Bamaiyi: Ajudua challenges EFCC’s right to prosecute him over $4.8m fraud

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A one-time Lagos socialite, Fred Ajudua, on Monday in Lagos challenged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over a 4.8 million dollars fraud charge it slammed against him.

Ajudua, who challenged the right of the commission to prosecute him for defrauding a former Chief of Army Staff, retired Lt.-Gen. Ishaya Bamaiyi, is also challenging the jurisdiction of an Ikeja High Court to try the case.

The EFCC had accused Ajudua of defrauding Bamaiyi while both were in prison custody in 2004 for different offences.

EFCC said Ajudua had approached Bamaiyi, who was facing trial for the attempted murder of Mr Alex Ibru, the late publisher of the Guardian Newspaper, and convinced him that he could help to secure his freedom.

According to the commission, Ajudua received 4.8 million dollars from Bamaiyi under the guise that the money was the legal fees for the law firm of Chief Afe Babalola and Co.

Ronke Rosulu, a court registrar and Ajudua’s alleged accomplice, who helped him funneled the funds from the prison, was sentenced in a separate trial on Dec. 21, 2005 to 10 years in prison by Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo.

During Monday’s proceeding, counsel to Ajudua, Mr Norrison Quakers, in an application dated Jan. 6 challenged the jurisdiction of the court to hear the case.

He also urged the court to quash the charge brought against Ajudua by the EFCC.

“We have filed an affidavit and a reply in points of law challenging the jurisdiction of this court to hear this case.

“The law provides also provides that an information in this charge can only be filed by the Attorney-General of the state and not the EFCC,” he said.

Responding, counsel to the EFCC, Mr S.A. Atteh, said there was a judgment of the Court of Appeal upholding the right of the EFCC to prosecute the case.

“We have filed a counter-affidavit dated Feb. 9 urging the court to allow the judgment of the Court of Appeal on whether the EFCC has a fiat to prosecute this case.

“I urge the court to dismiss the application of the defence and call the defendant to take his plea,” he said.

Justice Oyefeso adjourned the case to March 30 for ruling.

 

The post Bamaiyi: Ajudua challenges EFCC’s right to prosecute him over $4.8m fraud appeared first on Vanguard News.

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Torres set for Leverkusen return, says Simeone

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PHOTO:AFP

Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone believes Fernando Torres will be free to return from a sickening head clash in time for next week’s Champions League meeting with Bayer Leverkusen.

Torres lost consciousness in a challenge with Deportivo la Coruna’s Alex Bergantinos eight days ago, but thankfully he was released from hospital a day later with no serious injuries.

“He is in the recovery process and we imagine that for Wednesday he will be available,” said Simeone.

Atletico welcome Leverkusen to the Vicente Calderon boasting a 4-2 first-leg lead after Torres scored his side’s fourth in Germany two weeks ago.

Torres is not in the Atletico squad for Saturday’s La Liga trip to Granada.

French international Kevin Gameiro also misses out due to a minor abdominal strain.

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Customs hands over seized action rifles to DSS

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The rifles were hidden in a Mack truck with registration number BDG 265 XG conveying a 1 x 40ft container before it was intercepted along Mile 2/Apapa road, Lagos.

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has handed over the 661 pump action rifles seized by the Federal Operations Unit Zone `A’ Ikeja, to the Department of State Security (DSS) for further investigation.

The Public Relations Officer of the unit, Mr Jerry Attah, said on Friday in Lagos, that the rifles were seized on Sunday, Jan. 22, 2017,

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the rifles were hidden in a Mack truck with registration number BDG 265 XG conveying a 1 x 40ft container before it was intercepted along Mile 2/Apapa road, Lagos.

Attah recalled that the truck was immediately taken to the premises of FOU Zone A, Ikeja, where physical examination revealed 49 boxes containing 661 pieces of pump action rifles were concealed with steel doors and other merchandise goods.

According to him, the interception of these arms is a clear indication of how committed and dedicated the service is to the economy, security and well-being of the country.

He said that three suspects were arrested in connection with the illegal importation.

“The 661 pump action rifles and the suspects were handed over to the Director, DSS, Lagos State Command, Ms Betty Adoki, who represented the Director-General of DSS), Mr Lawal Dau

The Deputy Comptroller-General of Customs in charge of Enforcement, Inspection and Investigation, Mr Dan Ugo, represented the Comptroller-General of Customs, Retired Col. Hameed Ali.

Ugo called on all well-meaning Nigerians to support the service with necessary information that could assist the service in performing its statutory responsibilities better.

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At least 24 dead in Nepal bus crash

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Nepalese rescue workers and bystanders gather at the site of a bus accident in Jajarkot district, some 600 kms northwest of Kathmandu on March 9, 2017.<br />At least 24 people were killed when an overcrowded bus skidded off the road and crashed in remote western Nepal, local officials said. / AFP PHOTO / JANAK KC

At least 24 people were killed when an overcrowded bus skidded off the road and crashed in remote western Nepal on Thursday, local officials said.

Sixteen people were killed instantly as the bus careered off the road in Jajarkot district, while the other eight died in hospital, local district official Suman Kharel told AFP.

The nearest hospital was struggling to cope with the number of casualties and some people were being taken to other districts for treatment, he added.

“The district hospital is crowded with injured and we are still searching for people at the accident site,” another local official Krishna Chandra Paudel said.

The officials said that there were around 50 passengers on the bus, blaming the accident on overcrowding.

The bus was also in a poor state of repair, Paudel added.

The bus which was travelling down a narrow and windy road from the village of Khalanga in Jajarkot district to Khara in Rukun.

Deadly crashes are relatively common in the impoverished Himalayan nation because of poor roads, badly maintained vehicles and reckless driving.

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Trump braces for bruising legislative fight on health care

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US President Donald Trump / AFP PHOTO / Brendan Smialowski

US President Donald Trump’s negotiating skills were put to the test in his first major legislative battle Wednesday as Congress debated a health care replacement plan that several members of his own party oppose.

Two committees in the House of Representatives began reviewing a sweeping bill that unwinds and replaces the Affordable Care Act, the emblematic health care reforms implemented under Barack Obama.

The plan was crafted by Republican leaders and endorsed by Trump, who campaigned heavily last year on a pledge to repeal and replace Obamacare.

But influential Republicans are hardening against the plan, arguing that it is merely “Obamacare Lite” and too similar to the law that conservatives railed against for years.

Several far-right lawmakers said the Republican plan abandons conservative fiscal principles by maintaining government subsidies of the Affordable Care Act, under the guise of “refundable tax credits” for people to purchase their own health insurance.

“I don’t think the plan they introduced yesterday is going to bring down the cost for working-class and middle-class families,” Republican congressman Jim Jordan, former chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told MSNBC.

He urged the party leadership to re-introduce the Obamacare repeal bill that passed Congress 15 months ago and was vetoed by Obama.

“Let’s put that same legislation on President Trump’s desk and then work on the replacement model that will actually bring down the cost of insurance.”

Trump was scheduled to meet with conservative leaders in the White House later Wednesday to discuss the plan.

The president will be under pressure to lure several conservatives in the House and Senate back into the fold.

His arm-twisting took on a very public tone Tuesday night, when he tweeted to one of the new bill’s chief critics, Republican Senator Rand Paul.

“I feel sure that my friend @RandPaul will come along with the new and great health care program because he knows Obamacare is a disaster!”

Like many conservatives, Paul is opposed to the use refundable tax credits, which would range from $2,000 a year for someone under age 30, to $4,000 for someone 60 or older. Families would get a maximum $14,000 in credits.

Democrats on the other hand warn that those credits are on average less than the subsidies built into the premiums under Obamacare.

– ‘Growing pains’ –
Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said millions of low-income and middle-class Americans would be forced to pay thousands of dollars more in premiums annually under the new plan, which also includes a tax break for insurance company executives making over $500,000 per year.

“Trumpcare is a health care handout for the wealthiest Americans,” Schumer said.

The bill “will cause millions to lose insurance as well as blow a gigantic hole in the federal budget,” he added.

House Speaker Paul Ryan pressed ahead regardless of the criticism, with the Energy and Commerce Committee and Ways and Means Committee both considering the legislation Wednesday, and expressed confidence the bill would get across the finish line.

“I have no doubt we’ll pass this,” Ryan told reporters. But he also acknowledged there have been stumbles along the way.

“We’re going through the inevitable growing pains of being an opposition party to being a governing party” now controlling the White House and both chambers of Congress, he said.

In opening remarks before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, chairman Greg Walden promised the new plan “will not pull the rug out from anyone as we transition away from this failing law.”

With internal opposition a worry, Republican leaders were mounting a furious pushback.

“We’re working hand in glove with President Trump, Vice President (Mike) Pence,” and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price to ensure the bill is viable and has sufficient support.

No Democrats have come out in favor of the Republican replacement plan.

Some Republicans had trouble defending the proposed changes to the law.

Asked on MSNBC Tuesday whether he could guarantee that millions of people would not lose their health insurance under the new plan, congressman Buddy Carter talked up the bill’s positive aspects and said it would “empower” citizens, but he refused to make the pledge.

“I cannot guarantee anything, but I can guarantee that our plan will increase competition, it will increase choices, and it will increase patient care.”

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Bashir orders full aid access to South Sudan famine areas…Read full details

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Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir / AFP PHOTO / GIANLUIGI GUERCIA

President Omar al-Bashir has ordered Sudanese authorities to assist the delivery of international humanitarian aid to famine-hit South Sudan through the country, an official said Thursday.

On Monday, South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation formed after splitting from the north in 2011, declared famine in some regions, saying 100,000 people faced starvation and another million were on the brink of famine.

“President Omar al-Bashir has ordered Sudanese authorities to offer all necessary facilities to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches South Sudan through Sudanese territories,” Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour said in a statement.

Ghandour said Bashir has ordered assistance to all NGOs, aid agencies of the United Nations and also other countries trying to deliver supplies to South Sudan.

“This is to ease the suffering of the South Sudanese people,” the minister said.

Aid groups have slammed a “man-made” famine caused by bloodshed in South Sudan where civil war has forced people to flee, disrupted agriculture, sent prices soaring and cut off aid agencies from some of the worst-hit areas.

South Sudan has been engulfed by civil war since 2013 after President Salva Kiir accused his rival and former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup.

More than 300,000 South Sudanese refugees have arrived in Sudan since the war erupted, according to the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR.

Over 65 percent of the refugees are children, with many of them arriving with critical levels of malnutrition, it said.

UN aid officials are monitoring the Sudan-South Sudan border in anticipation that thousands more could flee to the northern neighbour due to the famine situation.

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These Educative, Entertaining And Inspirational Pictures Will Blow Your Mind – 99

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These are just pictures but they tell stories that will either Educate, Entertain or Motivate you…

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Saint-Etienne need dash of ‘madness’ against United…See full details

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Manchester United's Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic shoots from the penalty spot to score his team's third goal during the UEFA Europa League Round of 32 first-leg football match between Manchester United and Saint-Etienne at Old Trafford stadium in Manchester, north-west England, on February 16, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / Oli SCARFF

Saint-Etienne believe they are capable of reversing a Europa League first leg deficit against Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s Manchester United if they can add a dash of ‘madness’ to their game.

At 3-0 down from the Old Trafford first leg all scored by nemesis Ibrahimovic, few are betting on a French revival in Wednesday’s last 32 second leg at the club’s Geoffroy-Guichard stadium.

But club President Bernard Caïazzo told AFP in an exclusive interview that a win was possible “if we can inject a bit of madness” into the match.

“The result from the first leg was very heavy because we did not put away our chances and there was some odd refereeing going on, a bit like if Zlatan Ibrahimovic himself was the referee,” he said.

“But this time, unlike in the first leg where the players were a bit tense and made finishing errors, we have nothing to lose.”

“Football can offer incredible surprises,” he said. “Putting a bit of madness into our game means nothing is impossible.”

He said the team needs to rediscover the spirit of the 1974 European Cup, predecessor of the Champions League, when the side went 4-1 down to Hadjuk Split in the away leg and beat them 5-1 after extra time on home turf. Saint-Etienne went on to reach the semi-finals where they were beaten by eventual champions Bayern Munich.

Saint-Etienne striker Romain Hamouma said the side had to avoid an obsession with Ibrahimovic, the former Paris Saint-Germain star who has now scored 17 goals all told against Saint-Etienne.

“His record against us is exceptional,” he said “He is a great player but we cannot let ourselves become obsessed by one player alone.”

Saint-Etienne are still upset over the penalty awarded to Ibrahimovic in the closing minutes of the Manchester leg after he slumped to his knees in the box following a challenge from behind, allowing him to score his first hat-trick for United.

“As soon as the ‘great’ one falls, the referee feels he has to whistle,” added Hamouma.

He said that Saint-Etienne had found weaknesses in Manchester United but were not able to exploit them because of poor finishing.

“This time we have to make no mistake, and that will be the key.”

Coach Christophe Galtier said that if his players kept their cool the chances would come their way.

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Ex-president Jammeh’s supporters arrested as tensions flare in Gambia

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Former president Yaya Jammeh (C,up), the Gambia's leader for 22 years, waves from the plane as he leaves the country on 21 January 2017 in Banjul. Yahya Jammeh, the Gambia's leader for 22 years, flew out of the country on January 21, 2017. PHOTO: STRINGER / AFP

Gambian police said they arrested 51 people in a former stronghold of ex-president Yahya Jammeh for harassing followers of new leader Adama Barrow, amid lingering tensions following Jammeh’s flight into exile.

Jammeh narrowly lost a Dec. 1 election to Barrow after 22 years of authoritarian rule.

Jammeh initially refused to step down but fled to Equatorial Guinea last month as international military forces descended on the capital Banjul to uphold the election result.

The 51 were arrested on Sunday in the western town of Kafenda, a Jammeh stronghold, for insulting people returning from Barrow’s inauguration celebration at the national stadium on Saturday, said police spokesman Foday Conta. Some threw stones, Conta added.

Twenty-six of the arrested were juveniles and were released on bail, while 25 were being detained pending an investigation, Conta said.

A spokesman for the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC), Jammeh’s party when he was in power, said those arrested were APRC supporters and were wearing t-shirts bearing an image of Jammeh’s face.

“They were provoked by the supporters of the coalition (Barrow’s party) who … were calling Jammeh all sorts of names and saying he was a killer. Then a quarrel ensued,” said spokesman Seedy Njie.

Human rights groups accuse Jammeh of torturing and killing opponents during his time in power. Barrow has pledged to reverse many of Jammeh’s policies, including arbitrary detention.

Barrow vowed in his Saturday speech to enact sweeping reforms including bolstering a weakened economy.

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FG’s planned railway concession may affect 15,000 workers, says union leader

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Rail

The Nigeria Union of Railway Workers (NUR) had expressed fear that the planned concession of the railway system by the Federal Government could lead to loss of jobs of no fewer than 15,000 of its members.

Mr Saidu Garba, the President-General of the union, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos that the concession “will also retard the economy instead of growth’’.

He, therefore, advised the Federal Government to reverse the planned concession so as not to worsen the nation’s economy.

According to him, privatisation policy has not brought any positive change to the economy from its inception.

“It is not good for government to continue falling into the same mistakes all the time.

“Some privatised government companies, bought by individuals, are not making progress up till date.

“NEPA and NITEL are good examples of failure of the privatisation policy in the country.

“Some of the privatised company still collect bailout funds from the government, which should not be so,’’ he said.

The union leader said that the proposed concession, if implemented, would affect over 15,000 work force of the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC).

“We are appealing to the government to reverse its plan on the concession,’’ Garba said.

NAN, however, reports that the fear of NUR about job loss, if the railway is concessioned, was allayed by the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, in October, 2016 in Abuja.

Amaechi said at an International Transportation Conference in Abuja, where the idea of concessioning the railway was announced, that an American company, General Electric (GE) would take over the management of NRC under a concession plan.

According to him, the entrance of General Electric into the management of the NRC was to harness the full potential of rail transportation infrastructure.

The concession arrangement, billed to commence in the first quarter of 2017, Amaechi said, will also create additional new jobs.

He said that the Federal Government had full knowledge of the current hardship in the country but was determined to curb corruption at all levels while turning the economy around.

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