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The Anambra State Government has sealed off 15 buildings in Nnewi, a commercial city in the state, for tax evasion. The buildings are three filling stations, two residential homes, one private school and one hospital. The Anambra Property and Land Use Charge carried out the closure of the buildings following judgments it obtained from an Nnewi Magistrate’s Court against the owners of the property. Speaking with Southern City News, the Head of Human Resources and Administration of APLUC, Mrs. Chinenye Okafor, said the affected buildings owed the state government heavily. She said, “In ensuring that we boost the Internally Generated Revenue of the state, there is the need for property and land owners to pay their rates.” She said the organisation in 2014 and 2015 carried out similar enforcement in Awka and Onitsha on 85 buildings. She said, “We are advising property owners in those areas as well as in Onitsha, Awka, Ogidi and Nkpor to go and pay their property rates or face the wrath...

  The Nigeria Immigration Service has again engaged in a fresh illegal recruitment of 300 personnel, the slots of which was shared among the top management officials. Investigations on Sunday indicated that the personnel who were on inspector cadre (levels 1-8), were employed in December, 2015. Sources stated that the personnel were placed on various ranks, including Inspector, Assistant Inspector, Immigration Assistant and Chief Immigration Assistant. It was learnt that the beneficiaries of the illegal recruitment had been enrolled in the NIS payroll and had been paid their January 2016 salaries. A source said, “The personnel were engaged during the Christmas holidays but no letter of appointment was given out, apparently to prevent the secret recruitment from being leaked. They called it replacement, which is another name for illegal recruitment. “The 300 slots were shared among the top management team from the ACGs upwards. Some got two slots, some got six, dependi...

   President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday said as far his administration’s ongoing anti-corruption fight was concerned, the nation’s judiciary remained his major headache. He said the fight against corruption in Nigeria could only be effectively tackled with the strong support of the judiciary. According to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the President spoke in Addis Ababa at a town hall meeting he held with Nigerians living in Ethiopia. He said far-reaching reforms of the judiciary remained a key priority for the present administration. Buhari said his travails in courts during his failed bid for the nation’s Presidency on three occasions, which took him to the Supreme Court three times, were clear indications that the judiciary needed urgent reforms. The President stated, “On the fight against corruption vis-à-vis the judiciary, Nigerians will be right to say that is my main headache for now. “If you reflect on what ...

  A former Secretary of the Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr. Temitope Aluko, has alleged that former President Goodluck Jonathan gave Governor Ayo Fayose N4.7bn cash to prosecute the June 21, 2014 governorship election in the state. Aluko said the money was used to defeat the then Governor of the state, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, who was the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress. Aluko, who spoke with reporters in Abuja on Sunday, also revealed how the PDP rigged the governorship election.Aluko, who said he was part of the team that prosecuted the election, added that he was the Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee for the Fayose Campaign Organisation. He explained that he handled the waiver Fayose got from the PDP at the national level to enable him to qualify to take part in the governorship primary. To buttress the roles he played in the emergence of Fayose, Aluko said he delivered the congresses that produced Fayose a...

Details have emerged about what the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Olisa Metuh, allegedly wrote in the torn statement which he made under caution while in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on January 5. The statements of the operatives who were said to have witnessed the incident and the “incidence record book” which gives details of the occurrence were part of the documents filed along with the charges of destruction of evidence preferred against him by the EFCC before a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja. The court papers obtained by our correspondent on Sunday indicate that five operatives of the commission witnessed the incident which was said to have happened on January 5, 2016, the day the PDP spokesperson was arrested.Metuh allegedly tore his statement on January 5, 2016 while being investigated for an alleged fraudulent receipt of N400m from the Office of the National Security Adviser and mo...

The police in Lagos have arrested a business consultant, Mr. Kingsley Uzoaru, for allegedly having “incriminating documents” in his laptop. Uzoaru, who was arrested on Friday, January 22, was bailed on Saturday after his wife, Oluchi, paid N100,000 allegedly demanded by the policemen who were attached to the Security and Criminal Intelligence Bureau, Ikeja. Our correspondent gathered that at about 10am on the Friday, Uzoaru ent ered a cybercafe on Bestford Avenue in the Oke-Afa, Isolo area of the state, and the policemen, identified as Mike, Austin and Chilaka, also walked into the centre and arrested him. The policemen, who were reportedly not in uniform, drove Uzoaru away in a commercial bus to the Ago-Okota Police Division where they interrogated him over the laptop. The policemen thereafter allegedly asked Uzoaru to pay N250,000 to regain his freedom, but when he could not raise the amount, he was detained overnight. Our correspondent learnt that on Saturday, Ol...

  Transparency International has ranked Nigeria 136th among 168 least corrupt countries in the world, with a score of 26 per cent. The ranking, which was for 2015, was released on Wednesday and showed that Nigeria dropped by one point in the TI index, which rated countries on a scale of zero (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be least corrupt). In 2014, the nation was also ranked 136th among 176 countries, but scored 27 per cent. The TI, which has published the ‘Corruption Perceptions Index’ since 1995, defines corruption as “the misuse of public power for private benefits.”Denmark, Finland, Sweden, New Zealand and The Netherlands were in the top five on the list, with their scores given as 91, 90, 89, 88 and 87 per cent, respectively. No African country is in the first 10. Those in the group include Norway, Switzerland, Singapore and Canada. Germany, Luxemburg and United Kingdom were ranked 10th. Ghana is ranked 56th out of 168 countries with a sco...

James Faleke, the running mate to the late governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Kogi State, Abubakar Audu, said he would be declared the governor of the state before the end of the year. Faleke, who had been canvassing support to be declared Kogi governor, is currently at loggerheads with the leadership of the APC over the governorship seat of the state, following the sudden death of Audu on November 22, 2015.Afte r Audu’s death and the declaration of the November 22, 2015 governorship election as inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission, Bello was picked as the governorship candidate of the party for the December 5, 2015 supplementary election.Bello was inaugurated as governor on Wednesday amid cheers from his supporters. In a series of tweets on his official Twitter handle, Faleke said he did not go to court to stop Bello’s inauguration because ‘he (Bello) will be sent out soon’.He said those who were morally corrupt canno...

  Economic and financial experts on Wednesday expressed divergent views on the latest decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria, but agreed that the economic crisis plaguing the nation had yet to be addressed. The CBN’s Monetary Policy Committee had on Tuesday decided not to devalue the naira and left the Monetary Policy Rate, Cash Reserve Requirement and liquidity ratio unchanged at 11 per cent, 20 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively. While some of the experts said they had expected a devaluation of the ailing currency, others hailed the CBN’s decision on the naira.The naira traded at 306 against the United States dollar at the parallel market on Wednesday, down from 305 on Tuesday. A Professor of Financial Economics at the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Leo Ukpong, who expressed surprised at the decision of the CBN, said, “The economy is extremely suffering now. I would have expected that they would have reduced the MPR and the CRR at least by 50 basis points. ...

Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to release the embattled ex-National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, and the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, as ordered by the courts. “You cannot judge the human rights record of the Buhari administration on the basis of the detention of a couple of criminal suspects. To the best of my knowledge, President Buhari has never ordered the military invasion of any community or illegal demolition of the homes of the poor. But having promised to end impunity, he has a duty to call every security agency to order whenever the rights of Nigerians are violated. Citizens can be rearrested as many times as possible if there is a reasonable suspicion that they have committed criminal offences. But once such suspects are charged and granted bail by a court of competent jurisdiction, the order should be obeyed. If the government is aggrieved or dissatisfied with the o...

 A Lagos-based human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has berated the immediate past Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, describing her service to Nigeria as one based on lies, deceit and disregard for due process. The senior advocate said this in a three-page statement on Wednesday while reacting to Okonjo-Iweala’s diatribe against him. Okonjo-Iweala had on Monday described Falana as an ‘integrity-challen ged charlatan’ who was being sponsored by corrupt elements. The former minister had also slammed Falana for attempting to implicate her in the $2.1bn arms scam and drag her before the International Criminal Court.However, Falana said it was hypocritical of Okonjo-Iweala to attempt to extricate herself from the corruption that characterised the last administration. He said her service record was that of scandals and scams. He noted that the N2.5tn fuel subsidy scam, the $2bn arms scam, the mismanaged $1bn Gen. Sani Abacha loot and many other epis...

  No fewer than 14 persons were killed on Wednesday in a suicide attack on the Chibok Market in Borno State. Also, five other persons, who had gone to the bush to fetch firewood, were killed by fighters of the outlawed Boko Haram sect in Jawu, near Auno, a village in Borno State. In the attack on the Chibok market on Wednesday, 30 persons were similarly injured.Coincidentally, the market was reopened on the day of the attacks, having been shut since over 200 schoolgirls were abducted from the Government Secondary School in the town on April 14, 2014. The Chairman, Chibok Local Government Area of Borno State, Mr. Ba’ana Lawan, confirmed the suicide attack on Chibok. Lawan, who claimed he was out of the town and as such could not give the details of the attack especially the number of casualties, said he was told of the attack on the telephone.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Wednesday called an employee of Diamond Bank, Eno-Mfon Effiong, as its fourth witness in the ongoing trial of the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olisa Metuh, on charges of money laundering and fraudulent receipt of N400m from the Office of the National Security Adviser in November 2014. Effiong, the account officer who manages the five acc ounts owned by Metuh and his firm, Destra Investments Limited, with Diamond Bank testified before Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja, that the balance on the company’s account before its account was credited with N400m by the NSA office on November 24, 2014 was N6,676,576.06. The company was said to have opened the account in February 2013.The third prosecution witness, Mr. Bali Ndiam, who is a legal adviser at the ONSA, had testified on Tuesday that Metuh’s firm was among 78 companies and individuals paid over N1bn by the immedia...

  Buhari seeks stiffer penalty for money launderers: President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday introduced two bills to the National Assembly to strengthen the war against money laundering. The bills were titled, “The Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Bill, 2016” and “The Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Bill, 2016.” The Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, read the letter containing the bills at plenary on Wednesday while at the House of Representatives, the Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, read Buhari’s letter conveying the bills to members.Buhari in the letter stated that the first bill sought to repeal the existing Money Laundering Act, which was enacted in 2011 to provide for stiffer penalty for money launderers to discourage the illegal act. On the second bill, the President explained that its aim was to make provisions that would enable Nigeria to seek international assistance in recovering looted funds.

  There was pandemonium at the Omole bus stop on Oba Ogunnusi Road in the Ojodu area of Lagos State on Tuesday after a traffic warden, Sunday Charles, engaged in fisticuffs with a motorist, identified only as Kingsley. Kingsley, who was stopped by a team of traffic wardens at the junction, was allesgedly beaten up by Charles for refusing to part with N50. The motorist lost three front teeth during the brawl.Our correspondents gathered that Kingsley and some people in the bus manhandled Charles and threatened to drag him to the Ojodu Police Division for the assault on the driver, before some pedestrians advised them against reporting the incident.One of our correspondents observed that at about 11.30am, Charles, who was with three female officers and four officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, had stopped Kingsley’s vehicle at the junction.The traffic warden allegedly demanded N50 from the motorist before he could let him go.It was learnt that trouble, h...

  Hot verbal exchange between the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s prosecuting counsel, Mr. Festus Keyamo, and lawyers defending a former Governor of Imo State, Ikedi Ohakim, who is being prosecuted for money laundering charges, stalled proceedings before a Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday. The proceedings scheduled for cross-examination of the second prosecution witness, Mr. Abu Sule, could not go on Tuesday, following an apprehension expressed by Keyamo that the witness’ life was being threatened allegedly by moves, recently taken by Ohakim’s second son, Emeka, to find out the residential address of the witness. The defence team, led by Chief Awa Kalu (SAN), and who appeared with Chief Chris Uche (SAN), did not take the allegation lightly.The situation almost degenerated into a brawl as Kalu, who reacted angrily, accused Keyamo of plotting to destabilise the defence with an allegation which he said ought to have been resolved without being mentioned in t...

  The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria on Tuesday warned Nigerians to brace for a longer period of low revenue from oil sources, which would necessitate hard and uncomfortable choices. The committee, in a communique issued at the end of its first meeting for the 2016 fiscal period in Abuja, observed that while the period of low oil prices, which occurred in 2005, lasted for a maximum of eight months, the current situation was expected to continue over a longer period of time. The CBN Governor. Mr. Godwin Emefiele, who read out the communique shortly after the meeting, said the development would necessitate huge sacrifices from Nigerians.Crude oil prices had declined from a peak of $114 barrel in July 2014 to $30.25 per barrel on Tuesday. The CBN governor said since oil prices had been on a steady decline, certain trade-offs would have to be envisaged and accommodated. He said, “The committee observed that the last episode of low oil prices in 2...

  The Office of the National Security Adviser told a Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday that it had in November 2015 petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to investigate about 78 firms and individuals, including a firm owned by the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olisa Metuh, that were allegedly paid about N1.4bn by the ONSA for non-existing contracts. This was revealed in the electronic mandate issued by a former NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), to the Abuja branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria, authorising N1.4bn to 78 beneficiaries. The document was tendered and admitted as exhibits by the court presided over by Justice Okon Abang on Tuesday, during the resumed trial of Metuh and his company, Destra Investments Limited, who were charged with seven counts of money laundering and fraudulent receipt of N400m meant for procurement of arms from the NSA office on November 22, 2014.“What is written on the document is p...

   Leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party have appealed to the aggrieved national officers of the party to sheathe their swords and work with one another to move the party forward. Also, the party’s Board of Trustees has lent its support to the clamour by the North-East caucus to allow the zone to complete the tenure of Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu as the national chairman of the party. At a meeting the members of the National Working Committee of the party held with the aggrieved national officers at Legacy House, Abuja on Tuesday, the party’s leaders said that the division among them would not profit the party.They, therefore, begged the aggrieved officers to forget their grievances and join in the move to revive the party. Four of the national officers — Deputy National Youth Leader, Dennis Alonge-Niyi; Deputy National Legal Adviser, Bashir Maidugu; Deputy National Organising Secretary, Okey Nnadozie; and Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Abdullahi Jalo, had i...

   The Attorney General of the Federation and Minster of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, on Tuesday, disclosed plans by the Federal Government to engage acclaimed consultants in its bid to recover another $750m looted and stashed away by a former Head of State, the late Gen. Sani Abacha. He stated that another £6.9m loot, held by a former Governor of Delta State, Mr. James Ibori, would also be recovered. The minister, who spoke on the government’s plans when he met with the House of Representatives Committee on Justice, added that the country’s judgment debts stood at N75bn.He also revealed that about 800 terrorism cases were being lined up for prosecution by his office. Malami said, “In respect of the recovery of looted assets, the ministry will engage in an agree-waive policy of using Mutual Legal Assistance Agreements or other bilateral and multi-lateral instruments to seek cooperation with other jurisdictions to ensure the repatriation of illicitly-acquired asset...

  The Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Mr. Leo Ogor, has said the sum total of the adjusted 2016 Appropriation Act submitted to the National Assembly, is N6.3tn and not N6.07tn as indicated by President Muhammadu Buhari. The first budget that Buhari submitted to the federal lawmakers on December 22 had a total figure of N6.08tn. After the “corrections” that the President did to the estimates last week, the figure dropped to N6.07tn, a figure Ogor argued was still wrong.Ogor, a lawmaker from Delta State, told the House, “This is an incomplete budget in which the figures do not tally. “We have done our calculations of the details and we found that the budget Mr. President presented is N6.3tn, not N6.07tn. “What happened to the balance? We need to know why there is this difference. The figure is not correct.”Besides, Ogor argued that the budget was in breach of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007, which provided that the budget details of major government...

   The Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission says the current anti-graft war is not limited to corrupt politicians alone as it will soon begin investigating corrupt civil servants across the nation. The Chairman, ICPC, Mr. Ekpo Nta, said this on a programme titled, Frank Talk, on Rave 91.7FM, Osogbo. While speaking on the current affairs programme, Nta said corrupt civil servants aid the political class in wreaking havoc to the nation’s treasury and are often beneficiaries of corruption. He said such corrupt civil servants would soon be brought to justice.He said, “Today, political functionaries are answering charges of corruption before various courts of the land but I want to assure you that civil servants who are found culpable of corruption will soon start to face the wrath of the law. There is no hiding place for those who betrayed public trust reposed in them.”

  The Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has said he will never leave the Peoples Democratic Party for any other party despite the crisis within the PDP. Fayose said this in Osogbo on Tuesday when he visited Governor Rauf Aregbesola at the Government House, Osogbo in company with about 50 dignitaries including the Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Mr. Kola Oluwawole.The governor said he read on the Internet that he was coming to Osogbo to beg Aregbesola to plead with President Muhammadu Buhari not to probe him.He said, “I have not come here for that; neither have I come to announce my defection from the PDP. I will never leave the PDP for any party. This is my first official visit to any APC state in Nigeria. I am not in Osogbo to ask Aregbesola to help me beg (the President) as being speculated in some quarters. We are all Yoruba, politics is like water; it can flow anywhere. “I believe in the Yoruba race; the race comes first before the office of the g...

The National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, says there is a deliberate plot by some individuals to rub his name in the mud through fictitious reports in various blogs and the social media. He said the smear campaign was tagged, ‘Destroy the reputation of Tinubu and his relationship with Buhari’. Tinubu said this in a statement by his media aide, Mr. Sunday Dare, on Tuesday.He said most o f those behind the act were aggrieved members of the Peoples Democratic Party that had failed to recover from the defeat in the 2015 election. Tinubu alleged that some of them were being probed for corruption and had decided to push him into the controversy to whip up public sympathy.The former governor of Lagos State said he never granted any interview regarding President Muhammadu Buhari’s plan to run for re-election in 2019. He also denied reports that he partook in the $2.1bn arms scam. Tinubu said he had a list of the blogs that were carrying the fa...

The absence of the erstwhile chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde is delaying the investigation into the alleged diversion of N1trillion recovered stolen funds, the Senate said yesterday. The Senate had commenced investigation into the corruption allegation levelled against Lamorde following a petition written by one Mr. George Uboh in August 2015. Uboh had accused Lamorde of diverting N1trillion recovered stolen funds. Thrice, the Senate had summoned Lamorde but he refused to appear while in November last year he was represented by his lawyer Barrister Festus Keyamo who claimed his client had been sick and flown abroad for medication. Our correspondent reports that it was in the course of the probe that President Muhammadu Buhari sacked him from the commission.

Private and independent oil marketers have accused the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, of encouraging a monopolistic system in the downstream petroleum sector run by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and major marketers. The accusation followed the PPPRA’s introduction from January 1st of a new pricing template of N86.50/litre for premium motor spirit, PMS, also called petrol, as well as what they described as the lopsided import licence award, which favoured more the NNPC and the majors. According to the independent marketers, current downstream operation, especially as regards refined petroleum products is fraught with a lot of irregularities tending toward monopoly.Among the contentious issues in the new PPPRA pricing template include: PMS sales losses, NNPC’s monopoly of the household kerosene, HHK market, and higher than stipulated ex-depot price of automotive gas oil, AGO also called diesel at Pipelines and Products Marketing Company,...

  IJAW elders in Delta State, yesterday, said it was impracticable for them to hand over the former General Officer Commanding, GOC, of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, to security agencies because they neither have the power to do so nor know his (Tompolo) whereabouts currently. They also said that they do not have any information that Tompolo was involved in the three-day bombing of crude oil and gas pipelines in the state, while many see the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC’s case against him as a form of persecution. The Federal Government, last weekend, asked Ijaw communities to hand over suspects involved in the bombing, alleged to be hiding in their areas, to security agencies, while the Joint Task Force, JTF, had earlier threatened to hold community leaders responsible for further acts of pipeline vandalism in their communities. Chairman, Ijaw (Izon) Okosu –Otu (Ijaw Council of Elder...

  President Muhammadu Buhari said yesterday that if Nigeria must sustain its democracy that should be emulated by other countries in Africa, there had to be the evolution of moral leaders who would not steal the common wealth meant to provide services to the people. Declaring open a two-day National Political Summit yesterday in Abuja, President Buhari said he was worried by the revelations over the money meant for the purchase of arms to address the security challenge in the North East, following the activities of members of Boko Haram. He said Nigeria’s democracy required help if it must be nurtured and sustained as well as attain the promise of justice and human dignity, adding that it could only be achieved if the country had moral elite, a leadership prepared to make the sacrifice of self, with interest for the good of the people. Represented by Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, President Buhari said the moral leaders must be ready to offer exemplary moral leadership...

  The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, on Monday said the business of illegal oil bunkering in the country was being driven by Nigerians. Kachikwu, who doubles as the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, stated this during a visit to an illegal oil bunkering site at Robert-Victor village, popularly called ‘Idi Mango’ offshore Lagos.At the community, where the Atlas Cove pipelines run through, many stacks of jerry cans were found allegedly being used by illegal bunkers to smuggle petroleum products out of the country through the Atlantic Ocean.Eight suspected vandals comprising three Nigerians, three Ghanaians, one Togolese and one Beninoise were arrested by the private pipeline surveillance security outfit employed by the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, a subsidiary of the NNPC, to monitor and patrol oil pipelines.Kachikwu, who described the development as very frustrating, said, “This is a massive ope...

  The Lagos State Government has directed the Synagogue Church of All Nations to stop the construction of buildings in Agodo, in the Egbe-Idimu Local Council Development Area after some residents alleged that part of the facility was blocking the main canal in the community. The office of Drainage Services, Ministry of Environment, which served the notice on SCOAN, also instructed that the alternative drainage channel being done by the church be stopped. In the letter, dated January 20, 2016, a copy of which was obtained by our correspondent, the office equally accused the church of causing environmental nuisance and vowed to prosecute the owner or occupiers of the facility if “the said nuisance is not abated within 24 hours”.

  A gang leader popularly known as Sunday Terror has been shot dead in the Oyingbo area of Lagos State during a shootout with policemen. Our correspondent learnt that Sunday Terror was killed on Monday on Ondo Street.Our correspondent gathered that at about 7am on Monday, Sunday Terror led his gang to unleash violence on residents of Ondo Street during which he exchanged fire with policemen who went to the scene. A police source told our correspondent that Sunday Terror was shot several times before he finally died. It was gathered that the deceased had been on the watch list of the Area C Command, Surulere.The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, confirmed the gang leader’s death, adding that the command would continue to ensure safety of lives.

   An Edo State High Court in Benin on Monday sentenced a police corporal, Amadin Idahosa, to life imprisonment for killing a 22-year-old student, Ibrahim Momodu, in 2013. Idahosa had been arraigned on one count of murder. He was said to have committed the offence at about 11pm, on May 27, 2013, in Benin.It was learnt that the corporal had shot Momodu, said to be a student of the University of Benin, at Obayuwana junction.The state prosecutor from the Department of Public Prosecutions, M. O. Omozeghian, had during the trial told the court that the offence was punishable under Section 319 of the Criminal Code Cap. 48, Vol. II, Law of the defunct Bendel State of Nigeria, as applicable in Edo State. But counsel to Idahosa, Mr. Olayiwola Afolabi, had urged the court to dismiss the charge against the accused, arguing that the prosecutor had failed to prove the allegation.The presiding judge, Justice R. Irele-Ifijeh, in her judgement, dismissed the allegation of murder d...

The H o u s e o f representatives said on Monday that the current Minister of Petroleum Resources would be invited to answer questions on the controversial Refined Product Exchange Agreement contracts executed by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and its subsidiary, the Pipelines Product Marketing Company, between 2011 and 2015. Otherwise known as SWAP, the deals involved the exchange of crude oil for refined petroleu m products in which the corporation gave out part of its 445,000 barrels daily share of crude to trading companies. The House Ad hoc Commi t t e e , which is investigating the deals, already had evidence that crude worth over $24bn exchanged hands between the government agencies and some crude marketing firms, including Duke Oil and Tranfigura. The committee is chaired by an All Progressives Congress lawmaker from Kwara State, Mr. Zakari Mohammed