News & Announcements

The police in Lagos has arraigned a man, Edmund Uzoma, before a Yaba Magistrates’ Court for alleged bigamy.

Uzoma was arraigned before a magistrate, Adeola Olatunbosun, on three counts bordering on bigamy and falsification of information on a marriage certificate.

The prosecutor, Idowu Osungbure, told the court that Uzoma, while lawfully wedded to a woman, contracted another marriage with one Sophia Yongxian, at a wedding registry.

He noted that the defendant also made a false declaration that he was a bachelor while already married.

Osungbure alleged that Uzoma committed the crime in 2019, adding that the offences were punishable under sections 411 and 115 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State and Section 370 of the Criminal Code Act Cap. C. 38 Laws of the Federation, 2004.

The charges read in part, “That you, Edmund Uzoma, of Lekki Road 15, Golden Gate Apartment, Lagos, on or sometime in 2019 in Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did conspire among yourselves to commit felony to wit; bigamy, and false statement and declaration.”

The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Olatunbosun admitted him to bail in the sum of N1m with two responsible sureties in like sum.

She said one of the sureties must have landed property in Lagos.

Olatunbosun adjourned the case till March 15, 2023.

Rabiu Kwankwaso, presidential candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), has said that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s latest policy allegedly targeting politicians was a waste of time.

According to Kwankwaso, all prominent politicians, notably presidential contenders, either own majority stakes in major financial institutions or have connections to those institutions who may assist them in raising the required sum of money.

No bank operating in any state would refuse to provide funds to its host, he continued, adding that the CBN was only punishing defenseless, underprivileged Nigerians.

When speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily program on Thursday, Kwankwaso questioned why a Nigerian would needlessly cause agony to those who were already in need.

He added that the CBN had to have given adequate notice and ought to have carried out the implementation gradually.

The candidate for the NNPP refuted Atiku Abubakar’s assertion that he was in discussions with Kwankwaso, and he also accused the PDP and the All Progressives Congress (APC) of relishing in propaganda and lying.

He said that he had never spoken with Atiku about a merger and had never even had a one-on-one encounter with him since he quit the PDP.

“I do not know why people are telling lies. Integrity matters a lot. His people are not talking to my people and my people are not talking to his people. To say that I am talking to APC or PDP is not true. We don’t intend to talk to anybody between now and the election. Let everybody go and fight it out. We will win this election.

“We are the only party that understands the suffering of our people. We do not have as much money as some others who believe in throwing money about to deceive the people. We are credible. We are well prepared. The outcome of the election will shock people,” Kwankwaso said.

Omoyele Sowore, a presidential candidate for the African Action Congress, has said that he supports a protest against President Muhammadu Buhari over the country’s problems with fuel shortages, a lack of circulating naira, and other issues.

On Wednesday, the AAC candidate tweeted about this as Nigerians lamented the lack of money and fuel.

“I am in total support of mass action against the inhuman @MBuhari regime over currency crisis, petroleum scarcity, unpaid allowances to senior @policeng officers and general suffering inflicted on Nigerians,” Mr Sowore stated in the tweet.

A man who had received the death penalty for the murder of a police officer was murdered in Texas on Wednesday night despite claims that racism tainted his conviction.

At 6:41 p.m. local time (1241 GMT), Wesley Ruiz, 43, was declared dead following a lethal injection at the Huntsville, Texas, prison, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

In 2007, Dallas, Texas, police officers pursued Ruiz through the city’s streets because they thought his car had been involved in a homicide.

Police officer Mark Nix was trying to smash the window of his car with his baton when the chase came to an end, and Ruiz fired a shot at him. Nix died from the gunshot.

According to local media, Ruiz claimed throughout his trial that he fired in self-defense out of fear for his life. But the jury gave him the death penalty.

According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Ruiz’s last words were: “I would like to apologize to Mark and the Nix family. I hope this brings you closer.

“I want to say to all my family and friends around the world thank you for supporting me. To my kids, stand tall and continue to make me proud, don’t worry about me, I’m going to be OK. Alright Warden, I’m ready to ride.”

After Ruiz’s conviction, his attorneys attempted many unsuccessful appeals.

As the execution date drew near, defense attorneys contended in an urgent request that jurors’ assessments of Ruiz’s threat were based on “overtly racist” evidence and “blatantly anti-Hispanic stereotypes.”

They said in court documents that one jury had called him “an animal,” “a mad dog,” and thought the Hispanics at the trial were “gang members.”

Their case was dismissed out at trial and on appeal, and the US Supreme Court was asked to provide a last-ditch reprieve.

In a separate complaint, numerous Texas death row convicts claimed that the state’s Department of Criminal Justice had extended the expiration dates of the fatal drugs used in executions. Ruiz had joined that action as well.

Since the US Constitution forbids cruel and unusual punishment, they claim that employing outmoded medications runs the potential of causing unjustified pain.

The officials stated that there is no issue with their pentobarbital stocks.

Ruiz is the fourth prisoner to be executed in the United States this year after the Supreme Court declined to block the execution.

The Biamodal Voter Accreditation System BVAS, mock accreditation will take place on February 4, 2023, according to the Delta State Independent National Electoral Commission, or INEC.

The mock accreditation, according to a statement from Mr. Bukola Ojeme, acting Head of Department, Voter Education and Publicity, INEC Delta State, is intended to advance the technical assessment of the device as part of the general election preparations.

The simulated accreditation exercise would take place in 12 particular voting units spread over the state’s three senatorial districts and six local government areas, according to the announcement.

The announcement stressed that only registered voters with Permanent Voter Cards PVCs, in the appropriate polling units were eligible to participate in the mock accreditation, which would start at 8 a.m. and end at 2 p.m.

The commission said the exercise would be a step further in determining the functionality of the accreditation system on the ground and urged participating registered voters to follow the directions of the officials deployed for the exercise for a good conclusion.

The commission promised that the results of the exercise would be made public and urged the populace to maintain calm and orderly behavior within and around the perimeter of the pretend accreditation exercise.

The Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Imo state Student Union Government (SUG) has stated that the woman who claimed that God and her private parts were responsible for her graduation accomplishment was not a student at the institution.

According to the statement signed by the SUG president, Ahaneku Valentine on Tuesday, the alleged student was identified as Sharon Ogechi Okoroafor from Ngor-Okpala local government area of Imo state.

Although the SUG called her behavior “sacrilegious and condemnable,” it also noted that Okoroafor lacked a matriculation number with the university. Additionally, it said that she had neither a research project nor a supervisor.

“We have noted with grave concern a viral video of a lady claiming to be a student of Federal Polytechnic Nekede, our great institution and noble alma mater,” SUG said.

“We have conducted a background check on the said student who goes by the name, Sharon Ogechi Okoroafor from Ngor-Okpala LGA of Imo State.  We wish to state, thus, that the Student Union Government views this video as sacrilegious and condemnable.

“Also, the said Sharon is not a bonafide student of the Federal Polytechnic Nekede because she has no Registration (Matriculation) Number. She also has no project or research supervisor to show she has graduated.

“Indeed, the purported student never joined others to do the defense which brought them to school because she had no work to defend. In fact, reports have it that she only came to take valedictory photos with her so-called coursemates.

“Anyone can gatecrash in lectures but only a student who has been duly registered and screened by the institution is a genuine student.’

The university, according to the student union, has a solid reputation in the nation and cannot tolerate indiscipline and immorality.

“Our institution is a reputable brand across the nation, having been rated best-performing polytechnic, and our Rector as best Rector five times. It is the same institution that has produced great minds and leaders. We can therefore not allow the name of our great institution to be taken to the mud by the accusations of a base character,” it added.

Finally, it said, “We, therefore, urge Miss Sharon Okoroafor to stop forthwith in her fraudulent claims that she is a student of Federal Polytechnic Nekede Owerri. Already she has caused great damage to the sensibilities of noble students of the polytechnic and those of the entire Nigerian students nationwide. We leave her in the hands of posterity to judge.”

Joana Sanz, the wife of Dani Alves, a prominent soccer player for Brazil, has filed for divorce after learning that her husband was taken into custody on suspicion of sexual assault.

The alleged assault happened on December 30 at the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona, and the football player was taken into custody on January 20.

He is still being held without bond pending his trial. At the time, he was a player for the Mexican team Pumas, but his contract with them has since been cancelled.

According to the Ana Rosa Programme, the footballer has apparently received a divorce petition from his present wife Joana Sanz through his attorney.

The reason for the divorce, according to the program, is not because the footballer is guilty or not, but rather that he has admitted to the infidelity.

“His lawyers have told him because last week she asked for a ‘vis a vis’ and he said he didn’t want to”, said journalist Leticia Requejo.

She also added, “They also tell me that Joana regrets these first statements defending her boyfriend, decisions that she makes because of Dani Alves‘ lawyer”.

Alves reportedly turned down the chance to meet with his wife or visit with his immediate family. A maximum of six people will be permitted entry in the latter scenario. The player also seemed to have discounted this possibility.

The Lagos State Government yesterday commiserated with the families who lost their loved ones in the Ojuelegba truck accident on January 29. 

In a statement issued by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Gbenga Omotosho, said: “May the Almighty console them and grant them the strength to go through this difficult time. Nine persons died in the accident.”

The statement also revealed the identity of the victims as: “Miss Blessing Isioma “F”, Abdurahman Okoya Sunday “M”, Felix John Ifeanyi “M” 40year, Olatokunbo Basirat King “F’ 49years. 

However, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, after receiving an interim report of the incident, has directed the police to speed up their investigation of the matter.

Besides, he has given the following directives: “The driver of the truck and the owner, who are in police custody, must be prosecuted; the Ministry of Transportation and Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) should meet urgently to find a lasting solution to the menace of falling trucks; and “All the laws governing the operations of trucks and related vehicles must be enforced with more vigour and diligence. 

“The incident of 29th January 2023 is one too many and it shows the irresponsibility of owners and drivers of such articulated vehicles who should care for other road users under the law.”

Former international football star and Liberian President, George Weah, has announced that he will run for a second term in October, rejecting mounting criticism that he is out of touch with a population facing steep price rises and food shortages.

Weah said in his annual State of the Nation address on Monday,  “My fellow citizens, I will be coming to you shortly to ask you to renew… for a second time the mandate that you gave me six years ago”.

Weah defended his first term, saying, “Let me assure you that the state of our nation is strong. The state of our nation is stable… The state of our nation is peaceful and secure. We intend to keep it this way.”

The election is slated for October 10 in the West African country, which is still recovering from back-to-back civil wars between 1989 and 2003 that killed some 250,000 people.

It was also ravaged by an Ebola pandemic and the nation of five million people, one of the poorest in the world, has been hit hard by the consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

About half its people live on less than $1.90 a day, according to World Bank figures.

Weah came to power in 2018 after winning an October 2017 election, capitalising on his iconic status acquired after becoming the first and only African to win football’s most prestigious individual award, the Ballon d’Or, in 1995.

The 56-year-old was absent from Liberia for more than a month late last year, prompting criticism.

He went abroad at the end of October for a string of political gatherings in numerous countries — and to watch his footballer son represent the United States at the World Cup in Qatar.

Weah had shared pictures and video of himself with his son in Qatar on Twitter, speaking of being a “proud daddy” as the US national team qualified for the knockout stages.

But images of Weah enjoying himself in the stands in Qatar — where he was a “guest of honour” — while Liberians struggle did not go down well with many compatriots venting their anger on social media.

The opposition denounced what it saw as the president’s globe-trotting between Qatar and international summits in Morocco, Egypt, France, Monaco and the United States, with former vice president Joseph Boakai saying Liberia was “on autopilot”.

Until December 8 the president was not seen in his homeland, where people have been battling soaring prices and shortages of basic goods.

The day before, several hundred Liberians had demonstrated peacefully at the call of opposition groups to denounce Weah’s alleged incompetence and indifference to the plight of ordinary Liberians.

Fighting corruption had been one of Weah’s major campaign promises, but in September he accepted the resignations of three close allies after the United States accused them of corruption.

Weah had initially suspended the men from their roles after Washington imposed sanctions on them over allegations tied to multimillion-dollar contracts and at least $1.5 million in diverted public funds.

Graft remains endemic in the country, with the watchdog Transparency International ranking Liberia 136th of 180 countries in its 2021 corruption perceptions index.

Nnamdi Kanu, the arrested leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra IPOB, was given permission by the Federal High Court of Nigeria sitting in Abuja on Wednesday to request a mandamus order compelling the Department of State Service, or DSS, to permit him unrestricted access to his physician.

After hearing an ex-parte application that the embattled IPOB leader submitted through his team of attorneys, which included Sir Ifeanyi Ejiofor and Prof. Mike Ozekhome, SAN, the trial judge Binta Nyako made the decision.

The court ordered Kanu’s legal team to serve all pertinent documents on the DSS and its Director General, who were listed as the case’s first and second respondents, while also adjourning the matter until February 21.

In the lawsuit with the file number FHC/ABJ/CS/ 2341/2022, Kanu stated that he would need his doctors to perform a separate assessment to determine his current state of health.

He is specifically asking the court to grant him permission to “apply for judicial review in the form of an order of Mandamus, compelling the Respondents to permit the Applicant unrestricted access to his medical doctors in order that they may conduct an independent examination of his present deteriorating health condition, as earlier ordered by the Federal High Court, Abuja, Coram, Hon. Justice B.F.M. Nyako, on the 21st day As well as, “an order of this Honourable Court granting leave to the Applicant to apply for judicial review in the form of an order of Mandamus, compelling the Respondents to avail the Applicant with all his medical records, from the 29th day of June 2021, till date”.of October 2021; and as required by the Federal Constitution.

As well as, “an order of this Honourable Court granting leave to the Applicant to apply for judicial review in the form of an order of Mandamus, compelling the Respondents to avail the Applicant with all his medical records, from the 29th day of June 2021, till date”.

Kanu listed some of the documents he would need from the DSS, such as his admission records, medical and clinical notes, nursing notes, observation charts and documentation during treatment or hospitalization, laboratory test results, pharmaceutical records, radiological scans, images, and reports, blood transfusion records, physiotherapy and rehabilitative treatment records, clinical findings, as well as records of diagnosis and prescribed treatments.

On the basis for his plea, Kanu stated that trial Justice Nyako had ruled on October 21, 2021, granting him access to three people of his choosing, including his physicians.

According to Kanu, under section 7 of the Anti-Torture Act of 2017, anyone who has been arrested, detained, or is undergoing custodial investigation has the right to request a physical and psychological examination after questioning from a doctor of his choosing who is independent and qualified. The examination must take place without interference from the police or security forces.

“The Respondents have repeatedly denied the Applicant access to medical doctors of his choice to independently examine him, contrary to the order of the court made on the 21st October, 2021; and the express provisions of Section 7 of the Anti-Torture Act, 2017”, he added.

Kanu testified before the court in a verifying affidavit that he had attended a specialist cardiologist once a week for medical evaluation and treatment before he was caught, kidnapped in Kenya, and unusually returned to Nigeria.

“Medical Reports containing the medical history of the Applicant as was issued by medical specialists managing the Applicant before his abduction in Kenya and extraordinary rendition to Nigeria are hereby attached and variously marked as Exhibits MNK 3, MNK 4 and MNK 5.

“That notwithstanding the fact that the Applicant has been discharged by the appellate court and his further detention prohibited, the Applicant is still being held in solitary confinement in the custody of the Respondents, where he is exposed to daily mental and psychological torture and degradation of his human person”.

Kanu alleged that upon his “abduction” in Kenya, he was subjected to various forms of brutal torture and inhuman treatment and degradation, all of which worsened his health condition, pursuant to which he suffered a mild cardiac arrest before he was “smuggled back into Nigeria”.

“The Applicant’s health condition has continued to take a downward spiral since then.

“That various medical personnel that attended to the Applicant whilst in custody, had repeatedly informed him that they could not ascertain the reason for the depletion of potassium in the Applicant’s blood.

“That on various occasions, the medical personnel brought by the Respondents took the Applicant’s blood sample and allegedly transported same to South Africa for screening and up till the present, there is no end in sight for their trial-and-error medicare.

“That all medical experts that have so far attended to this complex health situation of the Applicant failed to medically fathom the explanation for the continued failure of various treatments so far given to the Applicant, hence their inquiries as to whether the Applicant may have been injected with a dangerous substance by those that abducted him in Kenya before being forcibly smuggled into Nigeria.

“That the medical personnel attending to the Applicant in the custody of the Respondents are oblivious of the cause of the Applicant’s health condition and are basically using the Applicant as a guinea pig while carrying out a trial-and-error exercise, as they keep changing his drugs and increasing the dosage without any improvement whatsoever in his health condition. Attached and marked as Exhibit MNK 6 is a copy of the Applicant’s medical report issued by the Respondents.

“That the full medical history of the Applicant as contained in his Medical file with the detaining authority were deliberately suppressed, as the facts of the speedy depletion in his potassium content was clearly deleted from the medical report which the Respondents issued to the Applicant.

“That the Applicant’s doctor- Dr. CFine Okorochukwu, who had gone to visit him on the 29th August, 2022, and 1st and 15th September, 2022, respectively, was denied access to him, by the Respondents, in flagrant disregard to the Order of the trial court, made on the 21st day of October, 2021, which order directed that the Applicant should be allowed access to three persons of his choice, which persons includes his doctors. Attached and marked as Exhibit MNK8 are copies of the letters forwarding the name of the Doctor to the Respondents.

“That following the continued refusal of the Respondents to allow the Applicant access to his medical doctor, on the 12th of December, 2022, the Applicant through his lead Counsel- Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN – wrote to the Respondents and demanded that the Applicant be given unhindered access to his own medical doctors; and further, for the Applicant’s comprehensive medical records. A copy of the said letter is hereby attached and marked as Exhibit MNK9.

“That the Respondents roundly ignored the Applicant’s request to be availed of his medical records, and access to his doctors”.

Kanu testified before the court that the DSS rejected N1 million that his family had raised for him even though the DSS had refused to provide him with his prescriptions despite his failing health.

You may recall that on October 13, 2022, the Court of Appeal in Abuja released Kanu after dismissing a 15-count terrorist indictment the Federal Government had filed against him.

On October 28, 2022, the appellate court ordered a stay of execution of its judgment while awaiting the Supreme Court’s ruling on an appeal that FG had filed.