Crime Facts

Inibehe Effiong challenges judge to release CCTV footage of court proceedings

  Human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, has challenged the Chief Judge of Akwa Ibom State, Ekaette Obot, to release CCTV footage of what transpired in court on the day he was sentenced to prison for alleged contempt of court. The judge, Mrs Obot, committed Mr Effiong to one-month imprisonment on 27 July after the lawyer objected to the presence of two armed police operatives inside the courtroom. Justice Obot, in the record of proceedings she released recently, claimed that the young lawyer pointed his hands at her and also banged at a table during the hearing of a defamation suit, in which Mr Effiong was the defendant’s counsel. The Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel, is the plaintiff in the suit. But Mr Effiong has denied Justice Obot’s claim. “I’m using this opportunity to publicly urge and appeal to My Lord the Honourable Chief Judge of Akwa Ibom State, My Lord the Honourable Justice Ekaette Fabian Obot to please, release the CCTV camera of that day. “Because I am told, I am aware to the best of my knowledge that there is CCTV inside that courtroom, My Lord the Chief Judge’s court. Let all lawyers in Nigeria see when Inibehe pointed at the Honourable Chief Judge. Let them also see when Inibehe banged at the table,” Mr Effiong said on Friday to reporters immediately after he was released from Uyo prison. “Even if I was the most insolent lawyer in Nigeria, you do not have to scandalise my name and attribute to me a conduct that never took place in court just to justify what is clearly unjustifiable,” the lawyer said. Minutes before Justice Obot sentenced Mr Effiong to prison, she had ordered a PREMIUM TIMES’ reporter, Saviour Imukudo, out of her court for doing an audio recording of the proceedings “without the court’s permission”. The reporter was detained and his phone confiscated by a police operative on the order of Justice Obot. He was later released and his phone handed over to him after the judge compelled him to delete the recording. Mr Effiong narrated what happened in the court on that day. “I was about to start my cross examination and I turned back, again I saw two armed policemen with AK47, one to my right, one to my left. This had created so much hostility and I said My Lord, I have also observed the presence of two armed policemen in court. “I said, My Lord, even though I am ordinarily not intimidated by their presence but by their being here with arms, seated behind me, they have created hostility in the court, which has made it uncomfortable for me and difficult for me to proceed with the proceedings and I pleaded with the court to excuse them. My Lord didn’t accept our plea. “Again, maybe that was my offence. I did not give up because I have a duty as a lawyer to defend the course of justice. “I said, My Lord, respectfully, I am now making it as a formal application in which case Your Lordship would have to render a decision. I said, however, if Your Lordship overrules me, I would be bound by the order of the court and I would proceed with my cross-examination. “At that point, My Lord picked up a pen, My Lord started writing. You know, as a lawyer, when you are addressing the court and the court is writing, you are excited that the court is taking note of what you are saying. I thought My Lord was writing what I was saying, not knowing it was my committal order to prison. “The next thing I heard was, ‘You there, step out of the bar’. “I stepped out of the bar. I did not fight. And then My Lord said, derobe yourself and I must also say again I did not derobe immediately. I must place the record as it is because I cannot derobe as a lawyer in court if I don’t know the reason I should derobe. It is like taking away my Call-to-Bar certificate. I said, My Lord, if I derobe I can no longer address the court as a counsel. My Lord said ‘you are no longer a lawyer, I no longer recognise you because I am sending you to prison’. “I didn’t believe it. The next thing My Lord did was to read what My Lord had already written, ‘You are hereby sentenced to one month imprisonment, to be remanded at the Correction Centre until you purge yourself of contempt’. “And then I removed my wig. My Lord ordered the two armed policemen, ‘Hold him, hold him. Make sure he does not leave. Hold him, make sure he does not escape’. “And I told the policemen, even if I escape, people outside will know that I am the one that is running. Where will I run to? Where in Akwa Ibom will I hide?”

Insecurity: 75 Zamfara Secondary Schools Still Shut — Perm Sec

  Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Zamfara State, Alhaji Kabiru Attahiru, on Saturday said that at least 75 secondary schools in the state are still closed due to security concerns. He made this known in Gusau while reading a goodwill message during a two-day meeting held to sensitise the National Policy on Gender in Education (NPGE), an event organised by the state’s Universal Basic Education Board in partnership with UNICEF. day meeting held to sensitise the National Policy on Gender in Education (NPGE), an event organised by the state’s Universal Basic Education Board in partnership with UNICEF.   Attahiru noted that most of the schools which are only girls’ secondary schools had been closed since September 2021 following attacks on two girls’ schools in the state. He said the state government was working round the clock to reopen the schools which were shut down due to threats by bandits. The permanent secretary further explained that the government directed the closure of the schools following the abduction of 75 students from Government Day Secondary School, Kaya, in Maradun Local Government Area of the state. Attahiru emphasised the need to include field officers in national education policy formulation on gender education to attain the desired result. In his remarks, the state’s UNICEF consultant, Dr Ahmed Hashim, highlighted the objectives of the committee including reviewing inputs from previous meetings on NPGE. (NAN)

Police Parade 46-Year-Old Woman In Maiduguri For Kidnapping Children

  The police in Borno have paraded a 46-year-old mother of two for abducting three children in Maiduguri. The police also paraded 58 other suspects who specialize in kidnappings and other crimes. The suspected abductor, who claims she is indulging in the act for the first time, said she was lured into the act by one ‘Lady B’ in Lagos who promised to take her abroad and make her rich. The suspect, Nsa Hensewa, said before embarking on the journey to Maiduguri, she was a businesswoman in Lagos and that she had lived in Maiduguri with her parents some 30 years back.

Flood kills four in Plateau

  No fewer than four persons have been washed away and some others injured as the result of heavy downpours at the Nyelleng and Gwabi communities of the Pankshin local government area of Plateau State. Among those washed away are a couple identified as Daniel Goma and his wife as well as two other people. The Chairman of the Local Government Council, Audu Kak’mena visited the communities to express his condolence over the incident. downpour occurred in the area between Monday 22nd to Wednesday 24th of August leaving the communities flooded and the only bridge linking the area to other communities submerged. The said bridge has always been affected each rainy season and the community requires a lasting solution to the problem. Some of the victims are residents who were returning from a neighbouring local market and were trying to wade through the flood but lost their lives in the process The Council Chairman told the people that the Council would offer some assistance and also recommend the same to the State and the National Emergency Management Agencies for intervention and advised residents to be cautious while crossing rivers during the rainy season to avoid a reoccurrence of the ugly incident. Audu visited the deceased couple’s home and that of Nendirmwa Kamshinen, a pregnant woman who sustained injuries as a result of the flood.

Hold Education Minister, FG Responsible For Prolonged Strike — ASUU

  The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has called on Nigerians to hold the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu and the Federal Government responsible for the prolonged strike. The union said that the government is not sincere in dealing with them, moreso, all the Federal Government is telling the people about their negotiations is not the truth.   Speaking on Friday at the University of Jos, Plateau State, ASUU Zonal Coordinator, Bauchi Zone, Prof Lawan Abubakar, said before being a minister, Adamu has always been in support of ASUU’s agitations/actions, including strikes, as he always urged them to hold the government accountable. Prof Abubakar said that now, as Adamu has become the Minister of Education he has suddenly turned against ASUU and has been misleading other ministers and the public about the action embarked upon by the union. The Chairman quoted Adamu to have said in 2013, “This nation owes a debt of gratitude to ASUU, and the strike should not be called off until the government accepts to do and does what is required. “So, instead of hectoring ASUU to call off the strike, the nation should be praying for more of its kind in other sectors of the economy.” The professor further said that recently, Adamu Adamu had also said that whatever he wrote on ASUU, he had totally believed in it, even now that he is a minister. He said, “You may recall that when asked to make his comments on ASUU’s submission to President Buhari on Tuesday, the 9th of January, 2020, Adamu Adamu said he totally agreed with what ASUU presented, upon which note President Buhari handed him ASUU’s document and directed him to come up with a proposal for an amicable solution. “For the same Adamu Adamu to now lead his colleagues, the other ministers, to misrepresent facts and mislead the good people of Nigeria against ASUU is rather unfortunate. It is the highest level of unpatriotic disservice a minister would do to his nation, particularly in a sector like education which is the backbone of the development of any country. The ASUU Zonal Coordinator continued, “If this is the way to end the ASUU strike, ASUU-Bauchi Zone is taking exception to it and assuring Adamu Adamu that he is wrong; he has rather succeeded in undermining the future of Nigerian youths and Nigeria. If it would take him six (6) months to only come up with this deceit as a solution to the strike, we then have the right to ask whether he really was serious with education or stage-managing it. “It has now come to bear, that the minister had all along been deceiving everybody since 2017, as far as ASUU’s agitations in the tenure of this government are concerned. We want the general public to know that the Federal Government through Adamu Adamu did NOT approach ASUU with any reasonable and acceptable solutions to the issues in the contention that led to the current strike.” Abubakar said another complicit minister in the negotiations was the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, who abandoned the negotiations, and then later began pursuing a presidential bid where he went and ‘gave’ N100 million to buy nomination form, only for him to later withdraw and forfeit the money. “We are now hearing stories of termites eating up documents related to the expenditure of over 17 billion Naira in NSITF (National Insurance Trust Fund), a parastatal in the Federal Ministry of Labor and Employment where Chris Ngige holds sway as minister. If Ngige would abandon talks with ASUU for his Dead-on-Arrival presidential bid, one would not expect the Minister of Education to do the worst to the Ministry of his charge,” he added.

TikTok Videos: Police Suspend Two Supernumerary Officers For Policy Violation, Misconduct

  Two supernumerary police officers have been suspended by the Nigeria Police for “discreditable conduct” and violation of the Force’s social media policy. Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said in a statement on Friday that the officers, both female, were suspended with immediate effect “for breach of the provisions of the Police Act, 2020, and The Nigeria Police Guidelines for Recruitment/Promotion/Discipline of Supernumerary Police (SPY) 2013 by the Inspector-General of Police, as captured in a video posted by one of the officers”. Adejobi identified the officers as Obaze Blessing with SPY number 5709, and Obaze Emmanuella Uju with SPY number 5708. Videos of both officers on TikTok have made the rounds recently and the Force PRO noted that one of their videos went viral on August 3, 2022. He said, in the video, the officers “adorned themselves in conventional police officers’ uniforms contrary to the code regulating the SPY service. One of them similarly adorned the rank of Superintendent of Police which is contrary to extant laws. “Above all, they portrayed themselves in the viral video and other videos as undisciplined and unprofessional, in contravention of the Police Social Media Policy, with acts glorifying ill-gotten wealth and ill-morals, which has received wide condemnation from members of the public.” Warning Against Misuse of Uniforms In addition to suspending both officers, the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, issued a strict warning against “incessant, illegal and unwarranted use of police uniforms restricted to bona fide serving officers of the Nigeria Police Force”. In the statement, Adejobi clarified the role of supernumerary police and the dress code. He said, “The Supernumerary Police, by the combined effects of the Police Act, 2020 and the Nigeria Police Guidelines for Recruitment/Promotion/Discipline of Supernumerary Police (SPY),2013 was established solely to complement the services of regular Police Officers when needed by Ministries, Departments and Agencies/Multi-National Companies, and Banks who make requests and upon approval pay for their training and cover their emoluments for the period of their engagement. (Sections 21-24 of the Police Act, 2020). “It is equally important to mention that in line with Section 25 (2) (3) of the Police Act, 2020 and the Nigeria Police Guidelines for Recruitment/Promotion/Discipline of Supernumerary Police (SPY), 2013issued by the Inspector-General of Police (Guidelines for SPYs), the mode of dressing of SPY police mandates its SPY officers above the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police not to wear uniforms. Similarly, extant laws delineate the Supernumerary uniform. “It states that they must be on their approved uniform, ash coloured shirt with “SPY” inscriptions all over, over black with shoulder badge carrying the word “SUPERNUMERARY”. Supernumerary Officers adorning police black, neon blue or camouflage uniforms run afoul of the law and would be adequately sanctioned.”

Army dismisses two soldiers over killing of Yobe cleric

  The Nigerian army has dismissed two soldiers allegedly involved in the killing of Goni Aisami, an Islamic cleric in Yobe. John Gabriel and Adamu Gideon, both lance corporal, were the two soldiers dismissed. Ibrahim Osabo, the acting commander officer in charge of army’s 241 Reece battalion in Nguru, told journalists that a joint board of inquiry set up in collaboration with the police found the soldiers guilty. The two soldiers, he said, were dismissed on a two-count charge of failure to perform duties and conduct prejudice to service discipline. He also said the dismissed soldiers will be handed over to the police in Damaturu for prosecution. Aisami was allegedly killed by Gabriel after the former offered him a ride. The police had earlier paraded the two soldiers and three other persons over the alleged murder.   President Muhammadu Buhari has also directed the military to flush out the killers of the cleric.

2023: Obi-Datti Campaign deny ‘deal’ with Atiku

  The media office of the Obi-Datti 2023 Presidential campaign has debunked speculations that the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi, has entered into a ‘political deal’ to support the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar. The campaign office in a statement in Abuja, on Saturday, described the speculations as the handiwork of charitable propagandists who indulge in distorting facts in the pursuit of imaginary relevance for their paymasters. The statement read in part, “Rather than strive to contend with the hard sell of their candidates, these mischief makers bandy about misleading accounts of the issue-based messages of our candidates just to score cheap political points and thus distract the discerning public. “While we understand the frustration of dealing in their hard-to-sell, “expired milk” [apologies to BAT] in a competitive market, the FairPlay rule demands that you don’t associate the good with the bad product. We demand honour even among thieves! “We know the intention of the spin-doctors in selling an utterly false story that the highflying Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, met with his PDP counterpart and reached a deal. Nothing can be further from the truth.” It further said, “Obi’s foreign trip, its motive, and where and who to meet are already in the public domain; his meeting in the UK with some Nigerian political leaders is visually seen by all. “But mischievous propagandists prefer to concoct lies in a desperate effort to clean up their candidate. “We understand why the focus is on the Obi-Datti candidacy; they are easily the front runners in this 2023 race and the tag team has irresistible messages that are resonating with the embattled Nigerian public who are anxious more than ever to reclaim and take back their country. “The LP candidates are on a divine mission to rescue and rebuild this country and cannot be distracted by any fabrications intended to mislead. “ If Obi’s mission is to rescue Nigeria from the old order, he ought not be seen working for the changing order.“ The media office noted that stories around the issue expose the writers as having exhausted themselves even before the start of the electioneering campaign and now resort to manufacturing supporters. It argued that the same people who said that Obi is a social media phantom wave without political structure to win an election are today struggling to ‘photoshop’ the same Obi with their candidate. The media office equally said, “Obi’s respect for Atiku or any leader in this country has more to do with his sound upbringing and the fact that his style of politics is devoid of hate and bitterness and should not be misconstrued to be cavorting the spent order represented by the competition. “These propagandists need to know that the movement Obi and Datti-Ahmed are driving is not something in control of one man negotiating it away. “Nigerian people have taken the steering from Obi and are driving him to the Aso Rock Villa; they will not look sideways for distractions. “Obi-Datti media office is privy to intelligence that many distorted stories will be dished to the public to create confusion in their minds of the public and notes that such a mission is dead on arrival because the people’s commitment to the Obidient assignment is total.”

PDP crisis: Wile’s camp tips southwest man to replace Ayu as national chairman

  The camp of Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, in the crisis rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has proposed the appointment of Taofeek Arapaja as acting national chairman of the party. PREMIUM TIMES reported on Friday that the group, at a meeting it held on Thursday in London with the presidential candidate of the party, Atiku Abubakar, demanded the resignation of the national chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, as its condition for sitting down to negotiate with Atiku for the support of the group in the coming presidential election. Members of the group who attended the meeting held over dinner at the Carlton Hotel in Park Lane, London include Governors Samuel Ortom of Benue, Seyi Makinde of Oyo and Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia as well as former governors Donald Duke of Cross Rivers, Segun Mimiko of Ondo and Ibrahim Dankwambo of Gombe. The group gave two main reasons for its demand for Mr Ayu’s resignation. The first is to correct the imbalance in the leadership of the party in which all the top national positions in the PDP are being held by members from the northern zones of the country. It said Mr Ayu himself had foreseen such imbalance before he was elected by consensus last year and had pledged to step down should the party also nominate a northerner as presidential candidate. The second reason the group cited was the alleged divisiveness of Mr Ayu, saying his leadership style has worsened crises in the party. The group believes that Atiku can prevail on Mr Ayu to step down because they are allies and that the national chairman had clandestinely supported Atiku in the party primaries. At the meeting, Atiku had pointed out to the group that Mr Ayu’s resignation would not correct the imbalance in the leadership, as the Deputy National Chairman (North), Umar Damagum, would be required to fill the vacancy such a step would create, in line with the provisions of the the constitution of the party. The constitution of the party prescribes that the deputy national chairman from the home region of the national chairman would act in the absence of the national chairman or take the office if it becomes vacant before the end of their tenure. But the Wike group cited a precedent of 2010 when Haliru Mohammed, who was then the deputy national chairman (North), took over as acting national chairman after Okwesileze Nwodo from Enugu State in the South East zone was forced to step down after Goodluck Jonathan became president, following the death of President Umar Yar’adua. The group proposed that Mr Arapaja should take the office on an interim basis until after the general elections when the party could then decide on a substantive national chairman. Mr Arapaja is a former deputy governor of Oyo State and assistant national chairman of the party for the South West until his election to his current position. He is an ally of Governor Makinde, one of the governors in the Wike camp. It should be noted that the South West zone has never produced the national chairman of the PDP. The PDP crisis began after Mr Wike complained that he was unfairly defeated in the party’s presidential primaries. He was left further enraged after Atiku named Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as running mate. A committee of the party had recommended Mr Wike to Atiku for the appointment. The London meeting of Monday was the third time the two protagonists in the crisis would be sitting at a meeting as the search for their reconciliation continues.

2023: Nigeria needs Tinubu’s doggedness – Group

  A political support group, the City Boys Movement, says Nigeria needs the doggedness of the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to move its economy to greatness. The BoT Chairman of National Coalition Group (NCG), Mr Francis Shoga, said this during a courtesy visit to the palaces of Mai Girma, the Sapeyi of Garki, Abuja, Dr Usman Ngakupi; and the Agaba of Jiwa, Alhaji Idris Musa, on Friday. The group, in a statement by its Director of Media and Publicity, Mrs Aminat Aminu-Isah, in Abuja on Friday, quoted Shoga describing TInubu as a dogged man and a detribalised Nigerian. Shoga said that the movement believe in the capacity of Tinubu as the only candidate that could change the fortune of Nigeria. He highlighted some past achievements of Tinubu to include free education, infrastructural development and free medical outreach. “Tinubu is a dogged goal getter. His doggedness is what led to a new Lagos, giving him a chance as Nigeria’s president is equivalent to giving Nigeria a face lift and rays of hope,” Shoga said. The NCG BoT chairman said there was need to support the presidential ambition of Tinubu to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023. He described the visit as part of efforts to strengthen and foster the group’s relationship with all relevant stakeholders towards the victory of Tinubu ahead of the 2023 general election in FCT. Shoga said that the visit would cut across other states of the federation to deepen consultations with all necessary stakeholders. He said that they were in Abuja to intimate the traditional rulers on the group’s mandate and to seek support for Tinubu. “Tinubu is a dogged goal getter. His doggedness is what led to a new Lagos, giving him a chance as Nigeria’s president is equivalent to giving Nigeria a face lift and rays of hope,” Shoga declared. Aminu-Isah also quoted NCG’s National Chairman, Dr Bako Abdullahi, while unveiling the agenda of the group to the royal fathers, expressing confidence in Tinubu’s ability to deliver. Abdullahi said that having considered all candidates that emerged from all political parties’ primaries, Tinubu remained the man with the requisite leadership skills and experience. He said that as a former governor of Lagos State, Tinubu set unprecedented blueprint that the successive governors had continued to enjoy. Abdullahi solicited the blessings of the traditional institution for Tinubu’s presidential ambition, describing the APC candidate as the only man who can lift Nigeria to a lofty height. “He has the best credential among other presidential candidates. “His landmark achievements as governor of Lagos State are there for verification. He is the pathfinder of the infrastructural revolution you see in Lagos today. He set the pace and others follow. “With Tinubu as the President in 2023, Nigerians are assured of Economic and Infrastructural development. “What this country needs now is someone who can revolutionise our country and that is what Tinubu is bringing to the table,” Abdullahi said. Responding, Musa urged Nigerians to shun tribalism, religious sentiment and other destructive tendencies. On his part, Ngakupi described Tinubu as a man of the people, known home and abroad with a robust track record and foot print in Lagos state and other parts of the nation. Ngakupi therefore urged Nigerians to continue to pray for TInubu, his running mate and their 2023 ambition. (NAN)“Tinubu is a dogged goal getter. His doggedness is what led to a new Lagos, giving him a chance as Nigeria’s president is equivalent to giving Nigeria a face lift and rays of hope,” Shoga declared. Aminu-Isah also quoted NCG’s National Chairman, Dr Bako Abdullahi, while unveiling the agenda of the group to the royal fathers, expressing confidence in Tinubu’s ability to deliver. Abdullahi said that having considered all candidates that emerged from all political parties’ primaries, Tinubu remained the man with the requisite leadership skills and experience. He said that as a former governor of Lagos State, Tinubu set unprecedented blueprint that the successive governors had continued to enjoy. Abdullahi solicited the blessings of the traditional institution for Tinubu’s presidential ambition, describing the APC candidate as the only man who can lift Nigeria to a lofty height. “He has the best credential among other presidential candidates. “His landmark achievements as governor of Lagos State are there for verification. He is the pathfinder of the infrastructural revolution you see in Lagos today. He set the pace and others follow. “With Tinubu as the President in 2023, Nigerians are assured of Economic and Infrastructural development. “What this country needs now is someone who can revolutionise our country and that is what Tinubu is bringing to the table,” Abdullahi said. Responding, Musa urged Nigerians to shun tribalism, religious sentiment and other destructive tendencies. On his part, Ngakupi described Tinubu as a man of the people, known home and abroad with a robust track record and foot print in Lagos state and other parts of the nation. Ngakupi therefore urged Nigerians to continue to pray for TInubu, his running mate and their 2023 ambition. (NAN)