 290 deputy directors sat for the exams, out of which about 140 were successful,” Oyo-Ita said.

“With this, I am certain, that going forward, the civil service will ventilate itself and officers will be rewarded for hardwork.”

She also said the federal government is working hard to review the current minimum wage of N18,000.

Oyo-Ita said a report would soon be presented to President Muhammadu Buhari on the minimum wage issue.

The head of service said government would continue to provide conducive working environment for workers.

“This meeting also affords the office of the head of the civil service of the federation the opportunity to appraise labour about on-going programme and activities, particularly as it relates to welfare of workers,” she said.

“The permanent secretary, service welfare office has alerted me about some of the concerns of labour which would be discussed at this forum. A number of these issues are already receiving the attention of my office. Very dear to my heart is the issue of conducive work environment for staff. To achieve this, I have recently set up a committee on office allocation and expansion with focus on maintenance, rehabilitation and expansion of office allocations to MDAs.”

She said government was “working vigorously on the implementation of Group Life Insurance for workers”. - Cable Nigeria

Wike arraigned in court for stealing

A middle-aged man, Prince Wike has been arraigned before a Magistrate Court sitting in Choba Community in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State for alleged stealing.

Wike is being accused of stealing items valued at N270,000 (two hundred and seventy thousand naira) including one Laptop, Six IPad, and Flash Drive worth twelve thousand naira.

According to the charge, Prince Wike is said to have committed the act on the 28th of November last year against one Baridaton Nabi, along farm-road within Choba community.

However, the accused pleaded not guilty to the two count-charge and was granted bail by Chief Magistrate Israel Agbaso with N150,000 and a suretee who must be resident within the court’s jurisdiction.

The Chief Magistrate ordered that the accused be remanded in prison custody pending when the bail condition is fulfilled.

The case was adjourned till 6th of March for hearing. - Daily Post

SAD !!! Why I got my daughter pregnant – Father confess‎es

One Mr. Viashima Titus Ukegi, 44, has impregnated his teenage daughter, Mary Doosur Ukegi.

It was gathered that Ukeji, who is an indigene of Awe Local Government Area of Nasarawa, did not enroll Mary in school but rather confined her to doing domestic tasks and looking after his shop.

The SUN reports that Ukegi’s wife, Cecilia Torkwase, died soon after giving birth to their daughter, Mary in 2001.

While recounting how it happened, Mary told the Sun: “We were very close like a normal father and daughter, and I thought he was taking care of me as a father but somehow he became attracted to me.

“Then, one evening, after taking my bath, I tied my towel around my armpit. As I walked through the palour to my room, he looked at me in a particular way and called me to come close. He said he noticed a mark on my neck.

“When I went close, he touched my chest and said something funny. He used to say funny things to me. Later that night when I was about to sleep, he came to my room with biscuits and a bottle of coke and insisted that we take it together.

“As we were drinking the coke, he began to touch me all over my body as we were sitting together on the bed. It was very confusing and I tried to suppress my feelings. He told me how he felt about me and I was shaking.

“Somehow, I knew that what was about to happen was wrong. Then he kissed me for the first time while running his hand over my body. Suddenly he pulled off his trouser and attempted to enter me, because I was still a virgin.

“It was strange and the pain was very much. He took my Vaseline and rubbed on my private part and tried again. He pressed hard and then deflowered me. From then on, we kept meeting regularly. Eventually I missed my period and before I knew it, I was three months pregnant,” she said.

Speaking also on the issue, the father said: “It was a terrible thing that in my mind I was like I was seeing my late wife.