Metro
$1.43m Fraud: S’Court Revokes Lagos Socialite’s Bail, Orders Return To Prison
Published
1 month agoon
By
Editor
The Supreme Court of Nigeria, on Friday, reversed the bail granted to Lagos socialite Fred Ajudua, who is facing trial over his alleged involvement in a $1.43m fraud.
The apex court, in a unanimous decision of a five-member panel, ordered that Ajudua be taken back to prison custody.
Further adding that the hearing should be resumed in the criminal charges brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
Recall that the Embassy of the State of Palestine, in a letter dated August 26, 1993, and addressed to the then Minister of Foreign Affairs and copied to the Inspector General of Police, alleged that Ajudua obtained approximately $1.43m by false pretence from Ziad Abu Zalaf, a Palestinian based in Germany.
EFCC investigated the allegations stated in the letter against Ajudua. Upon completion of its investigation, the EFCC filed a 12-count charge against him before the High Court of Lagos State in Ikeja.
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The EFCC alleged that Ajudua conspired with one Joseph Ochunor, who remains at large, to obtain money by false pretence from Ziad Abu Zalaf of Technical International Ltd, a division of Mystic Company Ltd, a German-based company.
It further alleged that, with intent to defraud, Ajudua and Ochunor obtained $268,000 on April 2, 1993 and an additional $225,000 on May 12, 1993, from Zalaf.
The EFCC also claimed that Ajudua and Ochunor, in an effort to legitimise the alleged scam, forged receipts from the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and presented them as genuine to the foreigner.
Shortly after his arraignment, Ajudua’s lawyer, Olalekan Ojo, filed an application for his release on bail pending the trial’s conclusion, citing his client’s serious health challenges.
However, the application was denied by the Lagos High Court presided over by Justice Mojisola Dada, who ordered the defendant to submit to prosecution.
Dissatisfied with the decision, Ajudua appealed the trial court’s decision before the appellate court and got a favourable ruling.
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A three-member panel of the Court of Appeal reversed Justice Dada’s decision and granted him bail.
In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Mohammed Garba, the appellate court ruled that bail was the appellant’s constitutional right.
Dissatisfied with the judgment, the EFCC appealed the ruling before the Supreme Court to overturn the appellate court’s decision.
In its judgment on the appeal marked SC/CR/51/2019, the apex Court set aside the bail granted to the Ajudua on December 10, 2018 by the appellate court.
In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Chioma Nwosu-Iheme, the Supreme Court faulted the appellate court’s decision, stressing that it had no jurisdiction to grant bail after declaring the brief of argument supporting Ajudua’s appeal as incompetent.
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The Supreme Court ruled that once Ajudua’s brief of argument was deemed incompetent and struck out, there was no basis for the appellate court to proceed further.
“It is crystal clear that the lower court was in line with the law when it declared the appellant’s brief of argument incompetent and struck it out.
“At that point, the appellant’s (Ajudua’s) appeal was extinguished. There was, therefore, nothing more to consider in that appeal. The lower court, at that point, had no jurisdiction to proceed further. It had become functus officio,” the apex court stated.
The court further held that the appellate court’s consideration of the arguments in the incompetent brief of argument was an exercise in futility.
“This appeal, having been determined on the issue of jurisdiction alone, renders the issue of bail inseparable from the appeal itself.
“This appeal succeeds and is hereby allowed. The decision of the trial court dated July 5, 2018, refusing bail to the respondent (Ajudua), is hereby restored.
“The respondent is to be remanded in prison custody. This case is remitted back to the Chief Judge of Lagos State for assignment to the same trial judge, Justice M. A. Dada, for the continuation of speedy trial and determination within the shortest possible time,” the Supreme Court held.
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Metro
Mob Set Wedding-bound Bus Ablaze In Plateau, Kill 12
Published
47 minutes agoon
June 21, 2025By
Editor
No fewer than 12 travellers from the Basawa community in Zaria, Kaduna State, were killed during an attack in Mangu, Plateau State, on Friday.
Eleven others sustained injuries and are currently receiving hospital treatment.
The victims, a group of 31 men, women, and children, were travelling in an 18-seater bus belonging to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, when assailants attacked them around 8pm.
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Report indicated that the travellers were heading for Qua’an Pan LGA to attend a wedding ceremony when they ran into a mob.
The Chief Imam of Jama’atu Izalatil Bid’a Wa’ikamatis Sunnah, Sheikh Suleiman Haruna, who confirmed the incident to journalists, said the corpses have been deposited at Mangu General Hospital.
“There were 31 travellers in the bus. Now we have 8 corpses in the hospitals. We have asked the security personnel to help recover the remaining four bodies. We were together with the chairman of Mangu LGA, and he has been up and doing on the matter, “ the Chief Imam said.
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Ibrahim Umar, one of the survivors, narrated that, “We were heading to Qua’an Pan to attend a wedding ceremony of our brother when we missed the road because we didn’t know it. We stopped and asked some people for directions, but before we knew it, they surrounded the vehicle, shouting that we should be killed.
“They started beating and attacking us with dangerous weapons. The mob killed the driver first and then attacked others. They burned the bus with the corpses inside. We are now in the hospital, receiving care.”
When contacted, the spokesperson of the state police command, DSP Alfred Altau, said, “The police were aware of the incident but would issue a statement regarding it later.”
Metro
My Husband Starved Me, Beat, Left Me Stark Naked After Tearing My Clothes, Woman Tells Court
Published
9 hours agoon
June 21, 2025By
Editor
A Grade A Customary Court sitting at Mapo, Ibadan, Oyo State, has adjourned for judgment a divorce suit brought before it by a woman, Leah, against her husband, Olalere, whom she accused of irresponsibility, constant battery and threat.
Leah stated that no marriage ceremony was held between her and Olalere and that he did not pay her bride price.
The plaintiff stated that the defendant neglected her and their child and left them to starve.
According to her, she and their child always looked malnourished.
Leah added that she and her husband fought almost every day because he was indifferent to their plight.
READ ALSO: My Husband Urinates, Defecates In His Clothes When He’s Drunk, Wife Tells Court
She stated that she moved about in their neighbourhood in shame because her husband was also in the habit of tearing her clothes to shreds and leaving her stark naked under the stare of neighbours and passers-by any time they fought.
The plaintiff said she moved out of his house with their only child when it was obvious that he would soon snuff life out of her.
The plaintiff explained that the defendant had insisted on having their child in his custody and had not ceased to threaten her.
Leah thus prayed the court to end their relationship and grant her custody of their child but make her husband responsible for his upkeep.
She further sought an order restraining him from threatening and interfering with her private life. Olalere was absent in court despite being served court summonses.
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Leah, in her evidence, said: “My husband and I started living together shortly after we met. I moved into his house, and he did not meet my parents nor pay my bride price.
“I never enjoyed our marriage because my husband failed in his responsibility towards me and later our child.
“He never gave me feeding allowance and was not bothered about my welfare and that of our child. Our child and I always looked like a scarecrow because we were malnourished.
“My husband always got angry whenever I complained of his neglect of us, and he would beat me to a pulp.
“He not only beat me but would tear my clothes to shreds and leave me stark naked in the presence of our neighbours and passersby.
“I always moved around in our neighbourhood with my head bowed because of the way my husband humiliated me.
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“I moved out of his house with our only child when I could no longer bear with his maltreatment of me.
“He has since refused that I had peace of mind.
“My husband now threatens to take our child from me.
“I plead that our marriage be dissolved and our child’s custody be granted to me.
“I further entreat the court to make my husband responsible for our child’s upkeep, giving feeding, education and health care a priority.
“I also request an order restricting him from threatening and interfering with my private life.”
The court president, Mrs S.M. Akintayo, adjourned the case and ordered that a fresh hearing notice be issued and served the defendant.
(TRIBUNE)
Metro
‘I Found Out That My Husband Was A Cultist, Drug Addict One Month Into Our Marriage’
Published
9 hours agoon
June 21, 2025By
Editor
Grade A Customary Court, Court 2, Mapo, Ibadan, Oyo State, has dissolved the 10-year-old wedlock between a couple, Adebimpe and Olusoji, on the account of irresponsibility, lack of care and love; deceit, drug addiction and domestic violence by the latter towards the former.
Adebimpe, who dragged her husband, Olusoji, to court, stated that he failed to take care of her and their children.
She also said that her husband deceived her when they met that he was a National Diploma Certificate holder and that he only told her the truth about his educational status a few weeks to their wedding.
The plaintiff stated that the defendant confessed to her that he was rusticated from school for a banned cult-related offence.
She added that she discovered he was addicted to drugs a month after they got married and also said that he resigned from work and started living on her.
Adebimpe further alleged that Olusoji was a brute, saying that he once beat her till she fainted.
READ ALSO: My Husband Is Mentally Derailed; My Life Is Not Safe With Him — Wife
She also told the court that she got him arrested and detained by the police following the incident.
She further explained that one of their children, who is a female, started complaining of vaginal pain after she paid him a visit in his new place of abode.
Adebimpe prayed the court to dissolve their union and grant her custody of their children.
She also requested an order restraining her husband from harassing, threatening and beating her, and also interfering with her private life.
Olusoji failed to make an appearance in court despite being served court summonses.
Adebimpe, in her testimony, said: “I met my husband in 2014, and we got married in 2015. My parents returned to him the bride price he paid on me.
“My husband built our relationship on deceit. He lied to me when we were courting that he had a National Diploma degree, but later confessed a few weeks to our wedding that he was expelled from school as a result of his involvement in banned cult activities.
READ ALSO: My Husband Urinates, Defecates In His Clothes When He’s Drunk, Wife Tells Court
“I discovered a month into our marriage that my husband is a drug addict. I reported him to his parents, who asked that I pray for him.
“They assured me that he would change, but unfortunately, he got worse.
“My husband was irresponsible and negligent of my needs and those of our children. He hardly gave us feeding allowance and was indifferent to our children’s education.
“He always complained of paucity of fund anytime I challenged him to be up to his responsibilities in the home and would sometimes beat me to a pulp.
“I was therefore left with no other choice than to add his duties to mine in the home.
“My husband, to my chagrin, resigned his job and started living on me.
“Life became tougher because we were invariably eating from hand to mouth.
“He stopped coming home to sleep after we fought over his irresponsible act.
READ ALSO: ‘My Husband Lied To Our Children That I Poisoned His Food, Cut Part Of His Singlet For Ritual’
“The conflict in our marriage was resolved after our parents mediated in our differences, but my husband still refused to return home.
“He came on a few occasions to check on our children.
“On one of these occasions, he had an altercation with our landlord who gave us a quit notice.
“I reported him to his mother, and he got angry and beat me till my face got swollen.
“He did not stop beating me until I fainted.
“I got him arrested by the police and he was detained for days.
“Our female child who is the youngest of our children has been complaining of vaginal pain, which is accredited to my husband when the children paid him a visit in his new abode.
“My husband destroyed the pictures and the compact disc of our wedding ceremony.
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“He once spit on me and now threatens to beat me if I refuse to release our children to him.
“I pray this honourable court to dissolve our marriage and grant me custody of our children because my husband is not a good example to them.”
Giving her judgment, the court president, Mrs O.E. Owoseni, observed that the couple had a valid court marriage.
“According to Owoseni, the defendant was given ample opportunity to defend himself, but he chose to be absent in court.
“Owoseni stated further that the unchallenged evidence that the plaintiff is irresponsible was enough reason to dissolve the marriage.”
Ruling, Owoseni dissolved their marriage and granted the plaintiff custody of their children.
She also gave an order restricting the defendant from harassing, threatening, and interfering with the plaintiff’s private life.
(TRIBUNE)
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