Metro

EFCC Arraigns Ondo Speaker, Two Others Over Alleged Fraud

Published

1 month ago

April 25, 2023

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arraigned the Speaker, Ondo State House of Assembly, Bamidele Oloyelogun, and two others before the state High Court in Akure, over alleged N2.4 million fraud belonging to the Assembly.

Their arraignment followed the ruling by an Akure High Court that it has jurisdiction over the trial.

Consequently, the three lawmakers and one civil servant were arraigned before Justice Adegboyega Adebusoye for the alleged fraud sequel to the dismissal of the preliminary objection filed against their trial by the EFCC.

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The fund (N2.4 million) was meant for a seminar, which the lawmakers and the civil servant were meant to attend, but didn’t.

The two others arraigned on a two-count charge of fraud, alongside the Speaker, were Felemu Bankole (Akoko South-West Constituency 2), and a civil servant, Segun Oyadeyi Bankole.

They, however, pleaded not guilty to the allegations levelled against them.

At the commencement of the trial, the counsel to EFCC, Kingsley Kudus, asked the court to remand the defendants at the Olokuta Correctional Facility.

But reacting, counsel to the defendants, Femi Emodamore, asked the court to strike out EFCC’s prayer for remand, arguing that the administrative bail application on the defendants was still active.

Emodamore said that the second defendant (Oleyelogun) was having a health challenge that needed urgent medical attention.

He equally asked the court to caution the nominal complainant (former Deputy Speaker, Iroju Ogundeji) in the case for allegedly sending messages to the Speaker in an attempt to annoy him.

According to him, “If Ogundeji did not desist from such action, he would be prosecuted as his actions towards the Speaker is against the law.”

In his ruling, Justice Adegboyega Adebusoye asked the defendants to enjoy their administrative bail till the next hearing date.

Justice Adebusoye, therefore, adjourned the case till May 18 for a proper hearing of the trial.

Recall that when the case came up for hearing in February, the lawmakers argued that EFCC lacked the power to prosecute offences affecting the finances and assets of the state as there exists a law enacted by the Assembly to tackle corruption allegations in the state.

The defendants in the preliminary objection filed to the EFCC charges by their counsel, Mr Femi Emodamori, asked the court to decline jurisdiction and strike out the charges against them because the EFCC has no right to prosecute them as the assets they were facing trial for belonged to the state.

Emodamore said the EFCC has no right to prosecute the defendants for alleged corruption in view of the State Public Complaint Financial Crimes and Anti-Corruption Commission Law passed into law and signed by Governor Rotimi Akeredolu in January 2022.

But the counsel to the EFCC then, Mr Fredrick Dibang, said that the court has jurisdiction, because the state law enacted by the state assembly is contrary to the acts of the National Assembly that establish EFCC and once there is a conflict between the law of a state and that of the National Assembly, the law of the state is suspended.

Dibang said the Assembly passed the law with the intention of frustrating the trial of the lawmakers and the civil servant for the alleged abuse of office and corruption.

However, in his ruling, Justice Adebusoye put the state law in abeyance and held that the EFCC has the power to investigate and prosecute the lawmakers for the alleged fraud, which they were charged with.

Adebusoye said: “The offences against the defendants are not state offences promulgated by the state legislation but a federal offence, having being promulgated by the National Assembly, though relates to finances of Ondo State.

“Without wasting the time of this court, it settles that the complainant is empowered to investigate and prosecute the three defendants on the two counts charge as stated in the information file, being federal offences and even though the alleged ones involved belong to the Ondo state government.”

The judge, therefore, dismissed the preliminary objection as filed by the defendants and assumed jurisdiction to adjudicate on this matter.

Metro

Activists, Politicians Protest As Boyfriend Stabs, Beats 16-yr-old Girlfriend To Death

Published

38 mins ago

May 31, 2023

Editor

The gruesome murder of a 16-year-old girl in the Indian capital city, Delhi, who was stabbed and beaten to death has sparked outrage over the safety of women in the Asian country.

The Guardian UK said CCTV footage of the incident showed the teenager was accosted in public by a man.

It said the man was alleged by police to be 20-year-old Sahil Khan, who stabbed her more than 30 times and hit her with a concrete slab, in an alley as pedestrians watched the said incident.

According to the report, several bystanders encountered the incident and though one man attempted to intervene and was violently repudiated by the attacker, nothing else was done to stop him.

It was reported that no one called the police and after the killing, her body lay in the alleyway untouched until it was spotted by a police informant about 30 minutes later.

According to police, Khan had been in a relationship with the girl and had planned to kill her after she tried to end it.

He had allegedly used a knife bought two weeks previously, and had followed her from the market to the dark alley, where he attacked her.

“Sahil told us she humiliated him and passed objectionable comments about their relationship. This angered him and he decided to eliminate her,” a police officer told local media.

The attack instigated outrage from activists and politicians who demanded that more be done to protect women in the capital.

Delhi’s chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, said on Twitter: “A minor girl is brutally murdered openly in Delhi. This is very sad and unfortunate. The criminals have become fearless, and there is no fear of the police.”

Swati Maliwal, from the Delhi Commission for Women, said the capital had become “extremely unsafe” for girls and women and that she had “never seen anything more horrifying than this in my career of so many years”.

“There were so many people when the murder took place, but no one helped the girl. Even if they would have shouted, maybe the girl could have survived,” said Maliwal.

The incident once again raised the issue of women’s safety in India, particularly at the hands of their partners.

Metro

Ondo Farmer Bags 21 Years Jail Term For robbery

Published

1 hour ago

May 31, 2023

Editor

An Ondo High Court, sitting in Akure, the Ondo state capital, has sentenced a farmer, Gbenga Akintola, to 21 years imprisonment for robbery.

Akintola had pleaded not guilty to the five-count charge brought against him by the state security outfit codenamed Amotekun.

He was arraigned for conspiracy to commit felony to with armed robbery and armed robbery.

Amotekun had filed a charge against him on September 20, 2022, alleging that Akintola and another person still at large, sometime in August and October 2021, around Oke-Olifi via Itanla Junction, Ondo town, allegedly robbed Onuh Chidinma of her valuables.

The valuables include itel phone valued at N20,000 and the sum of N150 in her bag; Rufus Rhoda of her small techno phone valued at N6,500, techno K-7 phone valued at N35,000 and the sum of N4,500.

He was alleged to have robbed one Ayodeji Oluwayemisi of her bag, an itel phone valued at N4,500 and the sum of N2,800, while armed with a cutlass and other offensive weapons.

According to the Police prosecutor, Alako Abdulahi, while testifying, said that men of Amotekun Corps brought the defendant to the police station on October 19, 2021, with four mobile phones, a motorcycle, a bag and a small purse recovered from him.

Abdulahi said that the defendant admitted those items were found on him but that a man called Sunday Igbo handed them over to him.

Also, while testifying, one of the victims, Rufus Rhoda she and Chidinma were going to Mount Olive prayer centre when the defendant came out of the bush, masked with a cap and armed with a cutlass.

Rhoda said that the defendant asked them to drop their bags and all the contents, after which the defendant carried the bags and ran into the bush. She said that her bag contained techno 7, another small techno and the sum of N4,500.00

But the defendant, said that the stolen items were recovered from the house of Sunday who was at large.

Akintola added that the police had threatened to charge him to court for robbery if he did not pay N200,000 to bail himself.

However, in his judgement, Justice W. R. Olamide, discharged the defendant of some of counts because, there was no evidence to link the cutlass found in the defendant’s house with the robbery allegation.

Olamide, therefore, sentenced the defendant to seven years imprisonment for conspiracy and 21 years imprisonment for robbery, adding that it was to run concurrently.

Metro

APC Women Leaders Kidnapped After Attending Inauguration

Published

4 hours ago

May 31, 2023

Editor

Two women leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State have been kidnapped along Manini flash point of Birnin Gwari Local Governments Area of the state after attending the inauguration of the state governor, Senator Uba Sani

This was disclosed by the chairman of Birnin Gwari Emirate Progressive Union (BEPU, Ishaq Usman Kasai in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune on Wednesday morning

According to him, the bandits blocked the road and kidnapped the two APC women leaders including dozens of others.

He said the kidnapped women leaders are Birnin Gwari APC women leader, Hajiya Lami Awarware and her assistant, Hajiya Haulatu Aliyu.

According to Nigerian Tribune, immediately after the victims were kidnapped on Tuesday, the kidnappers took them to the forest.

He also said that the abductors are yet to contact the families of the victims or any person in the area.

Recall, two days ago, BEPU had while congratulating the president, Bola Tinubu pleaded with the president to end the insecurity bedeviling the Local Government Area.

Also as at the time of filling the report,the state government and the police are to issue a statement on the development.