News
Fayose: Judge threatens to arrest Obanikoro
A Federal High Court in Lagos on Thursday ordered Sen. Musliu Obanikoro to appear in court on March.18.
NAN reports that Obanikoro’s appearance would be for the continuation of his cross-examination in the trial of the immediate past governor of Ekiti, Mr Ayodele Fayose who is facing charges of N6.9 billion fraud.
Justice Mojisola Olatoregun made the order at the resumed trial of Fayose, following the absence of Obanikoro, the former Minister of State for Defence.
Obanikoro has been under cross-examination as the fifth prosecution witness.
The court said it was important for the witness (Obanikoro) to be aware of the seriousness of his civic responsibility.
It, therefore, implored him to endeavor to show up on the next adjourned date.
The judge held that where the witness fails to appear on the next date, the court will have no option but to compel him.
Fayose alongside a company, Spotless Investment Ltd., was arraigned before Justice Olatoregun by The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on 11 counts on Oct. 22, 2018.
He had pleaded not guilty to the charges, and the court had granted him bail in the sum of N50million with one surety in like sum.
The EFCC opened its case for the prosecution on Nov. 19, 2018 and called four witnesses.
On Jan. 21, 2019, the prosecution called its fifth witness, Sen. Obanikoro, a former Minister of State for Defence.
On Feb.5, 2019 which was the last adjourned date, Obanikoro was still under cross-examination by the second defence counsel, Mr. Olalekan Ojo (SAN).
However, the court had to adjourn the case until Feb. 7, for counsel to address it on the admissibility of an extra-judicial statement made by a party who is not standing trial.
At the resumed hearing of the case on Thursday, Obanikoro was not available in court.
The prosecutor, Mr Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), told the court that he called the witness phone line yesterday (Wednesday) to inform him of today’s proceedings but he could not reach him.
Jacobs said that he was later informed by a Special Assistant (SA) to the witness that Obanikoro was on admission in the hospital, and he exhibited a written medical report before the court, evidencing same.
In response, the defence counsel, Mr Ola Olanipekun (SAN), frowned at the absence of the witness, arguing that if learned counsel had made themselves available in court, then the witness had no right to be absent.
Consequently, Justice Olatoregun directed that Obanikoro be present in court at the next adjourned date, failing which the court may have to compel him to appear.
Meanwhile, in addressing the court on the admissibility of an extra-judicial statement made by a party who is not standing trial, Ojo urged the court to admit in evidence, a Certified True Copy (CTC) of a statement made by a former aide to Obanikoro, Mr Justin Erukaa (now late) .
At the last adjourned date, Ojo had sought to tender the statement from the bar, but the prosecutor raised an objection to oppose same.
He argued that the statement could only be tendered through its maker.
On Thursday, Ojo argued that the first “litmus test” of admissibility is relevance, urging the court to look at the content of the statement to determine its relevance to the trial or to the fact in issue.
He said that both in the oral evidence of the witness and even Erukaa’s, the witness admitted to have sent his aide on several errands.
He said that included the order that he should collect the sum of $1.601million from a Bureau De Change.
He argued that the fact depicted the relevance of Erukaa’s statement sought to be tendered from the bar.
Ojo citing the provisions of Sections 39, 40-50 and 83 of the Evidence Act as well as Pages 396 to 397 of the book “Contemporary Law On Evidence” authored by Jerry Amadi, urged the court to admit the evidence of Erukaa who he described as “Late”.
“Admissibility is not synonymous with weight; the court can admit the statement in evidence and in the cause of judgment, may choose to not to consider same,” he said.
He urged the court to uphold his argument.
In opposing the application, Mr Rotimi Jacobs reiterated the question for determination “whether the statement of a person not called as a witness can be admissible in evidence.”
He submitted that such evidence was not admissible in law as it is a hear-say piece of evidence.
Jacobs also argued that Section 39 of the Evidence Act relied on by the defence counsel was not relevant to the fact in issue, but only deals with “Res Gestae” or a dying declaration.
He added that the defence counsel had not drawn the court’s attention to any provision which makes Section 39 of the Evidence Act applicable.
He said that before such a statement made to a law enforcement agency could be admitted, it must comply with the requirement set out in Section 40 of the Act.
According to Jacobs, “The maker of the statement must come out to say it.”
He urged the court to refuse same.
After listening to submissions of the counsel, Justice Olatoregun adjourned the case until March.18 by 12 noon, March 19 and March 20, for continuation of trial.
According to the charge, on June 17, 2014, Fayose and Agbele were said to have taken possession of the sum of N1.2 billion, for purposes of funding Fayose’s gubernatorial election campaign in Ekiti State, which sum they reasonably ought to have known formed part of crime proceeds.
Fayose was also alleged to have received a cash payment of the sum of five million dollars, (about N1.8 billion) from the then Minister of State for Defence, Sen. Musiliu Obanikoro, without going through any financial institution and which sum exceeded the amount allowed by law.
He was also alleged to have retained the sum of N300million in his Zenith Bank account and took control of the aggregate sums of about N622million which sum he ought to have known formed part of crime proceeds.
Fayose was alleged to have procured De Privateer Ltd., and Still Earth Ltd., to retain in their Zenith and FCMB accounts, the aggregate sums of N851million which they reasonably ought to have known formed part of crime proceeds.
Besides, the accused was alleged to have used the aggregate sums of about N1.6billion to acquire properties in Lagos and Abuja, which sums he reasonably ought to have known formed part of crime proceeds.
The accused was also alleged to have used the sum of N200 million to acquire a property in Abuja in the name of his elder sister, Moji Oladeji, which sum he ought to have known also formed crime proceeds.
The offences contravene the provisions of Sections 15(1), 15 (2), 15 (3), 16(2)(b), 16 (d), and 18 (c) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2011.
Dangote Petroleum Refinery has made headlines by announcing a further reduction in the price of diesel, dropping it from ₦1200 to ₦1000 naira per litre.
The refinery’s decision comes on the heels of its recent supply at a significantly reduced price of ₦1200 per litre, which was introduced three weeks ago, signifying a remarkable 30 per cent decrease from the previous market price of approximately ₦1600 per litre.
This substantial reduction in diesel prices at Dangote Petroleum Refinery is expected to reiterate positively throughout various sectors of the economy, potentially serving as a catalyst in alleviating the persistently high inflation rate in the country.
In a statement last week, Aliko Dangote, Africa’s wealthiest individual and the owner of the refinery, expressed his optimism regarding the potential impact of the price reduction on inflation in Nigeria.
“I believe that we are on the right track. I believe Nigerians have been patient, and I also believe that a lot of goodies will now come through. There’s quite a lot of improvement because if you look at it, one of the major issues that we’ve had was the naira devaluation that has gone very aggressively up to about ₦1900,” he remarked.
As anticipation builds around the implications of this move by Dangote Petroleum Refinery, stakeholders and consumers alike remain hopeful for the positive effects it could bring to the Nigerian economy in the coming months.
More than 50,000 Russian military personnel have died during the Ukraine conflict, the BBC reported Wednesday, citing its own reporters, independent media group Mediazona and volunteers.
They found that more than 27,300 Russian soldiers died during the second year of the war, a 25-percent increase on the first year.
BBC Russian, Mediazona and volunteers have been counting deaths since February 2022, using open-source information from official reports and the media, as well as using satellite images of Russian cemeteries to estimate the number of new graves.
The figure of more than 50,000 is eight times higher than the official toll acknowledged by Moscow in September 2022. It does not include deaths of militia in Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine said in February that it had lost 31,000 soldiers, but that figure is also likely to be significantly lower than the true toll.
Russian losses spiked in January 2023 as it launched a large-scale offensive in Donetsk and again months later last year during the battle for the city of Bakhmut.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” at dawn on February 24, 2022, which has since turned into a bloody and attritional war, isolating Russia from the Western world.
Responding to the report, the Kremlin said it did not disclose any information on military deaths and casualties, which falls under the remit of the defence ministry.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov added official secrets laws and those covering what Russia calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine meant it was “absolutely understandable” that the ministry did not release the figures.
The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has disclosed that 95 million Nigerians need to enroll for the National Identification Number (NIN) to meet its target of 200 million enrollments by 2025.
Kayode Adegoke, Head of Corporate Communications at NIMC, emphasised the importance of this enrollment during an interview on X over the weekend.
He stated, “For NIMC to meet the 200 million target by 2025, 95 million Nigerians need to register for the NIN.”
Adegoke revealed that over 105 million NINs have been issued to Nigerians and legal residents so far.
He assured Nigerians of the commission’s commitment, saying, “We want to assure Nigerians that within the next one or two years, we will reach our target of enrolling all Nigerians.”
“The NIN serves as a unique identifier for each citizen and has become increasingly important for various government initiatives aimed at improving security, governance, and service delivery.”
Adegoke highlighted the efforts to streamline the modification and enrollment processes under the leadership of Abisoye Coker, the director-general of NIMC. He announced the development of a self-service platform, allowing Nigerians to make necessary modifications such as changing names, dates of birth, email addresses, and phone numbers from anywhere, using different devices.
Emphasising the convenience of the self-service modification portal, Adegoke encouraged Nigerians to utilize this innovative solution.
He noted the evolution of the process, citing the past requirement for applicants to visit NIMC offices for data corrections.
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