Yoruba ronu !!! South West Has Second Highest Number of Stunted Children In Nigeria - UNICEF

The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has revealed that the south-west has the second highest number of stunted children in Nigeria.  

UNICEF Communication Officer, Blessing Ejiofor, speaking at a meeting on child nutrition in Ogun state attributed the high number of stunted children in the region to acute malnutrition.

She revealed that 19.4% of children in South West are stunted, which is only second to what is obtained in the North.

She said; “However, 19.4 per cent of children in South-West Nigeria are stunted. This figure is worse than the figure for the South-East and the south-south but better than the North as we would see during the presentations. This calls for more work by everyone – government and all of us.

“As agenda setters, we must do more to keep child nutrition conversations on the priority list of those that can act to reverse this ugly trend.

“UNICEF believes that journalists can help set the agenda for action against all forms of child malnutrition, be it severe acute malnutrition or stunting. This, the media can do by creating heightened awareness among leaders and citizens. The media remains UNICEF’s major ally as we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone. - Sahara reporters

Future leaders ! JSS1 student, 56 others arrested during cult initiation

A 15-year-old pupil, Idris, has been arrested by the police in Lagos for allegedly belonging to the Aiye Confraternity.

Idris, a Junior Secondary School one pupil at a private school in the Orile area of the state, was paraded alongside 56 other suspected cult members at the Lagos State Police Command headquarters in Ikeja on Monday.

It was gathered that the suspects were apprehended over the weekend at Elemoro, in the Ajah area by the police and members of a vigilannte group in the community.

They were inside a bush, some distance away from Eleko Beach, Ajah, to perform initiation rites for new members, including Idris, when they were caught.

Two locally-made cut-to-size guns, three live cartridges and 22 expended cartridges were reportedly recovered from them.

Idris, narrating how he was initiated told Punch “a man in my community bought a drink for me. After we finished drinking, he asked me to follow him to Eleko Beach for a party. When we got there, they covered my face and took me inside a bush. They used an object to pierce my thumb and collected some blood.

“As we were about to leave around 4am on Thuursday, I heard gunshots and the police arrested us. I have not been told the name of the cult.”

He said the inscription, ‘Baba Bose,’ tattooed on his chest, was an expression of love for his girlfriend, identified as Bose.

Another suspect, Adedayo Obabiyi, 25, said he and his siblings had attended a birthday party at the beach and were returning home when some hoodlums attacked them.

“They collected our phones and ATM cards and blindfolded us. They took us to an unknown place. When we got there, I heard a lot of voices. They pierced our thumbs,” he added.

The state Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi, parading them lamented the increasing rate of youths’ involvement in cultism.

The CP said, “Based on credible intelligence that members of the dreaded Aiye Confraternity were performing their initiation rites at a shrine in a thick forest in Abule Egbanu, in the Elemoro, Aja area of Lagos, the Divisional Police Officer, SP Mohammed Limawa, mobilised his men. The DPO received support from the undercover operatives of the Area J, Elemoro, and the men of the Anti-Cultism Unit of the command. Together, they stormed the area and arrested 57 members of the notorious Aiye Confraternity.

“Some of them were not in their right senses at the time of the arrest due to drug overdose. Items recovered from the suspects include two Suzuki mini buses with number plates, LND 893 XV and EPE 189 XV, respectively, one Volkswagen bus, one Mitsubishi space wagon marked, SMK 455 AL, and two Toyota Camry cars with number plates, BD 760 DH and LSD 506 EC.” - Daily Post

What herbalist did to woman to get her pregnant with twins

A herbalist, Raji Ibrahim, was on Tuesday arraign before an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court sitting in Lagos for allegedly defrauding a woman of N245,000 on the pretext of giving her herbal pregnancy medicine for a set of twins.

Raji, 48, who lives in Ewekoro, Ogun State, is facing 2-counts of fraud and stealing.

The police prosecutor, Sgt. Michael Unah told the court that the accused committed the offences on January 29 at 2.50p.m. at Ajegunle Bus Stop, Abule-Iroko, a community in Lagos-Ogun boundary, off Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.

Unah said the accused allegedly collected N245,000 from the complainant (name withheld), with the promise to give her fertility herbal medicine for a set of twins.

“The accused fraudulently collected the sum of N245,000 from the complainant with a promise to give her medicine that will enable her to conceive and deliver a set of twins.”

The offences, according to the prosecutor, violated sections 287 and 314 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015 (Revised).

The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the two counts.

In his ruling, the Magistrate, Mr. A. A. Fashola, granted the accused bail in the sum of N100,000, with one surety in like sum.

Fashola said the surety must be gainfully employed, with an evidence of three years’ tax payment.

Further hearing has been fixed for March 19. - Daily Post

Land of fraudsters !!! Ex- banker docked for alleged N733.9m fraud

The Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja on Tuesday ordered that a former employee of Coronation Merchant Bank, Nsa Ayi, be remanded in Ikoyi Prisons over alleged N733,906,951.09 fraud.

Ayi was alleged to have fraudulently and unlawfully debited several customers with the bank to the tune of N733,906, 951.09.

Justice Mojisola Dada of Special Offences Court ordered Ayi to be remanded in Ikoyi Prisons following his arraignment by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

He was arraigned on a 10- count charge of conspiracy, fraud, and falsification of documents among others.

The prosecuting counsel, Nnemeka Omewa, alleged that the defendant on various dates between January 2014 and January 2017 fraudulently debited the bank’s customers using instructions purported to be issued by the bank to them.

He prayed the court to take the plea of the defendant.

However, Ayi, pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against him by the EFCC following which the trial judge ordered that he be remanded in prison.

The EFCC had alleged that the defendant falsified account no 2990001176 belonging to a company, Ogunjemo E Mascot and debited it of N2,029,394 and one Ndubueze Caroline of N8,169,000.00 purporting the instructions to have been issued by the owners of the account.

“The defendant on another occasion  allegedly debited same account to the tune of N172,076,712.33 using an instruction which he purported to have been issued by same company,” the Commission stated. - The Nation

My presidential ambition intact – Duke

A former Governor of Cross River State, Mr Donald Duke, said on Tuesday he has not dropped his presidential ambition.

Duke stated this in a chat with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He said the speculations that he has dropped the presidential aspiration were untrue.

The ex-governor said he has not officially declared for the presidency for strategic reasons.

“Sometime ago, I said I will run for the presidency of the country if the opportunity presented itself.

“Yes, my presidential ambition is still intact. I am only waiting for the opportunity to present itself to make the right move,’’ he said.

Asked on what platform he would run, since he was a member of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s inspired “Coalition for Nigeria Movement (CNM),” he said it was too early to decide on the matter.

He, however, said he was still a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“I am still a member of the PDP, at the same time a member of the coalition which is not a political party.

“The coalition will definitely align with a political party to achieve its goals, otherwise it will make no sense.

“I can’t say yet the platform on which I will run if the opportunity presents itself. We are still watching and will take the right step at the right time,’’ he added.

On the abductions and killings in some parts of the country, Duke described the situation as disturbing.

He urged the relevant authorities to confront the problem head on for the peace and stability of the nation. - The Nation

Supreme Court takes case of death row inmate who forgot the crime

A month after halting his execution, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to take up the case of an Alabama convicted murderer whose attorneys argue should be spared the death penalty because strokes have wiped out his memory of committing the crime.

The justices agreed to decide whether executing 67-year-old Vernon Madison, convicted of fatally shooting a police officer in 1985, would violate the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment bar against cruel and unusual punishment.

The Supreme Court has previously imposed some limits on capital punishment relating to people with intellectual disabilities and mental illnesses.

Madison, who has spent decades on death row, has suffered several strokes in recent years, resulting in dementia and memory impairment, court papers said. He is legally blind, cannot walk on his own and speaks with a slur.

Alabama had previously appealed to the Supreme Court a federal appeals court ruling last year that Madison could not be put to death because his memory loss had left him unable to understand the connection between his crime and the punishment he is due to receive.

Last November, the justices ruled unanimously that Alabama could execute Madison, saying that Supreme Court precedent had not established "that a prisoner is incompetent to be executed because of a failure to remember his commission of the crime."

The case prompted liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, a death penalty critic, to write in a separate opinion that Madison's case illustrated "the unconscionably long periods of time that prisoners often spend on death row awaiting execution."

But on Jan. 25, the high court halted Madison's execution as it considered a request by his attorneys to reconsider the case.

His lawyers said that the state had failed to disclose that a court-appointed psychologist who evaluated Madison had a substance abuse problem and had been suspended from his practice for forging prescriptions, making his findings invalid.

They urged the justices to take the case to clarify whether the Constitution allows someone with dementia and cognitive decline to be executed.

Madison shot Julius Schulte, a police officer in Mobile, twice in the back of the head as Schulte supervised Madison's move out of his former girlfriend's house, according to court papers.

Madison, who is black, was sentenced to death in 1994 in his third trial after his first two convictions were thrown out on appeal for racial discrimination in jury selection and other prosecutorial misconduct. - Reuters

Land of looters !!! I Built My Hotel With Funds Diverted From Nigerian Maritime Agency - Ex-Acting Director General

A former Acting Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Calistus Obi, on Monday admitted that part of the N331million belonging to the agency which he was alleged to have diverted was used to build an hotel.

He made the revelation during his cross-examination at his on-going trial over the before Justice Mojisola Olatoregun of a Federal High Court in Lagos.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had on April 12, 2016, arraigned Obi, alongside one, Alu Dismas, a former personal assistant to the immediate past DG of NIMASA, Patrick Akpobolokemi, and two firms, before the court on an 8-count charge of converting N331 million belonging to agency for personal use.

The two firms involved are:  Grand Pact Limited and Global Sea Investment.

While being cross-examined by the EFCC's lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo, the witness, who was also a former NIMASA Executive Director, Maritime Labor and Cabotage Service, disclosed that he transferred part of the diverted money to a firm known as Seastroke International, which built an hotel for him in Asaba, Delta state.

He however claimed he has refunded the money when asked to do so by the EFCC.

"I used part of the money to build my hotel constructed by Seastroke International. But the money has since been refunded to the EFCC.

"The hotel is located somewhere in Asaba, Delta state. I can't recollect the address now. The building is completed and is already functioning. The title document of the hotel is being processed, but I have the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) and I can produce it before the court", he said.

At this juncture, Obi's lawyer, Wale Akoni (SAN) expressed his disapproval of Oyedepo's questioning his client about the title document of the hotel.

He said: "My lord, I am opposed to this line of questioning by the prosecution's lawyer. The ownership of the hotel is not an issue in these proceedings. The prosecution is only trying to device means of seizing the title document through the back door".

In his response, EFCC's lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo, urged the court to allow him continue with his enquiry about the hotel saying the witness had already admitted deploying part of the allegedly diverted money to building it.

"The witness has admitted that part of the funds allegedly diverted by him was used in building the hotel that is now functioning. At the end of this case, the law as it stands today empowers my lord to forfeit property acquired with proceeds of unlawful activity.

"Section 30 of the EFCC's Act empowers the court to forfeits proceeds of unlawful activity. I urge the court to allow us ask questions that will lead to the recovery of the title document so that it can form part of the court's record", Oyedepo said.

In a bench ruling, the court while dismissing Akoni's objections held that "the questions asked on the title document is in order and the issue of the EFCC trying to forcefully seize it does not arise".

Further hearing in the matter has been adjourned to March 7 by 12noon.

In the charge marked FHC/L/148C/16, the accused persons were said to have committed the offence on August 5, 2014.

They were said to have conspired to convert the said sum which is the property of NIMASA, and knowing same to be proceeds of stealing.

The offence is said to be contravention of  the provisions of Sections 15 and 18(a) of the Money Laundering Prohibition (Amendment)  Act, 2012. - Saharareporters