Gov. Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa on Friday advised aspirants in the forthcoming Ijaw National Congress (INC) election to see the exercise as a call to service rather than mere political contest. A statement from the Chief Press Secretary to Dickson, Mr ...
Alhaji Suleiman Barau, A Deputy Governor at the CBN, says the apex bank will ensure that the growth recorded in the banking sector is transmitted to real sector. Barau made the pledge in Lagos on Friday while delivering a paper on “Balancing Glob...
Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius was granted bail on Friday, having been charged with premeditated murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.
When the announcement was made, members of his family shouted in approval.
"I come to the conclusion that the accused made a case to be granted bail," Judge Desmond Nair told a packed courtroom.
The judge said he concluded Mr. Pistorius isn't a flight risk, and hasn't been proven to pose violence to other people or that he will interfere with state witnesses.
In his two-hour reading of the decision, Mr. Nair said the recently removed chief investigating officer's evidence was weak and "tarnished." At the same time, he said it doesn't account for the whole state case.
He also said, "The defense has failed to show there is a weakness in the state case."
During the extended bail hearing for Mr. Pistorius, which is in its fourth day, the state has alleged the Olympic and Paralympic runner fired shots through a closed bathroom door and killed his girlfriend, 29-year-old model and aspiring actress Ms. Steenkamp, after what it says could have been a Valentine's Day argument with his girlfriend. The state argues it was premeditated murder, which could render a life sentence if Mr. Pistorius is found guilty.
Mr. Pistorius's legal team says he fired shots through the bathroom door because he thought there was a burglar inside and feared for his safety. Mr. Pistorius said through an affidavit this week that he had no intention to kill his girlfriend. When Mr. Pistorius's lawyer, Barry Roux, was asked by the judge what he would have argued for if he were the prosecution, he said at most culpable homicide, which is a much smaller sentence.
Mr. Roux and prosecutor Gerrie Nel sparred further Friday, before the judge adjourned to make his decision. Mr. Nel refutes the version Mr. Pistorius put forward through an affidavit. Mr. Nel said it didn't make sense that a man who has been portrayed as fearful for his safety would leave his bedroom sliding door open or that Mr. Pistorius would fire through the bathroom door before checking where Ms. Steenkamp was located.
Mr. Roux, in previous days' arguments, sought to poke holes in the chief investigator's evidence, such as not having thoroughly checked phone records or seen that Ms. Steenkamp's bladder was empty, indicating she could have chosen to get up and go to the toilet.
The judge is still to set a trial date. The case will go before a judge; South Africa doesn't use the jury system and doesn't have the death penalty.
The investigating team will continue to collect evidence, but under a new team. Hilton Botha was removed as chief investigating officer Thursday after the prosecuting authority of Mpumalanga province, in early February, reinstated an attempted murder charge against him for a 2011 incident.
- The Wall Street Journal
A security man with First Bank of Nig. Plc, Seyi Jaiyeola, was on Friday docked before Ebute Meta Magistrate's Court, Lagos for allegedly stealing the sum of N12.5million from the bank's Automated Teller Machines (ATMs).
Jaiyeola, 33, who resides at No.5, Ibikunle st. Onipanu, Lagos, is facing a five-count charge.
The prosecutor, Cpl. Ishola Samuel said that the crime was committed between Oct. 5, 2010 and July 12, 2011 at First Bank Plc., Alakija St. Jibowu, Lagos.
He said that the defendant was the security guard of the bank.
He said that the defendant allegedly stole a bunch of keys of the bank, and used it to gain accesss to the ATMs and stole the cash.
“During the defendant's official duty in the night, he used to enter the bank with the keys and remove the money little by little,” Samuel said.
According to the prosecutor, the bank officials discovered the defendant's plans when calculating and inspecting money transactions.
He said that the alleged offences contravened sections 285, 308, 307 of the Criminal Codes, Laws of Lagos State,2011.
The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The magistrate, Mrs M.O Tanimola granted the defendant bail in the sum of N1 million, with two sureties in like sum.
She adjourned the case to March 18 for further hearing. (NAN)
Miss Vivian Amuneke, a receptionist at Cosmilla Hotel, Festac Town, Lagos, where Cynthia Osokogu was murdered, on Friday confessed that she lied to the police after the corpse was discovered. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Amuneke made t...
A labour leader in PHCN, Mr Bede Opara, has called for immediate inauguration of an implementation committee to oversee the disengagement process of PHCN workers. Opara, President General, Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (S...
The Kebbi State office of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) said on Friday it would decentralised the on-going enrolment centers to enable citizens obtain their identity cards. The State Director of the commission, Mallam Hassan H...
A 28-year-old man, Emeka Chimereze, who allegedly stole an hp laptop valued at N120, 000 was on Friday charged before an Apapa Magistrates’ Court in Lagos. Emeka, who resides at Amuwo Odofin area of Lagos, is standing trial on a two-count charge ...
A 45-year-old civil servant, Duru Olayinka was yesterday arraigned before the Upper Area Court, Gwagwalada, for criminal trespass and mischief, contrary to sections 342 and 326 of the Penal Code respectively. The police prosecutor, Modupe Musa, told th...
A major crisis capable of dismembering the powerful Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has sprouted. During the Forum’s meeting in the early hours of this Wednesday,its chairman and governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, narrowly survived a plot to unseat him, said sources at the meeting held at the Rivers States governor’s lodge in Asokoro, Abuja.
If the plot had succeeded, Governor Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State would have been enthroned, it was gathered.
The development is indicative of the festering altercation between Amaechi and the presidency and the division of the governors along two lines: the president’s supporters and his opponents.
As to the masterminds of the plot to unseat Governor Amaechi, fingers are already pointing in the direction of the presidency. Two governors from the south and north-west spearheaded the move, said a source.
LEADERSHIP gathered, however, that Amaechi survived the plot through the intervention of governors Musa Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano and Sule Lamido of Jigawa State. The two governors were said to have prevailed on their colleagues “not to give in to a change in the leadership of the Forum” and as such oppose any interference by the presidency in the running of the Forum’s affairs, the source stated.
There have been stories suggesting that Governor Amaechi is quarrelling with President Goodluck Jonathan. Early this year, reports that former President Olusegun Obasanjo was plotting a possible presidential ticket that could see him (Amaechi) paring with Governor Lamido in the PDP presidential ticket in 2015 were said to have not gone down well with Jonathan.
LEADERSHIP had also exclusively published a photograph of a branded campaign vehicle bearing “Lamido/Amaechi” posters, which was sighted in Kaduna. Though Lamido denied knowledge of such vehicle, Amaechi was quoted as saying that he, like any other Nigerian, was qualified to contest for any position.
At the NGF meeting last month, however, the governors passed a vote of confidence on Amaechi as its chairman, thus signalling that there might have been a clandestine plot to kick him out of the office.
Some governors, mostly from the opposition political parties, were said to have rallied round Amaechi in solidarity, insisting that, “if at all he would be removed, it would not be at the instance of the president”.
Nonetheless, the source added that Amaechi tested the potency of the support when he offered at the meeting to step down and called for any interested successor to signify interest by raising his hand. None of them showed interest.
Amaechi, whose tenure as NGF chairman ends in June this year, succeeded former governor of Kwara State and now serving senator Bukola Saraki.
Meanwhile, reading the communiqué at the end of the meeting Wednesday night, Amaechi said that “members exhaustively discussed the administration of the Forum and resolved that all organs of the Forum be made functional at the next meeting”.
He continued: “Governors expressed deep concern and condemned the recent killings of health workers in Borno, Kano and Yobe, while re-affirming their solidarity with the governors and people of these states.
“Forum commended the governors of these states for their resolve to continue with their polio eradication programme.”
Speaking to newsmen later, Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State refuted claims that the Forum was against President Jonathan. “Jonathan is our leader, so we support him. We are all behind him,” he said.
Imo State governor Rochas Okorocha, while condemning the killings of health workers, said polio has become embarrassing for the country. “We think the issue of polio is becoming very embarrassing to our nation and those who travel to Saudi Arabia had to be subjected to some kind of disinfectant just because they are coming from Nigeria. So we have to look at the issue of polio,” he stated.
“Key positions in the Governors’ Forum that need to be filled up – we never had such positions before like the Board of Trustees (BoT) and some of the key structures -- and we hope that by next meeting we will fill up those positions.”
The $1 billion Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) will operate in accordance with the agenda set up for it, and will become operational by the end of next month, the federal government stated yesterday. Minister of finance and the coordinati...
Apparently on a mission to sanitise the judiciary that has come under attack over increasing corrupt practices and compromised judgements, the National Judicial Council (NJC) yesterday recommended the removal of two judges – Justice Charles ...
President Francois Hollande has said that France is working with Nigeria and Cameroon to find family of seven kidnapped on Tuesday, Aljezeera reports. France is working with Nigerian and Cameroonian authorities to try and locate a French family being h...
The apex northern socio-cultural organisation, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), has urged the Federal Government to pay compensation to victims of violence in the north. The forum stated this, yesterday, while reacting to a Federal High Court judgme...
The Lagos State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Lagos, yesterday arraigned a 69 year old reverend, Simon Dike and three other persons before an Ebute-metta Chief Magistrate’s Court, Lagos, for allegedly selling a month and 18 days...