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Court extends Seun Kuti’s detention by 4 days as police deny parading him

Court extends Seun Kuti’s detention by 4 days as police deny parading him
A Sabo-Yaba Chief Magistrates’ Court, in Lagos, yesterday, granted an application for an extension of remand of embattled afrobeat singer, Seun Kuti, for additional four days.
The Chief Magistrate, Mrs Adeola Olatubosun, extended Kuti’s remand until May 22.
Mr. Simon Lough, who led a police legal team to the court, had moved the application.
According to him, the extension is to allow for further investigation into the case.
Mr. Kuti was charged with assaulting a police officer, when he allegedly slapped an Inspector of Police, after driving dangerously on the Third Mainland Bridge, in Lagos State, and deliberately blocking a moving police vehicle, on May 13, 2023.
He was earlier arraigned, on Tuesday, May 16, during which the chief magistrate ordered his remand for 48 hours.
She, however, held that the defendant should be admitted to bail in the sum of N1 million, with two sureties in like sum, at the end of the 48-hour remand, stating that one of the sureties must be a landlord within the jurisdiction of the court.
She adjourned the case to May 22, 2023, for mention and directed the prosecutor to duplicate the case file and forward a copy to the state director of public prosecutions for advice.
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We didn’t parade Seun —Police
Meanwhile the Police faulted insinuation by Seun’s defense counsel that he (Seun) was paraded, urging him to desist from engaging in media trial and allow the judicial process take its full course.
In a statement by Head of Chambers for the Nigeria Police, DCP Simon Lough, SAN, said: “Seun Kuti was not paraded as erroneously alleged by his lawyers. It was his photograph, fingerprints, name and address that were taken as provided for in the law.
“It has become imperative to correct some misrepresentations being circulated on social media solely to garner sympathy from the public and to divert attention from the fact in issue.
“First of all, there is no law that prohibits the use of handcuffs to restrain a suspect, especially a suspect that has shown tendency of violence like Seun Kuti that has already shown acts of violence by attacking and slapping a police officer in uniform and even threatening his wife in the process.
“Secondly, section 10(4) of Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State allows the taking of photographs of suspects arrested for identification and record purpose.
“The Nigeria Police equally appeals to the defence team of Seun Kuti to desist from engaging in media trial/defence of their client and allow the judicial process take its full course.
Seun’s lawyer faults Police media trial
But reacting to claims by Mr Lough, the defence team of Kuti, Mr Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika, SAN, urged the Magistrate Court to send the case file to the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecution “for legal evaluation and possible charge and prosecution before a court of law.”
Olumide-Fusika, in a statement, faulted the continued remand of the embattled singer.
He said: “My attention has been drawn to a tweeted public statement ascribed to you, which, inter alia, appeals to the defence team of Mr Seun Kuti to desist from engaging in media trial/defence of their client and allow the judicial process take its course.
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“You are of course aware of the names and identities of those to whom your advice was directed. That being the case, you should have honoured your own advice against “media trial/defence” by reaching out to them otherwise than through a tweet to the whole world.
Your predilection is, however, understandable and forgiven considering that you are first and foremost a Deputy Commissioner of Police and therefore bound to obey the last order of your superiors in the Nigeria Police Force.
“Otherwise, as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, the unethical implication of your exertion and conduct in court would not have been lost on you. To your knowledge, the bail granted to Mr Kuti at the court session of Tuesday, May 16, 2023, was not on the application of the Police or its legal team. It was on the oral application and at the instance of Mr Kuti’s legal team, having chanced upon the ex-parte attempt of the Police to keep Mr Kuti under Police detention for twenty-one more days as from said May 16 2023.
“It should, therefore, have occurred to you that any application to vary the bail terms, including the term that his release on bail shall be effective after 48 hours from that date (which was what you went to court today to make and obtain) cannot be ex parte but on notice to Mr Kuti’s Defence team. In your elevated position as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, you ought not to be caught in any scheme having the potential of making a mockery of the rule of law and exposing the Court administration of Justice to ridicule. Mr Kuti will say no more on this for now.
“Well, now that Mr Kuti has been put in manacles and taken on parade from one police station to another and from one location to the other across Lagos State since Monday, May 15, 2023, when exactly is he going to be charged for, as you put it in your statement, “attacking and slapping a police officer in uniform?”
“Mr. Seun Kuti is patiently waiting to be charged to court for the alleged offence so that he can offer his defence. That should not be too much for a suspect to expect. I do hope that you will use your position as a lawyer, and indeed a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, counselling the Police in this matter, to obey the order of the Magistrate Court to send the case file to the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecution for legal evaluation and possible charge and prosecution before a court of law.”
Court extends Seun Kuti’s detention by 4 days as police deny parading him
metro
Man stabs friend over woman in FCT council

Man stabs friend over woman in FCT council
A 27-year -old man, Rabiu Suleiman, has reportedly stabbed and inflicted serious injuries on his friend, Yunusa Muazu, during a fight over a woman at Tipper garage area of Gwagwalada in Gwagwalada Area Council of the FCT.
A resident of the area, who simply gave his name as Sanusi, said the incident occurred on Tuesday night after a fight broke out at a viewing centre at Unguwar Dodo area of the town.
He said Suleiman had accused his friend, Muazu of dating his friend, Jamila Yakubu, who he intends to marry.
He said trouble started when Jamila left Suleiman’s house on Tuesday around 8:34 pm, only for him to meet her with his friend, Muazu, discussing at a viewing centre, where he had gone to watch football.
He said Suleiman, upon sighting his woman with his friend, angrily walked straight to them and slapped him, a situation, which resulted in a fight between them.
He said in the process, Suleiman allegedly pulled out a knife and stabbed his friend in the back, which attracted the attention of people at the viewing centre.
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According to him, some people at the centre, who tried to separate them, were overpowered, not until when some vigilantes rushed to the scene and arrested Suleiman.
He said his friend, who was lying on the floor in a pool of his blood, was rushed to a nearby hospital.
He said the lady quietly left the scene when the fight broke out.
A member of the vigilante, Salihu Bala, who confirmed the incident, said the suspect had been arrested and handed over to security personnel in the area.
He said the vigilantes were making efforts to trace the woman’s location and arrest her.
He said, “The vigilantes even went to the family house of the girl on Wednesday morning but could not find her but we are still trailing her movement to ensure she is arrested.”
Bala said the injured victim was recuperating at the hospital, alleging that the victim and his friend were into drugs.
The spokeswoman of the FCT police command, SP Josephine Adeh, did not respond to the calls and text messages sent to her on the incident.
Man stabs friend over woman in FCT council
metro
South African court acquits Nigerian pastor of rape after 8 years in jail

South African court acquits Nigerian pastor of rape after 8 years in jail
A High Court in the Eastern Cape division of South Africa has acquitted Timothy Omotoso, a Nigerian televangelist, accused of raping young women in his church.
Omotoso and his two co-defendants were arraigned on a 32-count charge bordering on rape and human trafficking.
News24 reported that Omotoso would be deported to Nigeria immediately after the judgment.
The co-defendants are Lusanda Sulani and Zukiswa Sitho.
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Several young women had accused the pastor of luring them into his home in Umhlanga, a town in South Africa, where he allegedly molested them.
In April 2017, the Nigerian pastor was arrested shortly after he landed at an airport in South Africa.
He is the senior pastor of the Jesus Dominion International based in Durban, South Africa. He is also the founder of Tim Omotoso Global Outreach and Ancient of Day Broadcasting Network
According to News24, Irma Schoeman, the trial judge, yesterday, ruled that the state prosecutor did not prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.
The Nigerian pastor had been in South African prison since his arrest in 2017.
South African court acquits Nigerian pastor of rape after 8 years in jail
metro
Man jailed 3 months for non-declaration of $30,000 at airport

Man jailed 3 months for non-declaration of $30,000 at airport
Justice Deinde I. Dipeolu of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, yesterday, convicted and sentenced Okunfulure Olusola Steve to three Months imprisonment for money laundering.
Head, Media and Publicity, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Dele Oyewale, said, the convict was arrested on March 28, 2025, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, by operatives of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), for false currency declaration to the tune of $30,0000.
The NCS had, on Friday, March 28, 2025, handed him over to the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the EFCC,Ikoyi, Lagos, for further investigations.
Consequently, he was arraigned yesterday on one-count charge bordering on money laundering.
The count reads: “That you, Okunfulure Olusola Steve, on the 28th day of March, 2025, in Lagos, within the Jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, failed to make a declaration of the sum of $20,000 to the Nigerian Customs Service at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, and thereby committed an offence Contrary to and Punishable under Section 3(5) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.”
The defendant pleaded “guilty” to the charge when it was read to him.
Following his guilty plea, prosecution counsel, C.C. Okezie called on Felicia Paul, an operative of the EFCC, to review the facts of the case.
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Paul, while giving details of how she knew the defendant, told the court that the NCS handed him over to the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the EFCC on Friday, March 28, 2025.
Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Paul also told the court that the defendant was arrested with the sum of $30,000, which he failed to declare. She further told the court that “ his statement was recorded under caution and was served with the bail conditions.”
Thereafter, she identified the defendant’s statement, the handing-over note from the NCS, the arresting officer’s statement as well as the sum of $30,000 to the EFCC.
Okozie ,then sought to tender, in evidence, the documents.
Justice Dipeolu admitted and marked them as exhibits 1,2,3 and 4 and held that: “ I have read the exhibits, the statement of the defendant, and I found him guilty. He is accordingly convicted as charged.”
Okezie thereafter, prayed that the undeclared sum of $20,000 be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria and that the defendant be jailed.
Defence counsel, Joel Ogundere, while addressing the court, said that the defendant,“is a first-time offender and is not aware of the disclosure policy . He is a family man and has responsibilities. His bank account shows the legitimacy of the funds.”
He also prayed the court to, “ magnanimously waive any prison sentence”, adding that the convict would not mind forfeiting the sum of money or pay a fine.
Justice Dipeolu convicted and sentenced the defendant to three months imprisonment, with effect from the date of his arrest on March 28,2025. The Judge also ordered that the money be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Steve, a departing passenger on Delta Airline to Atlanta, United States, had declared that he was not in possession of any money in foreign currency but in Naira, while being profiled at the Currency Declaration Desk.
However, the sum of $30,000 undeclared was found on him during a search conducted by operatives of the NCS.
He was subsequently handed over to the Lagos Zonal Directorate 2 of the EFCC for further investigations, a development that led to his arraignment and conviction.
Man jailed 3 months for non-declaration of $30,000 at airport
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