Court grants Audu Maikori bail, says it lacks jurisdiction to try him

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Audu Maikori

A Kaduna magistrate court on Monday said it lack the jurisdiction to hear a suit brought before against the chief executive officer of Chocolate City Group, Audu Maikori.

Maikori and one Simon Joseph were arraigned over alleged criminal conspiracy and spreading falsehood. They were both accused of inciting disturbance of public peace through the circulation of fake reports that five students of a Kaduna State-owned college of education were murdered by Fulani herdsmen during the Southern Kaduna crisis.

“This false information was inciting and capable of disturbing the public peace,” prosecution counsel, Dari Bayero said.

But Chief Magistrate Emmanuel Yusuf said his court lack the jurisdiction to hear the case and granted the accused persons bail in the sum of N100, 000  and one surety each. He adjourned the case to April 20, for further mention.

The music mogul and lawyer was first arrested on February 17 by policemen attached to the inspector-general’s monitoring and intelligence team, over ‘inciting comments’ he made on social media on Southern Kaduna killings.

He was released on bail but was later picked up on last Friday.

In a series of tweets on January 23, he alleged that five students of Kaduna State College of Education, Gidan Waya, Kafanchan, were murdered by Fulani herdsmen.

“My driver’s younger brother and five others students of College of Education, Gidan Waya, were ambushed and killed by herdsmen yesterday #SouthernKaduna,” he said in one of the tweets.

But the school’s management denied that any of its students was killed. Kaduna State also condemned the misinformation and vowed to prosecute rumour peddlers.

Maikori later apologised for the wrong information contained in his tweets, claiming that he was misled by his driver, who himself was an indigene of Southern Kaduna. The driver, he said, was handed over to the police after he (Maikori) decided to further investigate the story to “ensure that all the facts of the case and evidence were presented to the authorities.”

“I hereby tender an unreserved and sincere apology to the Management of the College of Education, Gidan Waya, His Excellency the Governor of Kaduna State and the Kaduna State Government, and also to the people of Southern Kaduna and the Fulani community and also VANGUARD newspapers, whose source was my driver, for the false statement by my driver which I also publicized believing same to be true,” Maikori said in a statement on February 5.
He was arrested shortly afterwards.

Southern Kaduna, recently for a couple of months, was a scene of bloody conflicts between suspected Fulani herdsmen and indigenes of the area, with scores of the residents killed. The conflicts forced the state government to impose a 24-hour curfew on Zangon Kataf which was only relaxed on February 4 to “6 pm and 6 am”.

Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2mT08V2

FG procures 100 rice mills for distribution to states, says Ogbeh

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Nigeria is spending 5 million dollars daily on rice importation from Thailand, India and Vietnam.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, says the Federal Government has purchased 100 rice mills for distribution to rice-producing states in the country.

Ogbeh said this in Umuahia on Monday during the Federal Government’s town hall meeting with prominent indigenes of the state. He said that the machines would also be sold to private millers at reduced rates, adding that the gesture was part of government’s interventions to boost local rice production.

According to him, Nigeria is spending 5 million dollars daily on rice importation from Thailand, India and Vietnam. He expressed delight that Nigeria now ranked second in rice production in the continent, adding that the money spent on importation could be put into infrastructure development.

The minister also spoke on government’s efforts to enhance the production of Cocoa and Cashew in the country. He said that the Federal Government would soon relaunch Cocoa production in three states of Abia, Ondo and Cross River, adding that new fertiliser for the commodity was being developed.

Accordingly, he said that Federal Government also planned to set up six major cashew-processing factories in the country in collaboration with the private sector.

Ogbeh said that Abia had potential for coconut production and urged the state to explore its great potential in agriculture to boost its internally generated revenue.

He said that states in the federation could be financially autonomous and viable, “without depending on Federal Allocation,” if they could explore and exploit their huge potential in agriculture.

According to him, a scheme for the construction of 10 dams in the 36 states of the federation and Abuja, known as Project 10-37, is underway.
The minister also said that there were plans to restructure the Bank of Industry to enable it meet the demands for facilities by agriculturists in the country.

He said that the Anchor-Borrower Programme would be expanded to include the rice millers at the end of the restructuring. Also, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Okechukwu Enalemah, said that the Federal Government was committed to the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for which Aba was known for.

Enalema said that to achieve its target on SMEs, government placed high premium on the development of dilapidated infrastructure, especially the roads and power.

He also expressed the hope that with the recent efforts made to resolve some issues delaying the take-off of Geometric Power Plant, located in Osisioma, near Aba, the problem of power in Aba would soon be over.

He said that government was determined to create industrial zones and parks in the country and that Aba stood to benefit greatly from government’s interventions for the nation’s industrial growth.

According to him, with government’s emphasis on how to promote made-in-Nigeria products, Aba stands an advantage of being a great beneficiary of all the Federal Government’s interventions.

The meeting, which was organised by the Federal Ministry of Information and Cuture, was attended by some National Assembly members from Abia, including Sen. Mao Ohuabunwa, representing Abia North Senatorial District.

Other dignitaries included chairmen of political parties as well as a cross-section of traditional rulers from the 17 local government areas of the state.

Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2lh46Cu

Air Force strikes Boko Haram base in Gwoza

Mawson and Olsson sharpen Leicester’s pain…See full details

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Swansea City's English defender Alfie Mawson (R) shoots to score the opening goal of the English Premier League football match between Swansea City and Leicester City at The Liberty Stadium in Swansea, south Wales on February 12, 2017. PHOTO: Geoff CADDICK / AFP

Defenders Alfie Mawson and Martin Olsson gave Swansea City a 2-0 win over Leicester City on Sunday that nudged the flatlining Premier League champions closer to the relegation zone.

Mawson and Olsson netted crisp strikes prior to half-time at the Liberty Stadium to give Swansea manager Paul Clement a fourth win in six games since he succeeded the sacked Bob Bradley.

Swansea’s victory, their 100th in the top flight, took them four points clear of the bottom three and left Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester just one point and one position clear of danger in 17th place.

The extraordinary feats of last season have been replaced by history of a different kind as Leicester became the first reigning champions to lose five successive top-flight games since Chelsea in 1956.

They also became the first team to go six games without scoring at the start of a calendar year in the English top tier since Stoke City in 1985.

Brought back down to earth after their mid-week FA Cup win at Derby County, Leicester could scarcely be in a more sorry state as their Champions League last 16 tie with Sevilla looms on the horizon.

Clement made one change, bringing Nathan Dyer in for Wayne Routledge, but was forced to reverse the switch after Dyer’s reunion with his old club was curtailed by an ankle injury sustained in the fifth minute.

Dyer, who spent last season on loan at Leicester, duly re-emerged on the bench, the lower half of his left leg encased in a protective boot.

With the big guns restored to the Leicester line-up after their 3-1 win over local rivals Derby, the visitors looked to assert themselves.

– Sorry predicament –

But blocked shots from Wilfred Ndidi, Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez were all they had to show for their early endeavours and as the first half wore on, Swansea established control.

After Routledge had seen a volley parried by Kasper Schmeichel and Gylfi Sigurdsson had drilled a shot wide with his left foot from outside the box, the home side took a 36th-minute lead.

Robert Huth could only help Sigurdsson’s free-kick towards the back post, where it was nodded back into the danger zone by Federico Fernandez, and Mawson lashed a vicious volley past Schmeichel.

Swansea landed another blow in first-half stoppage time after a slick one-touch move involving Tom Carroll, Fernando Llorente and Sigurdsson.

The latter’s through-ball freed Olsson, who drove into the box from wide on the left before battering a shot between Schmeichel and his near post.

Ranieri made a double change at half-time, sending on Ben Chilwell and Islam Slimani for Christian Fuchs and Marc Albrighton.

Slimani came closest to bringing Leicester back into the game, first seeing a shot blocked by Lukasz Fabianski from Mahrez’s deft pass and then just failing to get a touch on Mahrez’s right-wing cross.

But Leicester’s problems in front of goal were destined to continue, a wild shot from Vardy drawing derisive hoots from the Swansea fans and summing up the champions’ sorry predicament.

Vía Uzomedia http://ift.tt/2lydLcu