Saraki : The court of public opinion and jungle justice

I am not surprised with supreme court's decision on Saraki. Some people saw it coming. 

Based on available records on saraki's background and padded life history I will not hesitate to say this that Saraki is as guilt as charged in the court of public opinion and jungle justice like a pick pocket caught and burnt openly in Abuja market.

Let him come out clean and present to us A to Z of his life in black and white regarding his activities/roles at the following places.... Society Generale bank, trade bank, his eight years tenure at the helms of affairs in Kwara, intercontinental bank, his hidden offshore activities at Panama, Paris club refund and his current activities at the senate.

Some questions that needed answers are

What is his net worth before joining politics and how did he come about it ??? 

Where are his real investments ??? 

Why did SGB fold up ??? 

Why is hiding money in Panama ??? 

Why has he not declared all his assets ??? 

Why is he after intercontinental bank ??? 

What is his business with Paris club refund ???

Why did he pad his assets declaration form ???

Why is he operating secret cult system in the senate ???

Please don't come and bamboozle us with your fabricated sarakonda rice and all rest if and when you are responding especially when you are campaigning on your dead on arrival presidential ambition. 

This is my take ..... like so many called successful Nigerians, this man is simply a coded criminal. - Irunmole-nla

Nigerian woman nabbed with cocaine in her vagina

David Blessing, a Nigerian woman, who concealed LSD blots and cocaine in her private parts, has been arrested in India.

She was nabbed by the Kolkata unit of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Monday night.

The 30-year-old lady was intercepted the moment she landed in Kolkata from Mumbai at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport around 9.20pm.

Speaking to News18, NCB Kolkata Zonal Head Dilip Kumar Srivastava said, “We had prior information about the lady and accordingly planned our arrest operation.

“Last night our officers got a lead that she was arriving from Mumbai-Kolkata Jet Airways flight. We rushed there and intercepted her.

“During the search, our lady officers found only 20 LSD blots from her bag. But later she took out 12 grams of Cocaine from her private parts.

“She was having pain in her lower abdomen and revealed that more contraband substances were concealed inside her vagina. We immediately rushed her to a nearby hospital where her trans-vaginal USG report confirmed our hunch.”

Preliminary investigations revealed that Blessing was staying in Mumbai for the last two years on business visa and the consignment seized from her possession was meant for a person in Kolkata.

“We have a few more leads and we will interrogate her once she will be released from the hospital. It seems that she is a part of international drug racket,” Srivastava added. - Daily Post

FG to shut third mainland bridge for repairs

Adedamola Kuti, federal controller of works in Lagos, on Tuesday said consultations were ongoing for the closure of third mainland bridge in Lagos for repairs.

The bridge connects the mainland part of Nigeria’s commercial capital to the Island, where many corporate organisations have their head office.

Kuti said the ministry of works would hold a meeting with stakeholders on Wednesday to discuss how to manage traffic during the repairs.

He did not specify the exact date the bridge would be closed to traffic or how long the repairs would last.

He, however, said the bridge may be “shut it by 12 midnight on Thursday and carry out tests and some repairs and open it to traffic by midnight on Sunday.’’

According to him, stakeholders attending the meeting to discuss the repairs include traffic regulatory agencies, transport unions, truck owners and drivers’ unions, law enforcement agents, among others.

In May, the federal executive council (FEC) on approved N18.874 billion for the repair and maintenance works on the bridge.

“The Federal Executive Council has approved the maintenance work on the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos State,” Kuti said.

“The project has taken off already and in carrying out the work, we may at certain times be shutting down the bridge for maintenance.

“At the moment we may begin with tests on the bridge, so, we may shut it by 12 midnight on Thursday and carry out tests and some repairs and open it to traffic by midnight on Sunday.’’

He said six other damaged bridges across the state were already undergoing maintenance and rehabilitation.

“We have contracts on maintenance of some of the bridges in Lagos,” he said.

“We are completing maintenance work on the expansion joints on the Coconut Bridge. We expecting the contractor to start work on the Independence Bridge in Lagos. There is repair work going on currently on the Apapa Bridge, that is, Ijora/Leventis Bridge.

“Maintenance work is ongoing on the Ijora-7up Bridge, we are also changing the expansion joints.

“On the bridge around the National Stadium area, we are putting covers to all the stolen manholes, we are replacing the steel covers from stadium to Costain.”

Kuti added that some tests had been carried out on the Otedola bridge, whose surface was recently burnt during a tanker fire.

He said the tests revealed that the bridge was safe for use and that the contractors would soon attend to the bridge. - Cable Nigeria

Papa deceive pikin !!! PDP stole all Nigeria’s money before leaving power – Tinubu

Bola Tinubu, National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has accused the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of stealing all the money in the country before leaving power.

He made the allegation during Tuesday’s governorship rally in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital.

The former Governor of Lagos State also accused the PDP of causing the nation’s problem through corruption.

“They are shouting that prices have gone up, we say yes because they ate the breakfast of their children.

“If you eat everything in a yam, there will be no food for the children.

“They stole all the money. They talk of high exchange rate. PDP is a party of destruction. It is ‘Poverty Development Party’’’, he said. - Daily Post

Abacha Loot: AGF Malami frustrates probe of $17m lawyers’ fee

Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation (AGF), has resorted to delay tactics to frustrate house of representatives’ investigation of the $17 million lawyers’ fee for the recovery of $321 million Abacha loot, TheCable has gathered. 

Apart from refusing to provide the documents requested by the ad-hoc committee set up by the house, Malami has also decided to use the courts to stall the probe.
A senior official in the ministry of justice told TheCable at the weekend that the minister plans to file a libel suit against this newspaper as part of his overall strategy.
“We will file a suit against you guys, and then inform the house committee that the case is already in court and therefore subjudicel for the committee to continue with its probe,” the official said.

Malami adopted a similar tactic in the probe of the recall of Abdulrasheed Maina, the former chairman of the Pensions Task Force.
He went to court to stop legislative inquiry into the saga, although the committee still went ahead and indicted him.

‘HEIGHT OF INJUSTICE’
TheCable had in April reported how Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance, refused to approve the payment of the dubious fee to the lawyers.
The lawmakers described Malami’s engagement of the lawyers as “height of injustice” and set up a committee to probe the matter.
Enrico Monfrini, the Swiss lawyer hired by the Nigerian government since 1999 for the recovery of the loot, told TheCable that repatriation is dealt between governments and does not entail the engagement of lawyers.

But Malami had engaged Oladipo Okpeseyi, a senior advocate, and Temitope Adebayo, two Nigerian lawyers to do a job that had already been completed by Monfrini.
“I don’t know why the federal government of Nigeria did decide to appoint other lawyers,” Monfrini, who had recovered the funds from Luxembourg and domiciled them with the attorney-general of Switzerland, told TheCable in an interview.

Incidentally, Okpeseyi and Adebayo were lawyers to the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the legacy party of President Muhammadu Buhari. Malami was legal adviser to CPC.
FRUSTRATING TACTICS
“Of course, the AGF is trying to frustrate the investigation,” a source at the national assembly told TheCable.

“From the look of things, they are not happy with the committee. They are not happy the committee was constituted.”
The committee had reached out to the justice and finance ministries, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), accountant general of the federation and the Cable Newspaper Journalism Foundation (CNJF), a partner organisation with TheCable.
While the ministry of finance is yet to submit its report as requested by the lawmakers, the report from the ministry of justice and AGF was rejected because it was not signed by Malami.

“Their report was not properly submitted,” another source within the national assembly told TheCable.
“The submission was not addressed to the chairman of the committee. It was a photocopied document, and didn’t carry the signature of the AGF. Somebody just brought photocopied documents and rushed out, saying he was in a hurry. There is no how the committee can work with such documents.

“When you are asked to bring something, officially, by a constituted authority and you are putting lackadaisical attitude towards that request, it is like you are not happy with the whole thing.”
The committee had given the AGF May 30 to make a “proper submission” but TheCable understands the committee is yet to hear from the AGF.
“We hope they respond before members come back from break,” the source said.
‘NOT READY TO MAKE COMMENTS’
The ministry of justice and the office of the AGF is yet to respond to TheCable’s email asking why the office submitted documents that were not signed by the AGF.

Malami did not answer calls placed to his telephone.
However, he responded to an email enquiry saying: “I am not ready to make any comments on my private email over the matter.”
CNJF had earlier requested from the AGF a copy of the agreement signed with Swiss lawyers for the recovery of the loot.

The AGF did not respond to the freedom of information request, and CNJF had gone to court, seeking an order of mandamus compelling the AGF to make available the information and documents requested from its office pursuant to the freedom of information (FoI) act, 2011.
When contacted for reaction, Abdulrazak Namdas, spokesman of the house of representatives, said he would get back to the TheCable. - The Cable

Primary school headteacher jailed for persuading 16-year-old girl to send sexual pictures

The mother of a girl who fell victim to sexual exploitation at the hands of a primary school teacher, has spoken out about how her daughter’s ambitions of attending a leading university were “shattered” after she exchanged intimate pictures with him.

John Stubbins, a 44-year-old who was head teacher at a school in County Durham was jailed for two years and two months, after admitting to two counts of sexual exploitation.

The victim’s mother told Durham Crown Court how her daughter, who she said used to be an A-grade student, had seen her schoolwork suffer due to the stress of what had happened. 

She said the girl, who was 16 at the time, had lost trust in teachers after sharing intimate pictures with Stubbins. The teenager, who she described as “very private”, “naïve” and “studious” before she met the head teacher, had now developed mood swings, the court heard.

Stubbins, a father of two, had previously admitted to possessing an indecent image of category B, and another of possessing 16 category C indecent images of the teenager. The court heard he had developed a "self-destructive infatuation” with the girl.

Judge Jonathan Carroll ordered him to register as a sex offender for the next 10 years, and said: "Young people are the future of the nation.

"Society depends on teachers and society needs the best of us to come forward as teachers at our schools.

"It is a privilege to hold that trust, and you abused it in a way that would truly offend and shock any right-thinking person."

The judge added that the defendant would have been aware that the offences, which occurred between February and March 2017, were potentially "career-ending".

Describing her daughter, who was not a pupil at Stubbins’ School, as a "very young 16-year-old", her mother said in her victim statement: "She is now really clingy with me and does not go out, in fact I think she had only been out three times this year."

Crying throughout, she added that the teenager, now 17, "has no trust in her teachers and has terrible mood swings".

"Her skin has even suffered from the stress, as a result of what John Stubbins has done to her," the witness added.

Prosecutor Shaun Dodds told how the defendant, of St Cuthbert's Road, Gateshead, had exchanged thousands of messages with the girl.

The court heard how, following his arrest in March 2017, Stubbins was suspended from the school he was working at.

Peter Walsh, defending, said of Stubbins: "He has inflicted severe wounds on himself, and the salt on those wounds is the effect that it has on those around him."

Following the sentencing, a spokesman for the NSPCC said: "Stubbins cruelly exploited his victim and, as a head teacher, he would have known full well the devastating effects that such abuse can have.

"It is vital that his victim now receives all the support she needs to move forward." - Independent

Saraki: I’m surprised by Supreme Court judgement – Prof. Sagay

Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, PACAC, Prof. Itse Sagay, SAN, has reacted to the Supreme Court ruling that cleared Senate President, Bukola
Saraki of assets declaration charges at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, CCT.

The senior lawyer said he was shocked by the court’s decision.

Sagay also said he needed to see the evidence and the law applied by the court in its ruling.

The professor of law, who spoke with Vanguard, said, “The answer is not what I can comment on meaningfully and rationally because I have not read it.

“It is a technical thing, one has to see the evidence and the law the court applied before one can pass any judgement.

“So, I am waiting to get a summary of the judgement at least to have an idea.

“The only thing is that I am a little bit surprised at the decision, but that is nothing when you haven’t seen the evidence, the legal arguments the court used to arrive at its decision.

So, I can’t say anything right now.”

Asked if he suspected a foul play in the verdict, he added, “Even if I suspect it, I will never say it on phone but I don’t know.

“I am just surprised but at times, only those who have details can come to an accurate decision.

“I don’t want to jump into any conclusion because I have not read it.” - Daily Post

Many feared injured as touts clash in Lagos park

Many persons were injured on Tuesday after hoodlums went berserk at the Mazamaza Motor Park in Mile Two, Lagos.

It was gathered that the fight, which almost snowballed into an ethnic crisis between Yoruba and Igbo factions of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) started Monday morning.

Our correspondent learnt that violence erupted after some aggrieved members attempted to impeach the NURTW leader in the area identified simply as Emma.

Their plot, it was gathered, was rebuffed by a faction loyal to the leader, who read  ethnic undertones to it.

According to a driver, violence erupted in no time, with the factions wielding dangerous weapons such as guns and cutlasses.

He said they also set bonfires, forcing motorists and other road users to scamper to safety.

“They were shooting anyhow and using cutlass on each other. From where we sat, we saw some injured people being taken away by their members.

“There was a man who was unconscious and blood was gushing from his head. I do not know if it was gun injury or cutlass,” said the driver.

He said the fight disrupted commercial activities in the axis, adding that policemen came to the scene much later to prevent escalation.

Similarly, a social media user, Theresa Doghor said: “This morning (Tuesday), Mazamaza looks like a place where a war was fought. I asked someone in the crowd and she said, ‘Yoruba and Igbo’

“They must have fought for hours. There are burnt tyres on the ground and no one is selling.”

Another eyewitness, one Mbakwem Uzor said: “Mazamaza First Gate has been on lock down since Monday night. A serious  fight going on with lots of gunshots. Kindly be careful.”

Another eyewitness wrote: “There has been an ongoing fight between Yoruba and Igbo people at Mazamaza near the Young Shall Grow bus park.

“Heavy gunshot has been heard and many injured since Monday night. Please avoid that area for now and people should stay indoors.”
Police spokesman, Chike Oti, a Chief Superintendent  (CSP) could not be reached for comment at the time of filing this report.

However, a police source confirmed to our correspondent that normalcy had been restored in the area.- The Nation