Crime Facts

Court remands Emefiele in Kuje prison pending ruling on bail

  A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Maitama, Abuja has ordered the remand of former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele in Kuje Correctional facility pending ruling on his bail application. Justice Hamza Muazu issued the order on Friday following Emefiele’s arraignment and his plea of not guilty to a six-count amended charge brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). He is, in the charge, accused among others of abuse of office. Justice Muazu, who took arguments on Emefiele’s bail application, adjourned till November 22 for ruling on the bail application and November 28 for the commencement of trial. Details shortly…

DAILIES TOP STORIES: Banks’ USSD debt to telcos hits N200bn

  Friday 17 November 2023 Be patient, inherited crises won’t disappear overnight – Ribadu Forex: FG blames low export earnings, plans diversification 80-year-old woman dies in Lagos building collapse Unskilled manpower responsible for unemployment – NECA DG Multichoice loses $72m on naira devaluation. Court Declares Zamfara Gov Poll Inconclusive, Orders Rerun In Three LGAs ‘A Drain Pipe’: Allen Onyema Says Nigeria Does Not Need National Carrier Two Feared Dead As Security Operatives Clash With Shitte Protesters In Kaduna Nigeria Can No Longer Rely On Borrowing, Finance Minister Tells Senate FG Declares State Of Emergency In Nigeria’s Health Sector ‘We Inherited A Tough Period’, Ribadu Seeks Nigerians’ Patience Over Insecurity Supreme Court Elevation: Full List Of 22 Justices Nominated Ajaero: No Govt Official Among Arrested Suspects, Says Imo Commissioner ‘Disclose What You Inherited’, Obi Tackles FG Over Bankruptcy Claims Saudi Visa Incident Unusual, Air Peace Followed Every Protocol Adeleke Suspends Osun Chief Judge Ojo Looted Funds: We’ve seized N45bn, identified terrorist financiers – FG Court remands ex-Rivers LG boss, Royal father, 73 others over murder of DPO, cultism Visa ban: UK varsities hit with low revenue as Nigerians turn to Canada Bayelsa, Imo, Kogi Polls: Vote Buying, Intimidation Disturbing — Peace C’ttee Dollar Hits 1,105 At Official Market Garden Egg Vendor Defiles 9-Year-Old Orphan In Kano Insecurity: JTF arrest 135 suspected criminals in FCT Visit a newspaper stand this morning, buy and read a copy for yourself…

Man Kills Self In Kano

  A 35-year-old man, Saleh Abdullahi, has been found dead after hanging himself in a room in the Sharada area of Kano. The victim was said to have left a written note starting with: “I am sorry.” But the rest was not legible. City & Crime learnt that he was said to be staying in the boys’ quarters of his brother, Idris Hamisu l. Hamisu told our reporter that, “I came back from morning prayers, my wife wanted to prepare food for our children and she was looking for matches to set fire but there was none. She remembered that Salisu was usually using it for local perfume. When she sent our child to collect the matches, the boy saw him hanging and he ran back shouting that Yaya Saleh was hung by someone. I then rushed to the room and saw it was true.” Asked whether he had any issue with the deceased, he said, “We didn’t have any problem. All I know is that these recent days he had been worried, and as businessmen, we usually feel like that when the market is bad. ‘’We are business people and we trade in furniture, but Saleh sometimes engaged in buying and selling old materials.   “He showed signs of worry these days because he collected money from someone and bought materials worth N400,000 in Rijiyar Zaki from some people and they took him to the house where they kept the materials and told him to come back another day to take them. When he asked for their phone number, they said since he saw the house he could just come back anytime, and when he went back later he could not find the house. That was what caused the worry for him because the money was not his and the owner put pressure on him to pay back.”   There was no response from the police command on the incident.

BREAKING: Appeal Court Sacks Zamfara Governor

  The Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, has nullified the election of Zamfara state governor, declaring the March 18, 2023 State governorship election inconclusive. A three-member panel of the Appellate Court unanimously annulled the victory of Dauda Lawal of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conclude the election in three local government areas of the State in order to determine the eventual winner of the election. The election is to be conducted at Maradun Local Government Area of the State and in other areas where elections were either cancelled or did not hold at all. The Court held that the use of IREV information to declare Lawal as governor in the absence of polling units results were unlawful, illegal and unconstitutional.

Insecurity Has Reduced Under Tinubu – Ribadu

  National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, says insecurity has reduced across the country since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu took over power. Ribadu said Tinubu does not make noise over the breakthroughs recorded in the security sector since his assumption of office. Speaking during the ongoing 19th Annual Nigerian Editors Conference (ANEC) in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital, on Thursday, Ribadu said the current administration inherited tough period. He explained that militancy in the Niger Delta and insecurity in the South East has reduced since Tinubu’s administration came on board, adding that it will get better. “Let me start with the Niger Delta, at the time we took over, the production of crude oil was 1.1 mbd. Today, crude oil production is over 1.7 mbd. “We have witnessed three weeks without any incident of security challenge in the Niger Delta. This is the first time since 1993, but we don’t talk. “In the South East, when we took over last year we had 46 police stations attacked, today we don’t have one single one. “In the last two months, not a single person had been killed through violent attack in the south east, we don’t talk. The leadership we have in our country do understand things a bit better. Work more, talk less,” he stated. The NSA said though security has improved in the country, all hands must be on deck to surmount other security challenges. He said the federal government would continue to do every thing possible to improve on the welfare of its citizens and remain transparent in government business.

Malawi president imposes cost-cutting travel ban on himself, govt

  Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera has imposed a travel ban on himself and his government to cut public spending and help the country’s ailing economy. The move was announced after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a $175-million loan for the southern African nation. “I am imposing a freeze on all publicly funded international trips for public officers at all levels… until the end of the financial year in March,” Chakwera said in a televised address late on Wednesday. It means the former evangelical preacher will skip a scheduled attendance at the COP28 climate summit later this month in the UAE. Chakwera also mandated that all cabinet members currently abroad on publicly funded trips promptly return home and ordered a 50-percent reduction in fuel allowances for senior government officials. Earlier this week, the landlocked country announced a 44-percent devaluation of its currency as it worked to secure the IMF loan. For decades, Malawi has struggled to sustain growth despite large inflows of official development assistance, according to the IMF. “The past three years have been particularly difficult with stagnating growth and widening macroeconomic imbalances due to unsustainable debt and the effects of multiple shocks,” the financial institution said, citing a recent outbreak of cholera and a cyclone that killed more than 1,000 people this year.

Many Killed As Bandits Trigger Communal Clash In Sokoto

  Many people were feared killed in a communal clash ignited by bandits’ attacks in Tangaza local government area of Sokoto state. Our reporter gathered that four communities were attacked between Sunday and Wednesday by the marauders who killed seven persons, including a nursing mother and her daughter, who were burnt to death in a commercial vehicle. They also injured injured several others and abducted many, including women and children. The communities attacked include Gidan Kakale where five persons were said to be abducted; Ruwa Wuri’s road where they shot a driver of a commercial vehicle who was identified as Nasir Alhaji Sule and burnt down the vehicle with some of its passengers. They also attacked Alela Sutti village where they were said to have abducted women and their children before invading Alkasu village where they killed four persons, injured three and abducted 17 others. A resident of Tangaza who confirmed the incidents said immediately after the burial of the burnt nursing mother and her daughter, some youth and vigilantes attacked neighbouring Fulani communities and set houses ablaze. According to our source, several people were killed and injured during the attack. On why bandits attack was rampant in the area, he said it was due to the proximity to Tsauna and Kuyan bana forests which stretch to Niger Republic. The source said many of the bandits are foreigners. When contacted, the spokesman of the Sokoto Police Command, ASP Ahmad Rufa’i promised to get back to our reporter but he had not done so as of the time of filing this report.

DSS still denying us access to Kanu – Family

  The family of the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has again, alleged that the Department of State Services, DSS, is still shielding him from the family and his lawyers.   This is coming a week after the family raised similar allegation. Kanu’s younger brother, Prince Emmanuel Kanu, who raised the alarm Thursday, said he went to the DSS headquarters Abuja to visit the IPOB Leader but was stopped by the secret police from having access to him. Prince Emmanuel who spoke with Vanguard said the family was no longer comfortable with the development. He said that the attitude of the DSS was suspicious, while raising fresh concern over the state of his deteriorating health. The family wondered why the DSS would brazenly be violating court order which authorized the family and Kanu’s lawyers to visit him twice a week. Kanu’s family said the Nigerian Government should be held responsible if anything happens to their son “who is illegally detained against court orders”. The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja had earlier in a judgement, quashed all 15 counts of treason preferred against Kanu by the Federal Government. It also ordered his immediate release, declaring that his arrest and extraordinary rendition from Kenya did not follow any known protocol. The Court further ordered that Kanu should be returned to either Kenya or Britain where he was residing before traveling to the East African country. Similarly, the United Nations Opinion on Human Rights had earlier said that Kanu should be released unconditionally, and those behind his abduction and rendition to Nigeria published. Despite the court orders and UN opinion, the Federal Government has refused to free the pro-Biafra movement leader as he has remained in a solitary confinement at the DSS headquarters since June 2021

Enugu NMA Threatens Strike Over Abduction Of 10 Doctors

  The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Enugu State chapter, has threatened to down tool if the state government and security agencies fail to address the rising trend of kidnapping of health workers in the state. According to NMA, no fewer than 10 health workers had fallen victim to kidnap, particularly from their work places in the past two months. In a communique signed by the state Chairman of NMA, Dr Celestine Ugwoke; and General Secretary, Dr Sunday Okafor, the Union after an Emergency General Meeting (EGM), on Wednesday, resolved to notify the state government and all security agencies in the state that the association will closely monitor the trend and implementation of their resolutions including the earlier advanced protest letters. Part of the communique reads, “The EGM strongly resolved to call on the Enugu State Government to as a matter of urgency ensure that all our public hospitals are well and heavily guarded by armed security personnel and equally ensure the beefing up of the presence and operations of armed security patrol teams across the State. “Unanimously resolved to request the state government to as a matter of utmost priority rejig and revamp the current security architecture of the State through adequate funding for security, installations of modern technologies and security gadgets among other innovative security measures that would speedily help bring this ugly situation to a halt. The EGM further resolved to mandate the management of the various health institutions in the State to either ensure that Medical/Dental consultants on hospital calls are provided with decent call rooms, meals etc or in the alternative provide a to-and-fro Ambulance escort for them to be able to perform their duties.” They have also asked all health institutions in the state to as a matter of urgency set up a security committee meeting, adopt and adapt the UNTH template currently being implemented while also factoring in their peculiarities as the case may be.

Nigeria Can No Longer Rely On Borrowing, Finance

  The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun, has disclosed that the country cannot rely on borrowing to fund the 2024 budget. Edun stated this on Thursday when he appeared before the joint Senate Committee interrogating the 2024-2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper chaired by Senator Sani Musa. Flanked by the Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Zacch Adedeji, and the Director General of the Debt Management Office, Patience Oniha, the finance minister told the joint panel that the best way Nigeria can fund its annual budgets is to spend more money on infrastructure. “We have an existing borrowing profile. Our direction of tariff is to reduce the quantum of borrowing or intercepting deficit financing in the 2024 budget,” he said.