Headline

Malami, Emefiele Face Contempt Charge Over Refusal To Obey Supreme Court Order

Published

3 years ago

February 21, 2023

Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states have initiated a contempt proceeding against the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, Abubakar Malami and the Governor of Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele over their alleged refusal to comply with the Supreme Court order extending the deadline for the use of old N200, N500 and N1000 notes.

In the fresh documents filed before the Supreme Court, the three states―the original plaintiffs in the suit against the naira swap policy of the Federal Government―cautioned the AGF and Emefiele about the consequences of their continued failure to comply with the apex court’s order of February 3.

The two sets of Form 48, one directed at the AGF and the other at Emefiele were issued by the Chief Registrar of the apex court following an application by the team of lawyers representing the three states.

It was learnt that the documents form part of the processes now awaiting the Supreme Court’s consideration when proceedings resume on Wednesday.

Copies of the forms sighted showed that the CBN governor and the AGF were served on February 17 while it was received at the Supreme Court two days earlier, on February 15.

The forms dated February 15 read: “Take notice that unless you obey the direction contained in the attached Order of the Supreme Court of Nigeria delivered on 3rd day of February 2023, you will be guilty of contempt of court and will be liable to be committed to prison.”

The issuance of Form 48 on an alleged contemnor (a party believed to have flouted an order of the court) is the first stage in the commencement of contempt proceedings.

Form 48 is a notice of the consequence of disobedience of a court order, which could be followed with the issuance of Form 49, should the disobedience persists.

When parties were in court on February 15, the lawyer to Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara states, Abdulhakeem Mustapha, SAN, complained that the Federal Government and its agencies have failed to comply with the order and have allegedly directed the rejection of the old notes.

Mustapha said his clients have since filed a notice of non-compliance with the court order.

He demanded that the court take action against the respondent (AGF) to protect the dignity of the court.

Mustapha added: “That order has been flouted by the government. We are talking of executive lawlessness here. We have filed an affidavit to that effect. We want the court to renew the order for parties to be properly guided.”

Headline

UK Nursery Worker Jailed For Abusing 21 Babies

Published

59 minutes ago

September 26, 2025

Editor

A judge on Friday jailed a nursery worker for eight years for a string of “gratuitous” and “sadistic” attacks on babies.

In one incident, Londoner Roksana Lecka, 22, kicked a little boy in the face several times.

Lecka, who blamed cannabis for her crimes, admitted seven counts of cruelty to a person under the age of 16 and was convicted after a trial of another 14 counts.

Sentencing her for attacks on 21 babies, Judge Sarah Plaschkes said she had committed “multiple acts of gratuitous violence” at two London nurseries where she worked.

“You pinched, slapped, punched, smacked and kicked them. You pulled their ears, hair and their toes. You toppled children headfirst into cots,” she said.

“Often the child would be quietly and happily minding its own business before you deliberately inflicted pain… Your criminal conduct can properly be characterised as sadistic,” she added.

Lecka’s cruelty was revealed in June 2024 after she was seen pinching a number of children.
Police were called in and found multiple incidents recorded on the nursery CCTV.

Victim impact statements submitted to London’s Kingston Crown Court from parents of Lecka’s victims told how they were left heartbroken and guilt-stricken by the attacks.

“These children were so innocent and vulnerable,” one mother told the court.

“They couldn’t speak, they couldn’t defend themselves and they couldn’t tell us as parents that something had happened to them,” she added.

“They were totally helpless and Roksana preyed upon them.”

The hearing was told that she had apologised to the parents in a letter to the court in which she said cannabis had turned her into a different person.

She had been addicted to the drug around the time of the offences, but had not told the nursery.
She was found not guilty of three further counts of child cruelty.

Headline

Italy Fines Six Oil Firms $1bn Fine For Restricting Competition

Published

4 hours ago

September 26, 2025

Editor

Italy’s antitrust regulator said Friday it has slapped Italian energy giant Eni and five other companies with fines totalling more than 936 million euros ($1.1 billion) for “restricting competition” in the sale of fuel.

The authority said in a statement that Eni, Esso, Ip, Q8, Saras and Tamoil “coordinated to set the value of the bio component factored into fuel prices”, which tripled between 2019 and 2023.

A probe following a whistleblower’s complaint revealed that “the companies implemented parallel price increases — largely coinciding — which were driven by direct or indirect information exchanges among them”, the authority said.

“The cartel began on 1 January 2020 and continued until 30 June 2023,” it added.

AFP

Headline

Trump Signs Order For TikTok’s Sale, Valued At $14bn

Published

6 hours ago

September 26, 2025

Editor

United States President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order declaring that his plan is to sell TikTok’s US operations to American and global investors.

As reported by Reuters on Friday, the order requires companies bidding for TikTok to meet the national-security requirements of the 2024 law that otherwise would ban the app unless its Chinese owners divest.

Speaking to reporters at an Oval Office briefing on Thursday, Vice President James Vance said the newly created US entity would be “valued around $14 billion.

“We actually think this is a good deal for investors, but they will make a determination about what they want to invest and what they think is the proper value,” he said.

The White House on Thursday pushed back the law’s enforcement date to January 20 to allow time for the transaction, investor commitments, and negotiations with Chinese authorities.

The publication of the executive order shows Trump is making progress on the sale of TikTok’s US assets.

However, details remain to be worked out, including how the U.S. company would handle TikTok’s most valuable asset: its recommendation algorithm.

“There was some resistance on the Chinese side, but the fundamental thing that we wanted to accomplish is that we wanted to keep TikTok operating, but we also wanted to make sure that we protected Americans’ data privacy as required by law,” Vance said.

According to Reuters, Trump’s order says the algorithm will be retrained and monitored by the U.S. company’s security partners, and operation of the algorithm will be under the control of the new joint venture.

Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping had indicated approval of the plans. “I spoke with President Xi,” Trump said. “We had a good talk, I told him what we were doing, and he said go ahead with it.”

Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. TikTok did not immediately comment on Trump’s action.

Trump has credited TikTok, which has 170 million U.S. users, with helping him win reelection last year. Trump has 15 million followers on his personal TikTok account. The White House also launched an official TikTok account last month.

“This is going to be American-operated all the way,” Trump said.

He said that Michael Dell, the founder, chairman and CEO of Dell Technologies; Rupert Murdoch, the chairman emeritus of Fox News owner Fox Corp, and newspaper publisher News Corp, and “probably four or five absolutely world-class investors” would be part of the deal.