Nigerian Senate has demanded resignation of Customs Comptroller General
Hameed Ali over arrogance breach against Constitution of the land.
Senator Dino Melaye, On wednesday's plenary during the briefing of the
Comptroller General (CG) of Nigerian Customs Service Col. Hameed Ali
(retired), has said that a court process cannot stop any form of
Government from carrying out Constitutional duties.
The CG who was sent away last week for appearing in mufti, did not appear before the Senate today for legal reason.
A maritime lawyer, Muhammed Ibrahim, filed a lawsuit on Monday at the Federal High Court Abuja against the senate’s decision.
Dino during his presentation said that the position of the CG is a rank
and anyone who occupies that rank is a civil servant as such Hameed "is
not fit to be the CG of Customs" because according to the civil service
rule he has passed the civil service retirement age.
He called on the president Muhammdu Buhari to adhere to the rule of Law
The Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, has said men who are fond of battering their wives in the state will henceforth be treated as criminals and will face prosecution.
He said this on Wednesday at the June 12 Cultural Centre, Kuto,
Abeokuta, after an advocacy walk against gender-based violence,
organised by Women Arise in conjunction with the state government.
The governor noted that women play a major role in nation building by
nurturing their children, and taking care of the homefront, arguing that
any form of violence against women was violence against humanity.
Amosun said anyone who violated the rights of women was a criminal and
must be prosecuted adding that the state would no longer tolerate such
despicable act.
He said, “Anyone that violates the rights of women is a criminal, he
must be prosecuted. We will not tolerate violence against women.
“We say capital no to rape, women battery, assault, child abuse and
kidnapping of women. Everyday we are witnessing domestic violence
against women; women being beaten to a state of coma. This is not right.
“Women are our wives, they are our daughters and mothers, we must take
care of them. When the home is okay, the local government will be okay,
when this is okay, state will be okay and the nation will be okay.
“Thank God our lawmakers are here, they will expedite action on the bill
on violence against women. As a government, we will support initiative
like this, when there is no violence of any form in the state, investors
will come.”
The wife of the governor, Mrs. Olufunso Amosun, earlier in her remark,
described women as nation builders and must be protected from abuse and
violence.
The convener of the advocacy walk, Dr Okei-Odumakin, said the walk was
to create awareness on violence against women such as rape, battery,
domestic violence, assault and other forms of abuses.
She said one out of three women in Nigeria suffered abuse and said no
fewer than five deaths were recorded in Lagos last year from violence
against women.
Former Congolese vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba and four associates
will be sentenced Wednesday for bribing witnesses during his war crimes
trial, in the first such case before the International Criminal Court.
Hoping
it will serve as a deterrent, prosecutors have asked for an eight-year
sentence against Bemba, already serving an 18 year-term behind bars for
crimes committed by his marauding troops in the Central African Republic
in 2002 to 2003.
"The type of sentence, whether heavy or light,
will send a clear message about the gravity of the crime," said Mariana
Pena, from the Open Society Justice Initiative, an international law
advocacy group. Prosecutors have recommended that Bemba, 54, be handed a new jail term "consecutive to his sentence in the main case."
They
also asked judges to sentence Bemba's lawyer Aime Kilolo to eight
years, his legal case manager Jean-Jacques Mangenda to seven, Narcisse
Arido, a defence witness, to five years and Congolese lawmaker Fidele
Babala to three.
The feared former rebel leader and his four
associates were found guilty in October of bribing witnesses in what
judges at the world war crimes court described as "clear and downright
criminal behaviour".
The bribery verdict was the first of its
kind in the ICC's history, and the charges were brought after a tip-off
to the prosecutor's office.
Handing down their verdict, the
judges said Bemba had tried to skew his main trial and had "planned,
authorised, and approved the illicit coaching" of the witnesses.
Prosecutors said Bemba masterminded a network to bribe and manipulate at least 14 defence witnesses, persuading them to lie.
Set
up in 2002 to prosecute the world's worst crimes, the ICC goes to great
lengths to try to protect witnesses and its trials from any
interference.
The Plateau Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development, Mr Samuel
Galadima, slumped and died on Wednesday, while jogging along with
Governor Simon Lalong, at the Rwang Pam Stadium, Jos.
The
Director of Press Affairs, Mr Emmanuel Nanle, who confirmed the incident
said, “Yes, the commissioner slumped while jogging and was rushed to
the Plateau Specialist Hospital, where he died.”
Nanle said that the official was gasping for breath by the time he arrived the hospital. “Doctors tried to stabilise him but could not. We have lost him,” he said.
There was tears and wailing in Eku, in the Ethiope East area of Delta
State after three children of a woman, identified as Ms Elohor Gabriel,
were electrocuted on Saturday, following a power surge in the community.
It was learnt that the children were electrocuted when the covering of
the cable connecting power to their apartment burnt, and the live wire
came in contact with some burglar-proof bars while the children were
playing at the veranda of the house they lived in.
The deceased were identified as Blessed Adam,6; Elizabeth Adam, 9; and John Oluwadare, 15.
It was gathered that they were the only ones at home when the incident occurred.
A source said, “We ran into our houses when we noticed the spark. When
we came outside, we noticed that the children had been electrocuted
while holding the burglar-proof bars covering the veranda of the house.
“We noticed that the wire connecting electricity to the house which
passed through the burglary-proof bars, had been burnt, exposing it to
the bars. The children touched some of the bars and were electrocuted.”
Mother of the children, Elohor, who is in her late 30s, said that she
had yet to come to terms with the fact that her three children had gone.
The grieving mother said, “I was not at home when the incident happened
and before I got to the hospital, where my neighbours had rushed them
to, they were already gone.
“I went out to buy them bread and when I returned, I saw people in the
house, who told me what happened. I saw their lifeless bodies at the
hospital.”
A female NYSC member, Chelsy Ugbe has provided water for Itam Central Market, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. The happy corps member shared the good news on her social media page and said; "God did it".
Several residents of the Agbado-Oke Odo Local Council Development Area
of Lagos have been rendered homeless after their houses were damaged by a
rainstorm on Monday.
No fewer than 100 houses and 13 churches
were destroyed by the rainstorm. Schools, shops, filling stations,
fences, electric poles and trees were damaged by the storm, which
residents said lasted for about one hour.
Sadly, after the dust had settled, a seven-month pregnant woman, identified only as Basirat, was found dead inside a church.
The communities were still counting their losses when a Punch man visited the area on Tuesday.
It
was gathered that the affected communities included Peace Estate,
Ikola-Eleyin, Ikola-Odunsi, Liberty Estate, Ikola-Powerline and
Oke-Ishagun, among others.
Each has several community development associations and consisted of no fewer than 10 streets.
Some residents were observed repairing their buildings, while those whose houses were levelled sat beside the rubble.
The roofs of houses and schools blown off by the storm littered the roads.
Basirat,
who was said to be about 27 years old, was reportedly asleep inside a
canopy-covered orthodox church when the rainstorm blew the church away.
A woman, whose house was beside the church, explained that the victim had attempted to escape when she was hit by a thunderbolt.
She
said, “Basirat came to observe Igbele (spiritual confinement) in the
church. She had several miscarriages and stillbirths and that was why
she was brought to the church. When the rainstorm started, it blew off
the church’s canopy. The woman, who was aroused from sleep, stood up to
flee, but was struck down by a thunderbolt. She fell on her stomach and
died.”
The resident took Punch to her house, which collapsed and
the roof blown off. It was observed that appliances in the house were
burnt, including sockets and cables.
She said there was no
electricity at the time of the storm, and that her generator was also
not on. So what led to the fire? No one could tell.
Also, a
couple, Mr. and Mrs. Fatai, who lived in Ikola-Powerline, lamented that
they and their three children had been rendered homeless. Their house
was levelled by the rainstorm.
The case of an Ibadan female lawyer, Yewande Oyediran, who was alleged
to have murdered her husband, Lowo Oyewande, on February 2, 2016, at
their Ibadan residence, took a new twist on Tuesday when a defence
witness said one of the prosecution witnesses, who was the landlord of
the couple, admitted to him in private that he substituted the weapon
used in the killing.
When the case came up at Oyo State High Court, the defence witness, Mr.
Kayode Oloyede, who said he's a farmer, told the court that the
landlord, Chief Adelodun Akinpelu, also disclosed to him that the murder was the second killing that had taken place in the house.
At the beginning of his testimony, Mr. Oloyede told the court that
Akinpelu’s claim that he did not know one Michael Ogunlana, was not
true, saying that Ogunlana was his (Oloyede) relative.
Oloyede said, “I had a meeting with my younger brother, Michael Lana
(Ogunlana), sometime in October 2016, and during the meeting, there were
persistent calls to his mobile phone from a certain number. I asked my
brother to pick the call and it turned out to be Chief Akinpelu who told
him to come over to his house at the Idi-Odan area of Ibadan. I went to
his place with my brother and another man called Kanbi.
“Chief Akinpelu invited us to his residence while he told Kanbi to wait
for us at his wife’s shop, because according to him, we were going to
discuss a very important family issue.
“Chief Akinpelu later told Michael (Ogunlana) that he needed his advice
over the murder case involving Yewande, who had been charged with
murdering her husband. When Michael asked
him what his concern with the matter was, he answered that the couple
were his tenants and that the late victim fell and died at his doorsteps.
“He told us that when the late Lowo collapsed, he changed the knife that
was used to stab his neck and that when the police came to the crime
scene, he gave them a different knife, which he took from his house.
“Michael (Ogunlana) scolded him for tampering with evidence and that he
ought to have left the knife and allowed the police to find it at the
crime scene. He told my brother (Ogunlana) that he didn’t want to be a
witness in court in the case and Michael advised him to tell his lawyer
that he was insolvent and wouldn’t be able to pay his way to the court.”
Lowo’s family counsel, Mr. Abayomi Alliyu, objected to the account of the witness which he referred to as “hearsay.”
Presiding Justice Munta Abimbola overruled him and said the rules of
admissibility supported the accounts of the witness because he recounted
an event that happened in his presence.
Journalist Sainey MK who lives in Gambia, shared photos of former
Gambian President, Yahya Jammeh farming in Equatorial Guinea, where he
is living in Exile. More photos...
The Senate has commenced an investigation into whether Senator President
Bukola Saraki and Senator Dino Melaye have abused their privileges as
lawmakers in the Upper legislative chamber.
While Senate is investigating Saraki over claims that he allegedly used
his office to seek revenge against Nigeria Customs Service boos Hameed
Ali, Dino is being investigated over claims that he may have forged his
certificate with which he ran for Senate.
The Senate resolved to probe Saraki and Melaye following a motion moved
by Senator Ali Ndume representing Borno South requesting that
allegations against the two lawmakers should be investigated to ensure
that there was no abuse of legislative privileges by them.
According to Ndume, allegations that the Senate invited Hameed Ali
because he reportedly seized a bullet-proof Range Rover that belonged to
Saraki because it did not have the proper papers needed to be looked
into before the Red Chamber can move on with questioning Ali over the
controversial issue of collecting Customs duties on old vehicles.
On the other hand, Ndume said allegations that Melaye did not really
graduate from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) in Zaria as claimed in his
CV has to be investigated to make sure the truth is revealed.
The Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges has been mandated to look
into the two matters and report back to the house in two weeks.
Following the increase in water related diseases in Lagos State, Lagos
State Government has said it has sealed over 100 table water producing
firms over distribution of substandard water in the state.
The
government also added that it has issued seven-day ultimatum to over 200
houses for discharging their waste water into the public drains.
37-year-old Nigerian music video director, filmmaker, and television
director whose works have appeared on Channel O, MTV Base, Soundcity TV
and BET, have been warned by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC), to keep her dealings legitimate or risk being busted
even in a wedding party.
This came after Kemi tweeted that she clicked to see the 29 people, EFCC is following. She further disclosed that those people might be devils, or might on the commission's radar now.
