Headline

Appeal Court Declines To Order CCB To Reveal Assets Of Jonathan, Buhari, Others

Published

1 year ago

March 16, 2024

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Friday declined to compel the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, to reveal the assets that were declared by former presidents, vice presidents, and principal officers of the National Assembly.

The appellate court, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of justices, dismissed appeals that were brought before it by two non-governmental organizations: the Public & Private Development Centre (PPDC) and the Incorporated Trustees of the African Centre for Media & Information Literacy.

The appellants had approached the court to set aside a high court judgment that denied them access to asset declaration forms that were filled out and submitted to the CCB by past political leaders in the country.

The groups had dragged the CCB and its chairman before a Federal Capital Territory High Court over the refusal to honour the request they made under the Freedom of Information Act.

Specifically, PPDC requested the asset declaration forms of former president Goodluck Jonathan and his vice, Namadi Sambo; ex-president Muhammadu Buhari and his vice, Yemi Osinbajo; and while African Media Centre requested those of former principal officers of the National Assembly.

However, the high court, in a judgment that was delivered by Justice A. G. Abdu-Kafarati, dismissed their suit.

Dissatisfied with the judgment, the groups took the matter before the appellate court, which also dismissed their request on Friday.

Delivering the verdict, Justice Okon Abang, held that the appellants did not meet the condition precedents that would warrant the release of such information to them.

Describing their application as premature, Justice Abang held thus: “As at the time the suit was filed at the trial court, the National Assembly did not make any written instrument prescribing the terms and conditions that will guide any members of the public to either apply for the inspection of the assets form or disclosure of information in those forms in the custody of the respondent.”

He stressed that the appellants ought to have gone to court first to compel the National Assembly to prescribe the terms and conditions for members of the public to comply with before approaching the CCB to disclose personal information relating to the declaration of assets by former officeholders.

Justice Abang further held that the provisions of the FOI relied on by the appellants were not in agreement with relevant provisions of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

“Contrary to the submission of the appellant, the applicability of the right to information established in the FOI is contiguous with the terms and conditions contained in Paragraph 3(c) Part 1, third schedule of the 1999 Constitution as amended, which is the supreme law of the land.

The process cannot be circumvented. The appellant has no choice but to comply with what the Constitution states.

“The 1999 Constitution, as amended, will nullify any provision of the FOI Act that is inconsistent with the Constitution,” he added.

Consequently, the appellate court dismissed the appeal, even as it awarded a cost of N200,000 each against the appellants.

Headline

92-year-old Convicted For 1967 Killing In UK’s Oldest Cases

Published

13 hours ago

June 30, 2025

Editor

A 92-year-old British man was convicted on Monday for a rape and murder committed nearly 60 years ago, in one of the UK’s longest-running cold cases.

Ryland Headley was found guilty by a UK court for raping and killing 75-year-old Louisa Dunne after breaking into her house in Bristol, southwest England in June 1967, when he was 34 years old.

It is “one of the oldest cold cases to ever be solved in the UK”, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which brings criminal prosecutions, said.

Local police reopened the case in 2023 and matched DNA from the victim’s skirt and other items from the original probe to Headley, who had also served a prison sentence for raping two elderly women in 1977.

He is due to be sentenced by a judge at Bristol Crown Court on Tuesday.

During the initial investigation, police had found a left-hand palm print from Dunne’s home, where she was found dead from strangulation.

The palm print was compared to 19,000 men to no avail.

At the time, Headley was a railway worker who lived just outside the area in which men and boys were asked to give prints.

Reaching a dead-end, police sealed away forensic evidence for half a century. Both DNA testing and later Headley’s palm print resulted in matches.

When Headley was arrested at his home last November, he told detectives: “I don’t know what you are talking about. Very strange, very strange.”

“For 58 years, this appalling crime went unsolved and Ryland Headley, the man we now know is responsible, avoided justice,” said Charlotte Ream of the CPS.

Following the conviction, Dunne’s granddaughter Mary Dainton said her death had a “far-reaching impact throughout my family”.

“I was just 20-years-old when my grandmother died and I’m now almost the same age as she was when she was killed,” Dainton said outside court.

Police said they were now looking into other possible cold cases Headley could be linked to.

“Ryland Headley has now been convicted of three rapes of elderly women within their own addresses, and in the case of Louisa Dunne, her murder as well,” Dave Marchant of Avon and Somerset Police told the PA news agency.

“I think there’s every possibility that there are other offences out there – over the 60s, 70s, however long a time period – which Mr Headley could be culpable for.”

Headline

Hope Dashed As Norwegian Company Apologizes For ‘Mistakenly Telling’ Thousands They Won Big On Lottery

Published

14 hours ago

June 30, 2025

Editor

A Norwegian lottery company on Monday apologised to 47,000 crestfallen gamblers who were mistakenly told they had won huge sums in a lottery, the firm blaming a currency conversion error.

State-owned gambling group Norsk Tipping said they had published incorrect prize amounts after a Eurojackpot draw on Friday because of an error converting from euro cents to Norwegian kroner.

The winnings had been multiplied by 100 instead of being divided by 100, the company said.

Among the disappointed was Ole Fredrik Sveen, who was on holiday in Greece when he received a message from Norsk Tipping that he had won 1.2 million kroner ($119,000).

“I thought: ‘Wow, is it finally my turn? Could it be true?’ I go onto the Norsk Tipping website, and there it says in black and white: ‘Congratulations, you have won!’,” Sveen told public broadcaster NRK on Monday.

In reality, he had won 125 kroner ($12).

On Monday, Sveen and the 47,000 others received apologies by text message from Norsk Tipping for the snafu.

“The apology was a poor consolation. They should have sent it out after the mistake, not today,” he said.

The Lottery Authority said Monday it had launched a review to determine if gambling laws had been broken, and Culture Minister Lubna Jaffery called the error “totally unacceptable”.

The firm’s chief executive Tonje Sagstuen resigned on Saturday after the scandal, leaving acting chief executive Vegar Strand to apologise on Monday.

Strand said his company’s state ownership made the mistake particularly problematic, noting that the firm was “entirely dependent on the trust of the population”.

“We have deeply disappointed our customers and take full responsibility for rectifying the situation. Such errors are serious for a company that is supposed to manage the trust of Norwegians,” Strand said.

“The work to rebuild trust again has the highest priority going forward.”

AFP

Headline

Musk Renews Attack On Trump, Says ‘Big, Beautiful Bill Utterly Insane’

Published

14 hours ago

June 30, 2025

Editor

Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has renewed his public criticism of United States President Donald Trump, taking aim at the administration’s controversial “Big, Beautiful Bill,” which recently cleared a critical hurdle in the Senate, TIMES reported.

In a post on X on Saturday, Musk denounced the 940-page legislative package as economically harmful, claiming it would severely damage emerging industries while supporting outdated sectors.

“The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country,” he wrote to his more than 220 million followers.

He further described the legislation as “utterly insane and destructive.”

The senate narrowly voted 51–49 to advance the bill on Saturday night, following extended negotiations among Republicans. Vice President J.D Vance was present to cast a tie-breaking vote, though it was ultimately not required.

Musk, who once served as head of the Department of Government Efficiency under Trump, left the administration after a high-profile fallout and has since emerged as one of the bill’s fiercest opponents.

He described the measure as “political suicide” for Republicans and warned that it would raise the national debt ceiling by $5 trillion — the largest such increase in US history. “America is in the fast lane to debt slavery,” he added.

Responding in an interview aired Sunday on Fox News Sunday Morning Futures, Trump attempted to defuse the tension. “I haven’t spoken to him much, but I think Elon is a wonderful guy,” he said. Trump also suggested Musk’s frustration stemmed from disagreements over recent changes to electric vehicle mandates.

Musk’s opposition to the bill is not new. Earlier in June, he urged Americans to contact their representatives, calling the legislation a “massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill.”

Despite the bill’s advancement in the Senate, it faces continued resistance. Senate Democrats have slowed proceedings by demanding the entire bill be read aloud in protest.

“If Senate Republicans won’t tell the American people what’s in this bill, then Democrats are going to force this chamber to read it from start to finish,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer