Terrorism: Court discharges, acquits 50 persons alleged to be IPOB members – Newstrends
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Terrorism: Court discharges, acquits 50 persons alleged to be IPOB members

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Terrorism: Court discharges, acquits 50 persons alleged to be IPOB members

A Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday, discharged and acquitted no fewer than 50 persons alleged to be members of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) of allegations bordering on terrorism.

Justice James Omotosho, in a judgment, held that the Nigerian Police Force failed, in its entirety, to established a prima facie case against the 50 defendants, including four women.

Justice Omotosho, who upheld the no-case submission of the defendants, said that the prosecution failed to adduce any credible evidence, linking the defendants with the allegations they were charged for.

The judge consequently struck out the three-count charge preferred against the defendants.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Inspector-General (I-G) of Police had, in the charge marked FHC/ABJ/CR/8/2024, sued the 50 defendants.

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They were alleged to have assembled themselves inside a 911 truck with Reg No. XA-139 BDN and engaged themselves in a meeting all about and in connection with an act of terrorism.

They were alleged to have in their custody 48 black caps, 25 red caps, and 6 orange colour caps, and all were designed in the IPOB emblem with various charms.

The police further alleged that their “gathering was to promote illegality to terrorise the people of Anambra.

The police said the offence is contrary and punishable under Section 12 of Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.

 

Terrorism: Court discharges, acquits 50 persons alleged to be IPOB members

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Excitement in Nigeria as Okonjo-Iweala gets reappointed WTO DG

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November 29, 2024

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Okonjo-Iweala

Excitement in Nigeria as Okonjo-Iweala gets reappointed WTO DG

World Trade Organization chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was reappointed Friday for a second term, in the shadow of the coming return of Donald Trump and his disdain for international trade rules.

Okonjo-Iweala, the first woman and the first African to head the WTO, was the only candidate in the race, and had been all but assured a second term.

The organisation’s 166 members “today agreed to give incumbent Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala a second term as director-general,” the WTO said in a statement.

The 70-year-old Nigerian’s reappointment was approved by consensus during a special meeting of the organisation’s General Council, held behind closed doors, the WTO said.

Her current term ends in August 2025, and the appointment process for the next mandate had initially been scheduled to take months.

But with Okonjo-Iweala the only candidate, African countries called for the process to be speeded up, officially to facilitate preparations for the WTO’s next big ministerial conference, set to be held in Cameroon in 2026.

The unstated objective is to “accelerate the process, because they did not want Trump’s team to come in and veto her as they did four years ago”, said Keith Rockwell, a senior research fellow at the Hinrich Foundation.

The common practice of appointing directors-general by consensus made it possible in 2020 for Trump to block Okonjo-Iweala’s appointment for months, forcing her to wait to take the reins until after President Joe Biden entered the White House in early 2021.

– Fear of a void –

The overwhelming support for Okonjo-Iweala’s second term came “not so much (because) everyone loves Ngozi”, a source close to the discussions told AFP.

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Rather, members were “worried that if she doesn’t get reinstated, then it’s possible that the administration in Washington would slow things (or) block other contenders”, leaving a void at the top, the source said.

“The alternative of no-one leading the organisation is unacceptable to them.”

Rockwell, a former WTO spokesman, told AFP that speeding up Okonjo-Iweala’s reappointment “creates tensions in the relationship with the United States, for sure — tensions which would probably have been there under any circumstances, but now this raises the stakes”.

During Trump’s first term, the WTO faced relentless attacks from his administration, which crippled the organisation’s dispute settlement appeal system, and also threatened to pull the United States out of the organisation altogether.

And Trump has already signalled he is preparing to launch all-out trade wars, threatening to unleash a flurry of tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico on his first day in office on January 20.

“The festival of tariffs announced to date shows that he has no intention of following any rules,” said Elvire Fabry, a researcher at the Institut Jacques Delors think-tank.

“The United States would not even need to withdraw from the WTO,” she told AFP. “They are freeing themselves from the WTO rules”.

In this context, the WTO chief will have “a firefighter role”, she said.

– ‘Very difficult’ –

It will be a question of “saving what can be saved, and making the case that there is no real alternative to the WTO rules”, said another source close to the discussions on speeding up Okonjo-Iweala’s reappointment.

“It will be a very difficult mandate, with little certainty about what will happen.”

Rockwell noted that the WTO’s problems were not solely linked to Washington.

“It is a time right now in which application of the WTO rules has deteriorated,” he said.

“You can’t blame all of this on the United States. That’s true of many other members as well.”

Dmitry Grozoubinski, author of the book “Why Politicians Lie about Trade”, agreed.

“Governments are increasingly turning to trade measures to address issues like national security, environmental competition, and re-industrialisation, and policymakers aren’t as moved as they once were by arguments that their ideas violate the letter or spirit of WTO commitments,” he told AFP.

“If president-elect Trump makes destroying the WTO a priority,” he said, the organisation’s “options will be limited as the institution is not built to withstand overt demolition from within its membership”.

Since taking the WTO reins, Okonjo-Iweala has tried to breathe new life into the fragile organisation, pushing for fresh focus on areas like climate change and health.

But pressure is growing for WTO reform, in particular of the moribund appeals portion of its dispute settlement system, which collapsed during the first Trump presidency as Washington blocked the appointment of judges.

 

Excitement in Nigeria as Okonjo-Iweala gets reappointed WTO DG

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Four NSCDC officers killed in Kaduna bandit ambush, one missing

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November 29, 2024

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Four NSCDC officers killed in Kaduna bandit ambush, one missing

The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has confirmed the death of four officers ambushed by bandits in the Farin-Kasa area of Chukun LGA in Kaduna.

The NSCDC spokesperson, Babatunde Afolabi, in a statement on Friday, said the four officers were part of the seven officers declared missing during an ambush on November 18.

Some operatives of the NSCDC were attacked during surveillance and monitoring of the national grid installations at Shiroro LGA of Niger state.

“As of today, out of the seven missing officers, four dead bodies had been recovered, two men returned back to base unhurt while one personnel is still missing in action,” said Mr Afolabi.

The spokesperson added that the NSCDC commandant general, Ahmed Audi, commiserates with all officers and men of the corps nationwide, given the unfortunate attack and the loss of lives.

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“Audi assured that the Group Personal Accident/Group Life Insurance will be facilitated to cushion the effects of the unfortunate incident on the affected personnel,” he said.

Mr Afolabi said the NSCDC boss, while paying a visit to some injured officers at the corps’ medical facilities on Thursday evening, saluted the courage of the men.

“He also condemned the bloody terrorist attack and described it as a brutal and devastating act of violence which must not be allowed to fester considering the number of security operatives that have fallen,” he said.

The statement said Mr Audi charged personnel not to be discouraged by the incident.

He also urged them to pray for God’s protection, be vigilant, and ensure that all safety procedures are followed in their fight against insecurity in Nigeria.

Four NSCDC officers killed in Kaduna bandit ambush, one missing

(NAN)

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Appeal court frees Lagos doctor convicted for defiling wife’s niece

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November 29, 2024

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Femi Olaleye

Appeal court frees Lagos doctor convicted for defiling wife’s niece

The Court of Appeal in Lagos has acquitted and discharged the Medical Director of Optimal Cancer Care Foundation, Dr Olufemi Olaleye.

The court upturned the decision of the Lagos State Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court which had sentenced Dr Olaleye, to life imprisonment for defiling his wife’s 16-year-old niece.

Justice Olukayode Bada who read the lead judgment which was adopted by the two other justices on the panel held that the trial court erred in convicting Dr Olaleye based on “tainted” and ‘unreliable’ evidence of his estranged wife, Oluremi and the alleged survivor.

The other members of the panel were Justice Zainab Abubakar and Justice Abdulazeez Dogo.

The appellate court agreed with the submissions of Olaleye’s lead counsel, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Kemi Pinheiro, who insisted that there were material contradictions in the evidence gathered by the prosecutions which should not have been relied on by the lower court.

The court also faulted some other parts of the evidence of the prosecution during the trial, which was from a child forensic specialist, a medical doctor from the Mirabel centre and the investigating officer, which were found to be “worthless”

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For the appellate court, the trial judge, Justice Rahman Oshodi also descended in the arena and interfered in the proceedings to bridge what it described as “the yawning gaps in the prosecution’s case”.

In the judgment, the court of appeal also queried why the prosecution failed to present material witnesses such as two family members who were said to have witnessed the appellant’s alleged confession.

The court added that a trial within trial ought to have been conducted during the trial to verify the voluntariness of the appellant’s confessional statements while he was in police custody, especially as he said he made it under duress after he had been detained for six days.

The court of appeal determined all five issues of appeal against the prosecution and in favour of the appellant.

 

Appeal court frees Lagos doctor convicted for defiling wife’s niece

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