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Judge’s Absence Stalls Ex-Lagos Speaker, Ikuforiji’s Trial

Published

3 weeks ago

November 20, 2023

Editor

The trial of a former speaker of the Lagos House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji, over alleged money laundering was on Monday, stalled because Justice Mohammed Liman of the Federal High Court did not sit.

The case which was first fixed for continuation of trial on November 15, could not proceed at the last adjourned date as the court did not sit and it was, consequently, fixed for November 20.

On Monday, the case also could not proceed as the court did not sit following a letter by defence counsel, seeking an adjournment of the case to a more convenient date.

A new date is, however, yet to be communicated to parties.

Justice Liman, who presides over the case, had been transferred out of the Lagos division but still comes from his division to preside over the case following a fiat.

Ikuforiji is charged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission alongside his former Personal Assistant, Oyebode Atoyebi.

They are being tried before on a 54-count bordering on alleged N338.8 million money laundering.

They had each pleaded not guilty and were allowed to continue on an earlier bail granted to them in 2012 when they were first arraigned.

On March 17, 2021, the EFCC had closed its case after calling the second witness for the prosecution.

Prosecution called a total of two witnesses in support of its case.

Meanwhile, Justice Liman was later transferred out of the Lagos division and the case suffered several set backs.

On May 4, (this year) defence counsel Mr Dele Adesina SAN, opened the case for the defence and had began calling witnesses.

Defence called three witnesses, including the first defendant (Ikuforiji).

Among others, Ikuforiji had testified how he was being prosecuted on a faceless petition.

He had told the court that the instant case arose from a petition written by an unknown person, alleging that he had stolen about N7 billion from the Lagos House of Assembly.

The matter was consequently, fixed for adoption of written addresses

The case will now continue on the next adjourned date.

The defendants were first arraigned on March 1, 2012 before Justice Okechukwu Okeke on a 20-counts charge bordering on misappropriation and money laundering.

They had each pleaded not guilty to the charges and were granted bails.

The defendants were, however, subsequently re-arraigned before Justice Ibrahim Buba, following a re-assignment of the case.

Buba had granted them bail in the sum of N500 million each with sureties in like sun

On Sept. 26, 2014, Justice Buba discharged Ikuforiji and his aide of the charges, after upholding a no case submission of the defendants.

Buba had held that the EFCC failed to establish a prima-facie case against them.

Dissatisfied with the ruling, the EFCC, through its counsel, Mr Godwin Obla (SAN), filed the Notice of Appeal dated Sept. 30, 2014, challenging the decision of the trial court.

Obla had argued that the trial court erred in law when it held that the counts were incompetent because they were filed under Section 1(a) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004, which was repealed by an Act of 2011.

EFCC further argued that the lower court erred in law when it held that the provisions of Section 1 of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act, 2004 and 2011, only applied to natural persons and corporate bodies other than the Government.

The commission had also submitted that the trial judge erred in law when he held and concluded that the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses supported the innocence of the respondents.

In its judgement, the Lagos Division of the Appeal Court, in November 2016, agreed with the prosecution and ordered a fresh trial of the defendants before another judge.

Following the decision of the Appeal Court, the defendants headed for the Supreme Court, seeking to upturn the ruling of the Appellate court.

Again, in its verdict, the apex court also upheld the decision of the appellate court and ordered that the case be sent back to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court for reassignment to another judge.

According to the charge, EFCC alleged that the defendants accepted cash payments above the threshold set by the Money Laundering Act, without going through a financial institution.

The commission accused the defendants of conspiring to commit an illegal act of accepting cash payments in the aggregate sum of N338.8 million from the House of Assembly without going through a financial institution.

Ikuforiji was also accused of using his position to misappropriate funds belonging to the Assembly.

The EFCC said that the defendants committed the offences between April 2010 and July 2011.

The offences, according to the EFCC, contravenes the provisions of Sections 15 (1d), 16(1d) and 18 of Money Laundering Act, 2004 and 2011.

NAN

News

JUST IN: Late Alaafin’s Son, Abdulfatai Is Dead

Published

9 mins ago

December 8, 2023

Editor

The son of the late Alaafin of Oyo, Prince Abdulfatai Adeyemi, fondly called D-Gov, is dead.

He died in the early hours of Friday, a day before his 47th birthday.

He reportedly died of diabetes at the University College Hospital in Ibadan, Oyo State.

The Oyo prince, who was said to have been ill for a while, aspired for the Oyo Federal Constituency on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party in 2019 but lost the election to his brother, Akeem Adeyemi, fondly called Skimeh, who was re-elected for the second term.

He was appointed by the state governor, Seyi Makinde, as Chairman of the Oyo State Local Government Pension Board in his first term.

A palace source, who preferred anonymity, told The PUNCH that he died on Friday after a protracted illness.

He said, “Yes, he died this morning. Many people have also called me to confirm his demise. I was also weak when I received the news. Today is his brother, Akeem Adeyemi’s (a House of Representatives member), birthday, a day away from each other.

“I was with him on the day of the empowerment programme of his brother, Akeem, popularly called Skimeh, when he gave N50,000 each to 500 people. We sat down together. He was even the one who delivered the sermon on that day, not knowing that he was saying goodbye to everybody. It’s so painful and sad,” he lamented.

Details later…

News

Why I Invited Pasuma, Portable For Church Performance – Cleric Breaks Silence

Published

39 mins ago

December 8, 2023

Editor

The founder of a branch of Celestial Church of Christ in Lagos State, Aderemi Dabiri, has said the reason why he invited Fuji singer, Alabi Pasuma, and street-hop artiste, Portable, was to gain new converts.

The cleric made this known in a video where he was seen addressing a delegation of the church’s task force who visited his parish to have an audience with him.

The white garment church came under heavy criticism recently for inviting secular artistes to its praise night event.

While explaining the rationale behind the decision, Dabiri revealed that the choice of the two artistes was to attract deviants in the society.

According to him, the pattern of evangelism had worked for him over the years and also resulted in the growth of his church membership.

He said, “It is not our first time inviting guest artistes. We have been doing it without a problem and I can give you a series of instances. We cannot go where they sell palm wine or alcoholic drinks and ask them to accept Jesus Christ. If I don’t apply wisdom, they will hit a bottle on my head. That was why I thought of a way to bring them into the church.

“I also noticed that there are some notorious boys who cause trouble in the community, disturbing the authorities and engaging in cultism. I wondered how can we draw their attention so that they would have a change of heart. We have gone to places where they are and they ended up beating us. Most of the members of my church are new converts and it was through that pattern that I converted them.”

Dabiri, who criticised some gospel ministers for being disrespectful said he preferred to invite secular musicians.

“Some gospel ministers are rude. If you talk to some of them, they respond rudely, but the day I called Pasuma, he sounded respectful on the phone and also agreed with my stance,” he said.

Responding to the concerns raised by the task force team about the raging controversy caused by the development, Dabiri indicated that he had no plans to cancel the invitation.

However, he explained that he would reduce the excesses of the artistes at the event, especially Portable.

He said, “We will tell Portable not to dye his hair and he should not sing vulgar songs but to sing gospel music. We will also caution him not to dress inappropriately or climb the speakers.

“We will also warn him not to allow his boys to smoke here. We have invited close to 30 military personnel to man the event.”

The cleric also appealed to the Celestial Church worldwide to support his vision, as he would use his style of evangelism to make the church proud.

News

Chief Of Air Staff Tasks Officers On Respect, Protection Of Host Communities

Published

1 hour ago

December 8, 2023

Editor

The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar has called on the newly graduated officers of the Special Forces of the Nigerian Air Force to respect and protect the members of their host communities.

Abubakar, who was represented by Air Vice Marshal Usman Abdullahi, Air Officer Commanding, Ground Training Command, Headquarters, made the call in Bauchi on Friday during the graduation ceremony of 135 students of the Special Forces Course 11/2023.

According to him, from the high quality of tactical display by the graduating students, there was no doubt that they had imbibed the basic skills and techniques required to conduct special operations in achieving the operational objectives of the Nigerian Air Force.

He explained that the successes of the Nigerian Air Force in shaping the battlespace and neutralising adversary capabilities had resulted in degrading operational capacity of bandits, insurgents and other criminal elements in different operational theatres.

“To the graduating students of Special Forces Course 11/2023, I am aware of the rigors of your training on ground, in the air and that’s why you have been decorated with your Special Forces emblem. I say well done.

“I therefore urge you to exhibit what you have learnt during the course whenever and wherever duty calls.

“This call will require you to exhibit courage, commitment and loyalty in the discharge of your duties.

“Once deployed, you are implored to treat your host communities with utmost respect as your task is to protect them from hostile threats,” he said.

Abubakar also appreciated President Bola Tinubu for his continuous support to the Nigerian Air Force despite the harsh economic realities and promised to continue to employ the available resources for the betterment of the country’s service.

Earlier, Aminu Bello, the Commanding Officer, Regiment Training Centre Annex, Nigerian Air Force, Bauchi, said a total of 308 Nigerian Air Force personnel of the Regiment Specialty were nominated to undergo Medical and Physical screening for the 93 days Special Forces Course.

He explained that out of the number, only 294 reported and 148 trainees scaled through the medical and physical screening tests.

According to him, these successful personnel commenced the training in September but at the end of the course, a total of 135 comprising five officers and 130 airmen completed the course.

“Trainees embarked on 10, 15 and 20 km loaded marches respectively with the objective of improving their endurance, even in rugged terrains.

“Several day and night live firing exercises were conducted to ensure that trainees were able to acquire and neutralise targets instinctively at short, medium and long distances.

“About 80% of these trainees came with no idea of swimming but at the end of the swimming phase, all of them graduated from basic to intermediate swimmers,” he said.