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Drama As Adenuga’s Former Private Secretary Tackles Him In Court

Published

4 years ago

March 31, 2021

Editor

… ‘Adenuga Accusing Me Because I Cease To Be His Mistress’ – Ex-employee

Ms. Honora Olumide Johnson, a former confidential secretary to Dr. Mike Adenuga, has said that the allegation of conspiracy, forgery, stealing and obtaining money under false pretence leveled against her by her former boss was because she walked away from a 30-year love relationship with him, for her peace of mind.

She disclosed this while taking an oath before Justice Mohammed Liman of Federal High Court, Lagos.

A firm, Worldspan Holdings Limited, owned by Adenuga, had through its counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), petitioned EFCC, alleging conspiracy, forgery, stealing and obtaining money under false pretence against Johnson and others.

“But contrary to the instruction, the first defendant and the 5th defendant allegedly issued a later instruction to the bank that the said balance be wired to DSL Nominees Limited account in China for their personal benefits,” the petitioner alleged.

The petitioner also alleged that sometime between 2018 and 2020, the first defendant, together with others, stole “various currencies in naira and foreign currencies in the total equivalent of $350,000.”

On account of that and others, the EFCC sought and obtained an exparte order, attaching various properties of the 1st defendant, including her residential building, (all, but one of which she had bought between April, 2001 and February 2010) and froze her bank accounts on February 16, 2021.

However, the 1st defendant filed a motion dated March 12, praying the court to discharge the interim attachment order.

She supported her motion with an affidavit denying all the allegations contained in the petition and averred that at no time in 2013 was she instructed by Dr. Adenuga or Worldspan to transfer the alleged $300,000/close any accounts nor did she participate in any transfer of the said sum to DSL nominees, China.

She maintained that she was never queried for any alleged diversion of $300,000 from 2013 till she left her employment in 2019 and further stated that she was never involved in alleged stealing of a phantom $350,000 from between 2018 and 2020, moreso as she had since early 2019 left Adenuga’s company.

She further swore to a 13 paragraph further affidavit that she instructed her counsel to file an application for stay of execution as well as for discharging the orders of the court, which was done and served on the prosecution.

According to her, the application was filed on March 12, 2021 and served on all the respondents on the same date.

“However, on March 17, 2021, I was suddenly asked by an EFCC officer via telephone call to come to the Commission’s office immediately. I informed the officer who called me that I had a pre-scheduled medical appointment for March 17, 2021 and that I would come to their office on the scheduled date, being March 18, 2021.

“The EFCC officer then told me that he and his fellow officers were coming to my house to pick me up and take possession of my house as there is a court order to that effect.

“The EFCC officers kept true to their threat as 30 minutes later they got to my house with Police officers, tried to eject me from my house, that they were taking possession of the house, despite the service of the application of the motion for stay on the EFFC,” she swore.

But the EFCC filed a counter affidavit, necessitating the need for the defendants to respond to it.

In his response, counsel to the 1st defendant, Oluwemimo Ogunde told the court that they had received the counter affidavit and written address to his motion dated March 12, 2021 and would require time to respond.

According to him, the further affidavit he filed on behalf of his clients was to document for the court what the EFCC was doing in harassing his client.

“We think it is important to bring this to our lordship’s notice,” he declared.

But counsel to EFCC, Rotomi Jacob (SAN) and I. A. Mohammed said they were not opposed to the adjournment but argued that the counter affidavit was not necessary.

“It is not a fundamental enforcement of rights action. The matter is for attachment, so that counter affidavit is not needed. But I am not objecting to adjournment,” Mohammed said.

Justice Mohammed Liman therefore, with the cooperation of both counsel, adjourned to April 22, 2021 to hear the motion to vacate the interim order.

Meanwhile, the 1st defendant had in her March 1, 2021 petition to the Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission, Tony Ojukwu dening all the allegations, claiming that she was being harangued for refusing to continue to be the mistress (lover) of Dr. Adenuga.

In the petition, her lawyers, M.J. Partnership; Solicitors, said: “Our client worked for over a period of 30 years approximately, as confidential secretary to Dr. Adenuga starting from her appointment at Devcom Merchant Bank Limited in 1990.

“However, irrespective of which of Dr. Adenuga’s companies our client’s salaries were paid from, our client at all times worked personally in the office of Dr. Adenuga all through the period she worked in his organization receiving various cash gifts in foreign and local currencies from Dr. Adenuga.

“She handled many sensitive matters for Dr. Adenuga and at no point during her work as confidential secretary was she accused of any financial crime or misdemeanor whatsoever. She rather performed her role as confidential secretary to the best of her abilities,” the lawyers stated and urged the Commission to protect the rights of the accused from the “frivolous criminal allegations.”

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Tension As Unknown Gunmen Kill Police Informant In Imo Community

Published

2 months ago

April 25, 2025

Editor

By Qosim Sulaiman

Palpable tension engulfed the residents of Nkwogwu community, Aboh Mbaise Local Government Area of Imo State following the killing of an elderly man, Pa Albert Nwanchukwu, believed to be a police informant.

The assailants, numbering about eight, who reportedly stormed the home of the late Nwanchukwu at about 10pm on Tuesday, 22 April, 2025, were said to have met him where he was relaxing in his compound and immediately opened fire on him.

According to our source who pleaded anonymity, before his assassination, the late Nwanchukwu, had reportedly went to a police station in the locality to inform them of the activities of the gunmen, just as he pleaded to the police to get them arrested.

Our source disclosed that the late Nwanchukwu never knew that some policemen are accomplished in the act, adding that the policemen no doubt informed the gunmen who in anger came and killed him.

Our source narrated: “They were about eight in number. They came with different weapons – guns, machetes. They were all masked except their leader.

“It was late but the floodlight from the streetlight was bright. They drove dangerously and went straight to Mr Albert Uwandu Nwachukwu house. The man was relaxing in the front of his house. Immediately they saw him, they opened fire,” he died on the spot”, an eyewitness who saw the entire scene from the balcony of his house recounts.

Our source added: “Further investigations proved that the spy had informed this notorious gang of late Pa Nwachukwu’s visit to the police, thereby leading to the attack on his household.”

After killing the man, the gang reportedly went inside the house searching for other family members.

While it was evident that the gang intended to eviscerate the entire members of the family, three of his children – Victor Onyedikachi Nwachukwu, Promise Rita Nwachukwu Yakubu and Blessing Nzebechi Nwachukwu escaped.

“I saw the three of them. They ran through the back door. Since that time, we have not seen them again”, the same eye-witness disclosed to our correspondent.

This particular incident has thrown the entire community and Aboh Mbaise Local Government in general, into mourning.

While some questioned the safety of police informants, other believed the incident shows the rot in the police force of the country.

Expressing his disappointment in the police, the chairman of Aboh Mabise LGA; Honourable Barrister Iheukwumere Henry Alaribe vowed a major crackdown on the unknown gunmen.

The Commissioner of Police, Imo State Command, CP Aboki Danjuma promised a total clampdown and return of sanity to the community.

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Protect Oil Palm Host Communities; Address Spate Of Kidnapping, Violence, Govt Told

Published

4 months ago

February 26, 2025

Editor

By Joseph Ebi Kanjo

A non-profit organization – African Law Foundation (AFRILAW), has appealed to the government at levels to ensure the protection of oil palm host communities and address the spate of kidnapping and violence in such areas.

AFRILAW further urged the governments to ensure that communities’ rights and privileges are respected in land deals with oil palm companies to avoid human rights violations.

Okereke Chinwike Esq,
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, AFRILAW, made the appeal in Benin on Tuesday at the Public Presentation and launching of ‘The Community-based Report on Human Rights Violations in the Palm Oil Supply Chain in Edo State.’

INFO DAILY reports that the event is part of AFRILAW activities under the “Promoting Human Rights in Palm Oil Supply Chain in Nigeria Project,” being implemented by AFRILAW in partnership with Zero Tolerance Initiative (ZTI) and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) with funding support from True Cost Initiative (TCI) USA.

According to the AFRILAW founder, addressing companies’ human rights violations from their operations in host communities require evidence-based research, hence the research and report presentation.

“The Report we are presenting today documents evidence of community rights violations by major oil palm companies operating in the state. The research is informed by the increasing spate of violence and community protests against the operations of oil palm companies operating in Edo state, and provides greater understanding of the prevailing cases of community and human rights violations and nature of conflicts,” he noted.

He, therefore, urged the government to
“put in place a mandatory binding CSR laws and guidelines for companies to ensure that community rights and privileges are protected.”

He further appealed to the government to “ensure effective implementation of the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights and set forth clear expectations for business enterprises regarding the importance of respecting the rights of human rights defenders, indigenous people and communities in Nigeria.”

On his part, Executive Secretary, National Human Rights Commission, Anthony Ojukwu (SAN), described the report as essential, stressing that beyond normal advocacy, research-based advocacy is more efficient and effective.

Represented by Mrs Mary Okoh, Deputy Director, Legal/Focal Point Business and Human Rights, NHRC, Ojukwu said beyond Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) organization should take seriously major issues of mainstreaming human rights into their operations.

“That means anyone who wants to set up a business must put into consideration the needs of the people and not what the organization or company needs. We have found out that this is where human rights violations start.

“Let them be part of the discussion and planning in the setting up of the business. Let them know what is at stake for them,” he said.

Goodwill messages were delivered by government agencies and ministries, while the presentation and launching also attracted security agencies including the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Customs Service, and the Nigeria Immigration Service among others.

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#EndBadGovernance: Police Manhunt Activists, Others, As Artist Cries Out For Help In Benin

Published

10 months ago

August 15, 2024

Editor

The suspect, Osarenkhoe Destiny Oghosa,

The Nigeria Police Force has launched a manhunt for suspected sponsors of the #EndBadGovernance in Nigeria protest that swept round the country last week.

Though police had arrested scores of such protesters across the country, many, especially vocal personalities and civil rights activists who have been criticising policies of the Tinubu administration in Nigeria have been penned down for arrest.

Also of interest to the police are those alleged to have massively produced and supplied Russian flags that were displayed during the protests, as they have vowed that none of the suspects would be spared.

It was gathered that undercover policemen are closing in on the social critics including one Osarenkhoe Destiny Oghosa, a vocal music artiste in Benin City.

This has raised fears and trepidation in that circle with many going underground for fear of being arrested by the police.

Oghosa is accused of masterminding an attempted jail break in the Benin metropolis similar to the End SARS protest in 2020, experience that resulted in the prison break and escape of prisoners and detainees alike.

Oghosa, in an interview with our correspondent, lamented that his music which focuses social justice, equality, societal ills among others in Nigeria, is now being as a crime.

He further lamented that despite several tactics to beat the security tab on him by agents of the government, he had faced persecution from invincible nocturnal groups.

Further lamenting how the government is hell bent in silencing voices speaking for the masses, Oghosa recalled how he was called at midnight to stop production of his song titled “OBI”, adding that he was seriously warned .

In a related development, Ahmed Bello, one of the suspect producers of the Russian flag hoist in some cities in Nigeria has been attested.

The Force Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, disclosed this in Abuja on Monday at the Strategic Communications Interagency Policy Committee joint press briefing.

He added that the police were on the trail of other suspects, especially the sponsors of the protest which led to the destruction of government properties in Kaduna and Kano States.

Adejobi said the suspects committed a treasonable felony, offence by waving a foreign country’s flag in Nigeria.

He said: “So, we need to set the record straight. It is important for us to know, so far so good we have been able to arrest some individuals who were engaging themselves in what I call a treasonable felony, while we are still going after their sponsors.

“To carry the flags of a foreign country in another country is a criminal offence. We have them arrested. Just this morning, we arrested one Ahmed Bello from Kano State fuor producing a large quantity of Russian flags given to young Nigerians to hoist for reasons best known to him.”

The police added that protesters in Benin City had made attempts to invade the DSS office in the state with the intention to free persons who in their opinion were being unjustly detained there-in forcing the law enforcement agencies to disperse them.