Police rescue stolen corpse in Imo

Imo State Police Command on Thursday paraded two suspected criminals who stole a female corpse and demanded N5 million ransom from the owner of the morgue.

The suspects, Chukwudi Chukwu and Bethel Ibe both from Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo State, were reported to have burgle into the Jesus Hospital Mortuary also in Ikeduru and carted away the corpse whose identity was concealed from journalists.

They thereafter contacted the owner of the morgue, Prince Bright Njoku and demanded for ransom.

But the Police busted their hideout, arrested them and rescued the corpse before the ransom could be paid.

The State Commissioner of Police, Dasuki Galadanchi, paraded the suspects and the corpse at the Police Headquarters in Owerri.

Meanwhile operatives of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the Imo police command have arrested the suspected killers of Rev Fr. Jude Egbom of St Patrick’s Catholic Parish, Amucha in Njaba Council Area of the state.

The Reverend Father was shot dead on Monday night along Nkwerre- Anara road and his vehicle stolen .

Parading the suspects, Chigozie Uzoukwu,33 and Peter Ochokwu, 21, the Commissioner of Police, said the suspects were arrested in hideout in Nkwerre.

Galadanchi who decried the killing of the cleric, said that “no murderer goes unpunished”.

He disclosed that he activated the Tactical Units of the Command to nab the fleeing criminals immediately after they committed the heinous crime.

According to him, “the efforts of the Command paid off with the arrest of the two suspects,recovery of the Priest’s vehicle and traveling bag”.

He revealed further that one of the suspects, Ochokwu, was an ex convict who had spent one year in Owerri prison for alleged involvement in an armed robbery case.

The CP said “on September 11 at Owerri Nkwoji in Nkwerre LGA, Imo state ,F-SARS operatives led by CSP Godfrey Victor on a tip off arrested two suspects in connection with the murder of Rev Fr Jude Egbom. ”

“The suspects are one Peter Ochokwu, 21, of Umuibu in Owerre Nkworji Nkwerre LGA and Chigozie Uzoukwu ,33,of same address.

“A black Toyota Corolla with registration No FKJ 984 EV suspected to belong to the hoodlums who robbed and murdered the Cleric was recovered.

“Interestingly, one leg shoe was found in the abandoned car of the Rev. Fr.the second leg of the shoe was found in the Toyota corolla of the suspects. Some of the property belonging to the victim was found in the house of one of the suspects”. - The Nation

Political imbecile !! 2019: I will do greater things as PDP governor – Ortom assures Benue people

The Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, on Thursday assured people of the state that his administration was committed to taking the state to “greater heights of development.”

This was disclosed by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Tever Akase, at PDP state secretariat in Makurdi, the state capital when he met with the party’s spokesperson, Bemgba Iortyom.

In a statement sent to DAILY POST, Akase said Ortom remained “focused on the task of overcoming the numerous economic and security challenges confronting the state.”

Akase added that the heartwarming signs were already showing, pointing out that the regular payment of workers salaries since January this year has proven that the Benue State Government is determined to clear the arrears of salaries.

He noted that the PDP stands for people-oriented development, adding that “Ortom is one of those who built the party in the state and would work assiduously for its victory at the general elections next year.”

Akase, who added that Ortom was happy to return to the party, noted that the PDP was known for “many good things, and it is a political party, which encourages those who win elections on its platform to perform creditably instead of encouraging godfatherism and impunity.”

He described the critical role PDP played in promoting good governance while in the opposition, saying he was in the office of the state Publicity Secretary of the party to “demonstrate their resolve to synergize and deepen information dissemination in the interest of the state.”

Also speaking, Iortyom thanked the Chief Press Secretary for the visit and assured him of a harmonious working relationship.

Iortyom, while commending the governor for the decision to return to the party, observed that there was “renewed vigour in the manner the Governor has been addressing development challenges facing the state since his defection from APC.” - Daily Post

Court orders DSS to pay Jones Abiri N10m over illegal detention

A federal high court sitting in Abuja has ordered the Department of State Services (DSS) to pay N10 million in damages for the illegal detention of Jones Abiri, a Bayelsa-based journalist.

Abiri, publisher of Weekly Source Newspaper, was in July 2016 arrested by the DSS.

He was accused of heading the joint revolutionary council of the Joint Niger Delta Liberation Force, threatening oil companies and demanding money from them.

Abiri was arraigned for the first time in July following public outcry, and was granted bail in August.

He had asked the court to compel the federal government to pay him N200 million as compensation for spending two years in detention.

In the application, Abiri said the DSS violated his rights and tortured him.

Ruling on his case on Thursday, Nnamdi Dimgba, the presiding judge, said the federal government had no right to detain Abiri for two years.

Dimgba described Abiri’s detention as an outright conviction.

“Having taken his statement, the applicant should have been arraigned,” Dimgba said.

The judge said the federal government’s claim that Abiri was detained in national interest was baseless.

He said the federal government should have filed a suit against the defendant and prayed the court to refuse him bail.

Dimgba said it was left to that the court to use its discretion in determining whether Abiri should be granted bail or not. - TheCable

US Plans to Pay Mexico to Deport Unauthorized Immigrants There

President Trump has promised for years that Mexico would pay for a vast border wall, a demand that country has steadfastly refused. Now, in the Trump administration’s campaign to stop illegal immigration, the United States plans instead to pay Mexico.

In a recent notice sent to Congress, the administration said it intended to take $20 million in foreign assistance funds and use it to help Mexico pay plane and bus fare to deport as many as 17,000 people who are in that country illegally.

The money will help increase deportations of Central Americans, many of whom pass through Mexico to get to the American border. Any unauthorized immigrant in Mexico who is a known or suspected terrorist will also be deported under the program, according to the notification, although such people are few in number.

Katie Waldman, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said the program was intended to help relieve immigration flows at the United States border with Mexico.

“We are working closely with our Mexican counterparts to confront rising border apprehension numbers — specifically, a 38 percent increase in families this month alone — directly and to ensure that those with legitimate claims have access to appropriate protections,” Ms. Waldman said.

A spokesman for the Mexican Embassy did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment.

The plan, which has been debated internally for months, is part of a broader push by the Trump administration to redirect billions in foreign assistance to other priorities. The administration has yet to spend nearly $3 billion in foreign aid, money allocated last year by Congress with broad bipartisan support. Hundreds of millions of dollars meant to help stabilize Syria and support Palestinian schools and hospitals has already been redirected.

While the administration has made several announcements about not spending on priorities Congress intended, it has mostly kept quiet about what it will do with the money. But it has long been frustrated that Congress provides billions for foreign aid while refusing to fund its immigration priorities. The money will be transferred from the State Department to the Department of Homeland Security, and then sent to Mexico.

“Congress intended for this money to lift up communities dealing with crime, corruption and so many other challenges, not to expand this administration’s deportation crusade,” said Representative Eliot L. Engel of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “I want answers about why the State Department thinks it can ignore Congress and dump more cash into deportation efforts. Until then, I’ll do whatever I can to stop this.”

The maneuver is the latest by the administration to reduce the number of immigrants crossing the southwestern border. The most prominent piece of the effort has been the “zero tolerance” policy to criminally prosecute any immigrant who enters the country without authorization. That led to the widely criticized practice of separating children from their parents at the border, which spurred a humanitarian and political crisis for Mr. Trump.

But the president’s advisers have also employed other strategies to deter immigrants, including revamping the rules surrounding who can qualify for asylum and trying to strike an agreement with Mexico that would disqualify any migrant who had not sought asylum there from claiming it in the United States.

Under the program, Mexico would be responsible for detaining and providing judicial review of immigrants before deporting them. The sometimes cumbersome and lengthy legal process in the United States to deport asylum seekers has long frustrated Mr. Trump, who has often said the laws must be changed to speed deportations. Getting Mexico to do deportations instead would bypass that process.Immigrant advocacy groups called the deportation aid for Mexico a misguided and wasteful use of money that would fail to address the problems prompting migrants to travel to Mexico and the United States in the first place.“We shouldn’t be paying another country to do our dirty work; we should actually be fixing our immigration system and helping these countries get back on solid footing,” said Ali Noorani, the executive director of the National Immigration Forum. “It smacks of desperation.” - The New York Times

Children from Calais Jungle camp living in UK granted right to remain by Home Office

Children from the Calais Jungle camp now living in the UK will be granted a new right to remain by the Home Office.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid will grant certain youngsters a new status to give them continued access to study, work and the NHS until they can apply for citizenship in ten years’ time.

This new “Calais leave” status will be seen as a clear attempt by Mr Javid to cast off the damaging “hostile environment” image presided over by Theresa May when she was Home Secretary.

A Government source said today: “It strengthens the right to stay of children pulled from the camps in Calais in 2016.”

More than 750 unaccompanied children were brought to the UK from the makeshift camp after severe criticism that the Government was not doing enough to provide refuge. Around 550 went to live with family already residing in the UK. 

Over the past two years the majority of the children were given the right to remain in the UK under existing international protections such as asylum, humanitarian protection and refugee status. However a small group fell through this gap.

The Government has now stepped in to create a new form of leave to regularise their status and protect their rights in the future. After ten years they can apply for British citizenship. 

A source said: “Some of those children did not qualify for international protection under current rules. To ensure all these children can stay here, we are bringing forward a new form of leave.”

Unaccompanied children from the French port town camp included Syrian and Afghani nationals. They were brought to the UK after outcry from MPs that the Home Office should allow them to reunite with their families.

The camp was demolished by the French authorities in 2016.

Mr Javid was set to make the announcement in the House of Commons on Thursday morning and will roll out the new status this Autumn. It came as a former Home Office mandarin today took aim at Mrs May’s target to cut immigration to below 100,000, claiming it is “out of reach”.

Sir David Normington, the former permanent secretary of the Home Office, said: “If you are going to have a target it would be better that you set one that is achievable to begin with, and that what we don’t have is one that is out of reach.

“I really do think that for the moment a target which is below 100,000, which is what they have always said, is out of reach.”

Labour also want to abandon the 100,000 target. Today Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott announced that the party would also end the need for non-EU migrant families to prove they have an income of £18,600 to move to the UK.

Campaigners claim tens of thousands of families have been separated because of the income requirement, with a 2017 Supreme Court ruling saying it had caused hardship and has an impact on couples’ children.

“Family members and loved ones are discriminated against. Non-EU migrants are treated worse, including those from the Commonwealth,” Ms Abbott said in a speech in Westminster taking aim at Mrs May’s “hostile environment” strategy against immigrants.

“If we want the brightest and the best to come here we will need to offer the full benefits of a family life. Otherwise they will simply be attracted to other countries,” she said.

Mrs May introduced new rules on spouse visas in 2012 when she was Home Secretary so that non-EU citizens applying to join a husband, wife, partner or fiance in the UK must have a combined income or savings of £18,600 a year. An extra £3,800 is required for a first child, and £2,400 for each subsequent child.

Ms Abbott said: “We will not impose minimum income restrictions on them. A right to family life is a right. It is not a right if the lower-paid or poor cannot access it.” - Evening Standard

‘Nigeria needs home-grown innovations to solve challenges’

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has called for home-grown technologies, innovations and creative ideas that would assist the country in solving its challenges.

Osinbajo made the call at the 10th convocation of the Redeemer’s University in Ede, Osun.

The vice president said there was also the need for application of native intelligence to the interpretation of academic knowledge so as to make it relevant in solving societal problems.

Osinbajo was represented by Pastor Idowu Iluyomade, the acting Chairman of Redeemer’s University Board of Trustees.

The vice president, who described the graduating students as generation of hope for the country, urged them to take up the task of solution providers.

“The world today is technology-driven. Agriculture, health care cum medical sciences, among others are being controlled by the nations of superior technological experts.

“And being technological savvy, your generation is the only hope we have,’’ Osinbajo told the graduating students.

In his remarks, Prof. Debo Adeyewa, the Vice Chancellor of the university, called on government at all levels to evolve a blueprint on adequate funding of education in the country.

Adeyewa said such blueprint would help to secure the future of the present generation and those yet unborn.

He said that adequate investment in education would guarantee a strong and bright future for the country.

“Investment in education should be a collaborative effort between government and other stakeholders, but dynamically and passionately driven by government as the overall key stakeholder that is critically accountable to the current and future for the country.

“Government should therefore take a bold, constructive and non-partisan view of the current state of education with a view to revitalise the sector for the common good of the entire country,’’ he said.

Adeyewa also said 27 of the 423 graduating students made first class honours.

He said 160 were in the Second Class Upper Division while 179 had Second Class Lower Division.

Another 57 had third class while six had pass degree.

Adeyewa added that the institution turned out three awardees with postgraduate diploma, 42 Msc and MBA degrees while two had PHDs.

He urged the graduating students to be good ambassador of the university.

The Chancellor of the university, retired Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, urged the graduating students not to see the convocation as a mark of final exit from the institution.

He said they should rather see it as an opportunity to continue to support the development of the institution.

Danfo driver jailed one month for stealing retired police officer’s wallet

An Igbosere Magistrates’ Court in Lagos on Thursday sentenced the driver of a commercial bus, Obinna Obasi, to one month imprisonment for stealing a retired police officer’s wallet containing N33, 000 and 20 dollars.

Magistrate Ope Agbe convicted Obasi, 36, following his plea of guilty to a one-count charge of stealing, contrary to Section 287(7) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

He said the devil pushed him to steal the wallet.

Earlier, prosecuting Sergeant Cyriacus Osuji, who reviewed the facts of the case, said Obasi committed the offence on 28 August, 2018 at Chevron roundabout, Ajah, Lagos.

He said Obasi drove his Volkswagen T4 bus with Reg. No LSD 61 XT dangerously and hit the complainant’s Lexus SUV, causing it damage.

The convict agreed to follow the complainant to his panel beater and repair the SUV, following which the complainant told him to get in the back seat of vehicle.

They drove to the panel beater’s workshop, but as soon as they got there, Obasi told the complainant that he was going to the bank to withdraw money to pay the panel beater.

He left and did not return.

When the complainant checked his vehicle, he discovered that his wallet containing N33, 000, $20, his driving license, Voters Card, Retired SPO Identity Card, and three Automated Teller Machine cards were missing.

Obasi was subsequently arrested by the Ajah Police Division, Lagos. - The Nation

Court dissolves four-year-old marriage over wife’s refusal to worship ‘Ifa’

A Grade C Customary Court, in Iseyin Oyo State on Thursday dissolved a four-year-old marriage between one Remi Atanda and Muri Atanda over religious difference.

The complainant, Muri, had approached the court seeking dissolution of the marriage over his wife’s refusal to worship Ifa with him.

‘Ifa’ is a traditional religion and a system of divination (the practice of seeking knowledge of the future or the unknown by supernatural means).

Muri said he could no longer tolerate the wife’s continuous “insubordination’’.

He said, “When we got married, we always attend our shrine together until about few months ago when she started having some friends and getting advice against my wishes.

“I had done everything possible to persuade her but she refused. Even I called her family to intervene and that also did not yield result.

“She has to move out of my house because her action was totally against my family tradition and customs. It is a taboo for me to keep her under my roof,” NAN quoted Muri as saying.

In his ruling, the President of the Court, Chief Adelodun Raheem, who frowned at the absence of the respondent, said it was obvious that the relationship between the estranged couple had totally broken down.

He, thereafter, dissolved the union accordingly.

The court’s president also granted the custody of the two children produced by the marriage to Muri. - Daily Post

Fake SARS officer arrested in Abuja

A suspected fake officer of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, identified as Tijani Omeka, who poses as Corporal Tijani, has been arrested in Abuja.

Omeka was reportedly arrested following a tip-off from one of those he defrauded.

The suspect, who is a taxi driver, operates within Mararaba, Area 1 axis of Abuja and extorts money from his victims.

The Deputy Commissioner in charge of Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department, DCP Salisu Gyadi-Gyadi while parading the suspect said Omeka was arrested after the police got a tip-off from some of those he had defrauded.

“Omeka was arrested after the police got a tip-off from some of those he defrauded. We recovered from him one black face cap with the inscription SARS and a walkie-talkie,” DCP Gyadi added.

Upon interrogation, Omeka said “I found the walkie-talkie from SARS premises on the floor and the cap belongs to one of the operatives. The policemen are my friends and they usually use my service whenever they go on operation because I’m a taxi driver.

“I travelled and the cap was with me for about three months because I was out of Abuja. I took my car for repairs with the intention of going to drop the cap and walkie-talkie after they fix my car, but I was still at the mechanic when they arrested me.” - Daily Post

Fayemi warns against Fayose’s ‘N10b supplementary budget fraud’

Ekiti State Governor-elect Dr Kayode Fayemi has said there will be consequences for those who participate in “illegal appropriation of public funds …to defraud the state”.

Fayemi was reacting yesterday to a report of a N10 billion supplementary budget allegedly sent by Governor Ayodele Fayose to the House of Assembly “in cahoots with officials of the Ministry of Budget”.

The governor-elect warned ministry officials and lawmakers against being used for ‘’illegal appropriation of public funds’’.

He stressed that participants in such illegal act will account for their actions when the new administration assumes office next month.

A statement by the Director of Media and Publicity in Fayemi’s Media Office, Wole Olujobi, queried the rationale for a N10 billion supplementary budget almost a month to the October 16 hand over date.

The statement said: “The report alleging that Fayose coerced the Ministry of Budget officials to make a demand, backdated to August 23 for a supplementary budget of N10 billion a few days to the end of his administration, is fraudulent and not in the interest of the state.

“The governor’s covering letter, also backdated to August 30 for the legitimacy of such request, was equally done with fraudulent intention.

“Just yesterday (Tuesday), according to reports, the same supplementary budget was presented to the Assembly Clerk for immediate approval without presenting it to Assembly members at plenary to go through parliamentary procedures in budget processing.

“The latest development today, after the plot leaked on this fraudulent conduct, is that the budget is before the Assembly for a hush-hush debate for immediate approval.”

Fayemi warned that those  taking part in any appropriation fraud will account for their actions when he assumes office next month.

He said: “We have warned government officials and Ekiti people against participating in illegal acts by the governor, and this fraudulent supplementary budget is not an exception.

“The incoming administration has a responsibility and commitment to the protection of Ekiti people from abuse by political leadership.

“This is our pact with Ekiti people and we will never shirk this responsibility to ensure accountability and good governance for our people.” 

MTN: Recent sanctions will make NSE listing challenging

Ralph Mupita, MTN’s chief financial officer, says the recent sanctions placed on it by the Central Bank of Nigeria will make its planned listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange challenging.

CBN had ordered MTN to repatriate $8.1 billion claiming that the funds were taken outside the country without proper certification.

The attorney general of the federation has also requested that the company pay $2 billion in taxes.

The telco has denied any wrongdoing.

“We are not sitting here saying the listing is off. The listing is to remain on track,” he told CNBC Africa.

“It makes the IPO that we had planned pretty challenging and awkward but we have got to explore other options of continuing to meet the listing requirements.

“We are going to engage with a variety of authorities. We will seek engagements at the highest level in the central bank and AGF.”

 Mupita said MTN will stay in Nigeria, adding that the company is looking forward to an amicable resolution of the matters.

Nigeria is MTN’s biggest market.

The listing was part of the conditions given by the government as part of the settlement of a previous fine placed on the company for failing to disconnect unregistered lines.

He said the company saw no connection between its present challenges in Nigeria and that fine. - TheCable

‘World is sleepwalking toward another financial crisis’

Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned that the world is on the verge of sleepwalking into another financial crisis because governments have failed to tackle the causes of the last major financial crash a decade ago.

Britain’s leader when the collapse of the U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers triggered the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression said the world is leaderless and was now entering a period of vulnerability.

“We are in danger of sleepwalking into a future crisis,” Brown told The Guardian.

“There is going to have to be a severe awakening to the escalation of risks, but we are in a leaderless world.”

Brown said the global economy had failed to introduce an early warning system and a system for monitoring financial flows so that it was possible to tell where money had been lent and on what terms.

“We have dealt with the small things but not the big things,” Brown, who was British prime minister from 2007 to 2010, said.

Brown said action against financial wrongdoing had not been tough enough and many banks would expect to be bailed out again in the event of a future crisis.

“The penalties for wrong-doing have not been increased sufficiently,” he said.

“The fear that bankers will be imprisoned for bad behavior is not there. There has not been a strong enough message sent out that government won’t rescue institutions that haven’t put their houses in order.”

Brown said the international cooperation that helped tackle the global financial crisis ten years ago may not exist today because countries have become more protectionist.

“The cooperation that was seen in 2008 would not be possible in a post-2018 crisis both in terms of central banks and governments working together.

“We would have a blame-sharing exercise rather than solving the problem,” he said. - The Nation