Headline

Justice Odili: Court Grants N5m Bail To ASP, Others

Published

4 years ago

January 17, 2022

A Federal High Court, Abuja, on Monday, granted bail to three out of the remaining 15 suspects who allegedly invaded the residence of the Supreme Court judge, Mary Odili.

Justice Nkeonye Maha admitted them to a N5 million bail each, following an application separately filed by their counsel not opposed to by lawyer to the police, Mathew Omosun.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Justice Maha had on December 15, 2021, refused to grant bail to an assistant superintendent of police, Mohammed Yahaya; Abdullahi Adamu; and Abdullahi Usman, on the grounds that no bail application was filed before the court on their behalf.

The judge had ordered that the three defendants be remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre till the next hearing fixed for trial commencement.

All 15 defendants had earlier pleaded not guilty to 18 charges, including forgery, criminal trespass, intimidation, extortion, among others, linked to their alleged invasion of Odili’s home in Abuja on October 29, 2021.

Delivering the ruling, Justice Maha ordered that the defendants must produce two sureties each.

The judge also directed that the two sureties for each of the defendants must be responsible citizens, and one of them must possess a landed property in Abuja with a verified certificate of occupancy.

Maha also ruled that the second surety must be gainfully employed in Abuja, having paid his or her tax dues for three years. She said the documents of the landed property should be submitted to the registry of the court.

The judge, who ordered that the defendants must submit their passports to the registry, directed that all the defendants be remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre pending the perfection of their bail terms.

The judge noted that though the prosecution did not oppose the applications, this did not preclude the court from looking at the merit of the matter based on the Supreme Court decision.

She said the court also had the discretion to grant the bail.

NAN reports that the Federal Government, through the Nigerian Police Force, had produced the 15 suspects before Maha for arraignment on an 18-count charge bordering on forgery, criminal trespass, intimidation, extortion, among others, contrary to the sections of the law.

In the charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/436/2021, they were also alleged to have threatened Mrs Odili and members of her household while trying to execute an illegal search warrant.

Although 22 defendants are charged in the case, seven of them were

Headline

Welcome Home, Israel Confirms Return Of 20 Hostages From Gaza

Published

9 hours ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

Israel said that the last 20 living hostages released by Hamas on Monday had arrived in the country.

“Welcome home,” the foreign ministry wrote in a series of posts on X, hailing the return of Matan Angrest, Gali Berman, Ziv Berman, Elkana Bohbot, Rom Braslavski, Nimrod Cohen, David Cunio, Ariel Cunio, Evyatar David, Guy Gilboa Dalal, Maxim Herkin, Eitan Horn, Segev Kalfon, Bar Kuperstein, Omri Miran, Eitan Mor, Yosef Haim Ohana, Alon Ohel, Avinatan Or and Matan Zangauker.

AFP

Headline

20 Members Of Gang Blacklisted By US Escape Guatemala Prison

Published

12 hours ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

Twenty members of a gang designated a “foreign terrorist organisation” by the United States have escaped from detention in Guatemala, a prison chief said Sunday.

The members of the Barrio 18 gang “evaded security controls” at the Fraijanes II facility, prison director Ludin Godinez said at a news conference.

He received “an intelligence report” on Friday warning about the “possible escape” from the prison, which is southeast of the capital, Guatemala City.

Godinez said they were investigating possible acts of corruption.

Washington last month blacklisted Barrio 18, an El Salvador-based gang which has a reputation for violence and extortion, as part of its crackdown on drug trafficking.

The US embassy in Guatemala condemned the prison escape as “utterly unacceptable.”

“The United States designated members of this heinous group as the terrorists they are and will hold accountable anyone who has provided, provides, or decides to provide material support to these fugitives or other gang members,” the embassy said on X.

It called on the Guatemalan government to “act immediately and vigorously to recapture these terrorists.”

According to Interior Minister Francisco Jimenez, there are about 12,000 gang members and collaborators in Guatemala, while another 3,000 are in prison.

The country’s homicide rate has increased from 16.1 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2024 to 17.65 this year, more than double the world average, according to the Centre for National Economic Research.

According to the Salvadoran government, the gangs Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha, better known as MS-13, are responsible for the deaths of about 200,000 people over three decades.

The two gangs once controlled an estimated 80 percent of El Salvador, which had one of the highest homicide rates in the world.

Headline

South Africa Bus Crash Kills 40 Including Malawi, Zimbabwe Nationals

Published

12 hours ago

October 13, 2025

Editor

At least 40 people, including nationals of Malawi and Zimbabwe, were killed when a passenger bus rolled down an embankment in South Africa, a provincial transport minister said Monday.

The bus travelling to Zimbabwe crashed around 90 kilometres (55 miles) from the border on Sunday after the driver apparently lost control, Limpopo province transport minister Violet Mathye said.

“They are still working on the scene, but 40 bodies have already been confirmed to date,” Mathye told the Newzroom Afrika channel. The dead included a 10-month-old girl, she said.

Thirty-eight people were in hospital and rescuers were searching for other victims, she told eNCA media.

The bus was travelling from the southern city of Gqeberha, around 1,500 kilometres away, and its passengers included Malawians and Zimbabweans who were working in South Africa. The crash may have been caused by driver fatigue or a mechanical fault, the minister said.

South Africa has a sophisticated and busy road network with a high rate of road deaths, blamed mostly on speeding, reckless driving and unroadworthy vehicles.

AFP