Crime

EFCC Counsels Pick New Date, Said ‘Today Not Convenient’ – Yahaya Bello’s Counsels

Published

11 months ago

June 13, 2024

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EFCC Counsels Pick New Date, Said ‘Today Not Convenient’ – Yahaya Bello‘s Counsels

Court adjourns to June 27 for arraignment

The Federal High Court, in Abuja, on Thursday, adjourned arraignment of the former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, on an alleged money laundering case instituted against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, to June 27, following an agreement by the counsels of the two parties.

A new date, June 27, had earlier been reportedly fixed for arraignment at the instance of the EFCC counsels.

There was, however, a mild drama in court when Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, announced appearance for EFCC and claimed ignorance of the agreement.

At the resumed hearing on Thursday, Counsel to Governor Bello, Adeola Adedipe, SAN, told the court that the EFCC lawyers approached AbdulWahab Mohammed SAN, who is the counsel for the defendant, that the June 13 date would not be convenient for them to proceed and that Wahab had to agree by way of convenience for another date to be set.

Adedipe SAN, who was in court for another matter, was surprised when he heard that Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, was in court for the Yahaya Bello/EFCC case.

“They (EFCC) agreed that junior counsels would be sent to court today to formally pick a date. And the registry can confirm this,” Adedipe said.

“Kemi Pinhero SAN has been calling us to say today is not convenient,” he added. Kemi Pinhero is the lead counsel.

But for the decision of the EFCC to seek an adjournment to a future date for his arraignment, Governor Yahaya Bello, was said to be ready to appear in court today.

“Under 266 ACJA there are instances when defendants don’t need to come and this is one of them. We came here to pick a date. Of what use will the defendant coming here be? It is the prosecuting counsel that approached us, we did not approach them. We have nothing to hide,” Adedipe noted.

In a strange twist, however, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, said he was not aware of any meeting that happened outside the court, that he did not know about the understanding to adjourn till 27th.

Justice Nwite thereafter adjourned the case to June 27 after an undertaking by Adedipe SAN that the defendant would appear on that day.

Nwite said, ordinarily, an agreement outside the court that a new date should be picked should not be enough to ignore the previous undertaking.

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Tragedy at Akala Express: Stray Bullet Kills A Student In Ibadan

Published

2 days ago

May 20, 2025

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Tragedy at Akala Express: Stray Bullet Kills A Student In Ibadan—-Nigeria Police officer on Tuesday kill an innocent teenager with a stray bullet while on his way for WAEC Examination.

Eyewitnesses report that the secondary school student, simply identified as Taiwo, was said to have been hit by a stray bullet allegedly fired by a yet-to-be-identified police officer during a high-speed chase.

The incident, it was gathered, occurred around Gbagi Market Road in Ibadan as the officer pursued a fleeing vehicle, suspected to be conveying internet fraudsters, popularly called “Yahoo boys.”

Sources said the officers, in an attempt to scare the suspected fraudsters, shot into the air, but that the bullets fired hit the student, who was riding on a motorcycle with his twin brother.

The boy was on his way to take the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) examination at the time of the incident.

He was a candidate in the ongoing WAEC examination for SS3 students.

In response to the tragedy, market traders and sympathisers in protest took the boy’s lifeless body to protest the action of officers at the Oyo State Secretariat, demanding justice.

As of the time this report was written, security personnel have been stationed at the entrance of the government secretariat to control the crowd.

Ibadan-based radio station, Splash FM, said the student was killed by police officers who opened fire while in pursuit of a Hilux vehicle.

“Unfortunately, a stray bullet struck the student, who was in his father’s car, resulting in his death. The incident has sparked outrage and calls for an immediate investigation into the actions,” the report noted.

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Biafran Political Activist Simon Ekpa To Be Repatriated For Supporting Nnamdi Kanu, Witness Tells Court

Published

3 weeks ago

May 2, 2025

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Biafran Political Activist Simon Ekpa To Be Repatriated For Supporting Nnamdi Kanu, Witness Tells Court—A prosecution witness, identified as PW-AAA, on Friday, said that Simon Ekpa would soon be brought from Finland to Nigeria to face trial for supporting Nnamdi Kanu in the agitation for Republic of Biafra.

PW-AAA, one of the Department of State Service (DSS) operatives that arrested Kanu in 2015 at a Lagos hotel, told Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja in the ongoing trial of Kanu, the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

The witness, whose real name was not mentioned because of security reasons, stated this during cross examination by Kanu’s counsel, Chief Kanu Agabi, SAN.

Earlier, the Federal Government also tendered more items recovered from Kanu and admitted as exhibits by the court.

These include one black laptop, two multi mix transmitters, one mini white Apple iPad with a pouch, one grey Apple iPad with a pouch, one grey MacBook with a pouch, one grey MacBook with case, one mini drone sound wave speaker, and two mini white speakers.

Others are one large computer mouse, one white adaptor, one laptop adaptor and one carton bag with laptop, two 3G modems, two Glo modems, one Glo Hawaii modem, one MTN modem, one Etisalat modem, one flash drive and one camcorder.

These also included one hand recorder in a black pouch, one MacBook Pro adaptor, one Mic stand, one Phillips headphone, one radio sharp mic with cord, one pro sound mic with cord and one 4G LTE modem.

Others are a bunch of cards, one power adaptor for mixer, one Easy Blaze white modem, one Samsung phone,1 black Motorola phone and one Nokia phone.

Also found on him are “one black Samsung phone, one black phone, 1 D-Link black modem, one 8GB flash drive, one extension wire adaptor, one pair of shoes, one belt, one pair of ciderwood sneakers and one footwear.

“One black Softech wristwatch, two singlets, one sealed Hermes perfume, one Trinket, one Pokham perfume, one Fredrick Peckham wristwatch, one Diesel wristwatch, one Alexander Christy collection wristwatch, one Club wristwatch.

“Others are a bank MasterCards, copies of documents, one copy of IPOB complementary card, documents tagged IPOB, one white clipper, one bottle of medicine, one Oman perfume, one Mini scented oils, one empty black purse.

“Others are one Nigerian passport bearing the names Okwu Kanu Nwannekaibeya Nnamdi Ngozichukwu and one British passport bearing the name Okwu Kanu Nwannekaibeya, one black purse, one passport holder, one card holder, one box of Rocarden wristwatch and four bundles of cords.”

While being cross examined, PW-AAA said no weapon was recovered from the IPOB leader during his arrest in Lagos.

He also said that no arms was recovered from the lady arrested along with Kanu.

He said though the recovered items might not be ordinarily offensive, the intention of the defendant might be otherwise.

PW-AAA also told the court that he did not analyse any of the items recovered because his mandate was to effect arrest and obtain statement from Kanu.

Justice Omotosho adjourned the matter until May 6, May 7 and May 8 for continuation of cross examination.

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