An Ebute Meta Chief Magistrates’ Court, sitting on Friday in Lagos, Southwest of the country sentenced a 35-year-old woman, Jumoke Adesida to five years in prison for kidnapping a two-year-old girl.
Delivering judgement, Chief Magistrate A. Ipaye-Nwachukwu, sentenced Adesida without an option to pay fine.
“The accused is hereby found guilty and convicted for abduction, which is punishable under section 277 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State,” she ruled.
Ipaye-Nwachukwu ordered that the convict serve the jail term at the Kirikiri Maximum Prison.
Earlier, Insp. Adeshina Adesanya, for prosecution, told the court that the convict committed the offence on June 22, at 9 a.m., at Community Road, Odogunyan in Ikorodu.
He said that the convict kidnapped the two-year-old daughter of Mrs Aminat Abidoye.
Adesanya said the offence contravened Section 277 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The Plateau State government has gazetted the Gender Equal Opportunity Law(GEO) passed since 2015 in the State , making it the first in Northern in Nigeria.
The Law gazette on June 27, is to protect women from all forms of discrimination in Politics, economy, traditions and social issues amongst others.
Speaking at an event to celebrate the gesture on Friday in Jos, Mrs Sewuese Torkuma, the UN Gender Technical Advisor in Plateau congratulated the State Government for the giant stride.
She said the law would promote gender equity and project the voice of Women in issues that affects their well being.
“The voices of Women, youths, children and people with disabilities would be projected through the GEO Law gazetted in Plateau,” she said.
Torkuma said UN supported the GEO Law to curb the incessant cases of gender violence in the State and facilitate more opportunities for women in leadership positions.
She said UN appeals to the Plateau government to sustain its commitment in ensuring the Law was fully implemented.
Earlier in her remarks, Mrs Anna Izam, Commissioner for Women Affairs and social development, said the Law would facilitate more girls’ attendance in schools.
The commissioner who was represented by Mrs Hasana Ayika, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry said that the Law also facilitates freedom from discrimination of any person on health ground.
“The Law in Section 21 states that every organisation shall take appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against any person on any ground in the health sector.
“The law enforces that every organisation responsible for providing health care shall ensure that all women who are pregnant and within two years of delivery are given free and quality health care services ,’ she said.
Also speaking, the Commissioner for Justice, Mr Chrisanthus Ahmadu promised to ensure the Law comprising of 36 sections was fully implemented in the state.
The law addresses issues of discrimination of women in political and public life, education, employment and socio-cultural practices among others.
The GEO Law enforces certain provisions of the UN convention in the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday met with his Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe Eyadema behind closed doors at the Presidential, Lodge Katsina Northwest Nigeria.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reliably learnt that the two presidents discussed bilateral issues as well as sub-regional matters especially the ongoing political conflict between Eyadema’s government and the opposition in his country.
NAN gathered that the Togolese president, who has offered concessions to the opposition, may brief President Buhari on socio-political reforms he introduced to restore political order in Togo.
The opposition in Togo are calling for change of administration.
President Buhari had met and condoled with the government and people of Katsina State over windstorm disaster that killed six persons and destroyed more than 530 houses in the state.
NAN reports that 2,000 people were displaced as a result of the disaster.
The President addressed traditional, community and religious leaders as well as representatives of victims of the disaster at the Palace of Emir of Katsina, Alhaji Abdulmumuni Usman.
He said he had directed the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and other relevant government agencies to assess the situation with a view to offering necessary assistances to the victims.
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in Kogi, North Central Nigeria on Friday said it arrested 60 suspected drug traffickers and seized 976.2 kg illicit drugs between April and June.
Idris Bello, Commander, Kogi State Command of the agency, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lokoja.
Bello said the arrested traffickers included 56 males and 4 females.
“The command also seized 976.2 kilogrammes of various illicit drugs, with Indian hemp accounting for about 974.5 kg, within the period” he said.
According to him, out of those arrested, four were upon prosecution convicted and sentenced to various jail terms.
He added that 28 of the suspects were undergoing counselings while 28 others had been counselled and released.
Bello said the 2018 UN International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on June 26 was celebrated to enlighten the public on the dangers of hard drugs.
Bello, however, said over 60 per cent of crime and criminality committed globally was attributable to the use and influence of drugs.
The Bank of Agriculture (BOlA) says it will partner with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to recover anchor-borrowers loan from defaulting farmers who took the loan since 2015 farming season.
BOA’s Managing Director, Alhaji Kabiru Mohammed-Adamu, made the assertion in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Zaria, northern Nigeria on Thursday.
NAN reports that the managing director spoke on the sidelines of the flagging off of loan disbursement to benefiting members of the Maize Association of Nigeria (MAAN) drawn from across the North-West geo-political zone.
He said: ‘‘We have appointed recovery agents nationwide, some of them are lawyers, some are professional recovery agents and they are working day and night to engage the farmers to be able to repay.
“We are doing all these as a moral suasion to ensure that farmers repay the loan.
“However, for those farmers that refused to pay back, we can’t sit down without doing anything to recover the money.
“As such, we are collaborating with security agencies, the EFCC in particular, and they have been highly supportive to fish out where those funds have been diverted to.
“People have now embraced the spirit of repaying their loans, at least we are getting request to restructure and extend the tenure of the facility,’’ he said.
Mohammed-Adamu added that the bank was doing everything possible to educate the farmers to understand that the sustainability of the programme solely relied on the recovery rate.
“It is supposed to be a revolving fund, when a set of farmers benefit and they have reached a level of comfort and they can finance their own activities directly, then, others can also benefit.
“But in a situation whereby funds are diverted, certainly it will kill the programme.
“As a bank, we are not just sitting down there watching this is happening, therefore, we are educating the farmers on the importance of repayment.
“Secondly, there is a collateral registry that has been established at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), now any farmer that borrows money on any of our programmes is registered on the collateral registry.
“If he or she refuses to repay the loan, his or her name would have been captured as somebody that has defaulted, so, he or she cannot enjoy any loan facility from any bank in Nigeria,’’ he said.
The managing director said the primary mandate of the bank was to grow the community and improve the well-being of rural dwellers particularly the smallholder farmers.
“We have a number of products that are geared toward supporting farmers; apart from the agricultural products, we also have products that are targeted at medium and small scale enterprises.
“Such products are just to empower those in that segment with little financial support so that they can be self-employed and be able to take care of themselves and possibly employ others.
“In the agriculture sector in particular, we have products and programmes along the gamut of value chain. At the primary level, we have normal financial support for farmers that are going into primary production,” he said.
“We also have support for aggregators, people that off-take from the farmers and sell to the processors.
“We also have a product under the ‘equipment leasing facilities’ for those that require mechanisation.
“For example, people that want to buy tractors, people that want to buy pick-ups and delivery vans that will move the produce from the markets to the processing areas, we have quite a number of products aimed at that.’’
He assured that in the future, the bank introduce ATM cards to farmers, adding that any farmer banking with BOA would have a dedicated ATM card that would enable him or her to have access to fund.
Mohammed-Adamu said the card would work both in the rural and urban areas to meet the expectations of Nigerian farmers.
On late disbursement of loans, he said the bank was sensitising farmers on the need to process the loan early enough to enable them secure the loan for wet season agricultural activities.
The Anchor Borrowers Scheme is a CBN initiative to empower farmers in cooperative societies to get loans at single-digit interest rate from the apex bank to produce, package, refine and market farm produce.
National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has condemned the recent killings in Plateau State in which Police confirmed 86 persons, including children dead on Sunday.
A statement made available to newsmen on Friday in Abuja and signed by NANS Senate President, Mr Taiwo Bamigbade, urged the government to urgently arrest the situation.
He expressed concern that brutal killing of human beings were becoming common in the country as value was no longer placed on human live.
“NANS hereby condemns in totality the unceasing brutal killings of innocent citizens, including children, students and parents by suspected herdsmen in various parts of the country for selfish reasons.
“Again, we state categorically that it is an aberration that since the heinous attacks began, no meaningful arrests and prosecutions have been recorded except to console the victims, which is the height of injustice and insensitivity.
“To see helpless and innocent children and their parents massacred in cold blood as seen in Plateau State during the weekend is wicked and a great evil in the sight of God.”
He, therefore, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to take urgent necessary measures to secure lives and properties, stressing that it was the primary purpose of government.
Bamigbade, however, described the procurement of fighter helicopters by the Federal Government toward curtailing the menace of deadly attacks as a highly commendable proactive action.
He also urged the president to rejig the security apparatus of the country for better results and demanded the arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators of the evil deeds.
NANS Senate President further enjoined members of the public to always report any communal disputes and disagreements to security agencies for prompt action.
He also urged all Nigerians to desist from hate speeches or playing dangerous politics.
He charged the citizens to report community disputes to the Police rather than taking laws into their hands, to avoid retaliatory attacks.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Plateau Government has imposed dusk to dawn curfew on three communities of Barkin Ladi, Riyom and Jos South local government areas following the massive killings.
Michaël A. Hammer , US Ambassadorial nominee to DRC
Michaël A. Hammer , US Ambassadorial nominee to DRC. Photo Credit: US Embassy Kinshasa
Esdrass Tsongo
President Donald Trump of the United States of America has announced intention to appoint Michaël A. Hammer of Maryland as new Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The White House Website published a statement on June 18th, stating the intentions of the President to nominate and appoint personnel, including Mr. Hammer, to key administration posts.
Once the appointment is approved by the US Senate, Mr. Hammer will be his country’s new Ambassador to DR Congo.
The nominee is currently serving as Acting Senior Vice President of National Defence, University in Washington, a position he has held since 2017.
He has also served as United States Ambassador to Chile from 2014 to 2016, Deputy Secretary of Public Affairs of the State Department from 2012 to 2013, and Special Assistant to the President as Senior Director of Press and Communications and Spokesman for the United States. national security.
He was a Counsellor at the White House from 2009 to 2011, and also served at five US missions abroad and at several executive positions in Washington.
Hammer speaks English, French, Portuguese and Spanish.
A former House of Reps Member and Chairman, Appropriation Committee, Ahmed Isa Ashiru has registered and picked Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) card.
Ashiru, a two-time Member of the House of Reps, has dumped the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), early May, to return to his former party, the PDP.
The move was in his pursuit to seek for the party’s ticket to contest the 2019 Kaduna State gubernatorial race – he was a gubernatorial aspirant in 2015, under the ruling APC.
Reports say, almost all the roads leading in an out of Kudan town, where he registered was chocked by gridlocks, formed by vehicular and human traffic streaming to Kudan.
Addressing party supporters after registration, Ashiru said: “I am happy to be back home. I am happy to return to the home of my father – the PDP. I am happy that I sojourn for some times in the APC. At that small time that I stayed in that party, I learnt so much. It is a good thing that I was able to see what the APC is all about.
“We heard that aspirants have been coming here and they have been going round asking for your support. I want to say that, that is very OK. In fact, we want more to come. But, one thing that I am sure is that I have started this race, and I know where I am going to end with you all. We will all be at Kaduna State Government House in 2019, God with us.
“I am very grateful to see you come out in such large numbers from nooks and crannies of Kudan and beyond. I wanted this event to be a small event of just party officials and a few members of my campaign secretariat. But, look at you in such a huge number here even though I have not even started my campaign,” he said in Hausa.
Earlier, former Nigerian Ambassador to South Korea, now the Director General, Ashiru Campaign Organisation, presented the aspirant to the crowd.
“I want to present to you a man who is prepared to return Kaduna state to its proper place; I want to present to you the man who will right wrongs of the past years as he picks his new PDP card for that task in 2019,” he told the crowd.
Former Kaduna State PDP Chairman, Yaro Makama, who had in 2014 left the PDP for APC, but returned to the APC early this year, said that, Ashiru was the only APC member who left the PDP, but still supported the PDP financially and also kept his friendship with members of the party.
“I am very sure of where Ashiru is headed for. This is the place to be. The People of Kudan, you have made us proud. Your son has returned home. And you have thronged out even without notifying you,” he said.
Kaduna PDP Zone 1 Chairman, Tsoho Kargi, who represented Kaduna State Chairman of the PDP, Felix Hyatt, presented the PDP card to Ashiru.
He said, he was proud to carry out the assignment, adding that the governorship of Kaduna state would return to the PDP.
“I am very proud to give out our party card to Hon. Isa Ashiru, the Sarkin Bai. His coming back to the PDP is not only a blessing to the PDP, but a blessing to the entire Kaduna state.
His return has assured me that the PDP will produce the governor of Kaduna state in 2019. I call on everyone who is still trapped in the other parties to return to freedom, to justice and development,” he said.
In a chat with Journalists, Ashiru said, “What I want to say is that I want everybody to get his voter’s card. There is no way we can chase the present government out if we don’t have our voter’s card. The fact that the present government will be gone in 2019, is not contestable. We need our voters card.”
