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Ex-Govs Dariye, Nyame, Gen Olanrewaju, 156 other prisoners granted state pardon
Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame, two former governors of Plateau and Taraba states, respectively, convicted for corruption, have been pardoned on health and age grounds even though they have several years to complete their jail terms.
The National Council of State granted state pardon to the two ex-governors and 157 prisoners at its meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa in Abuja on Thursday.
Among the beneficiaries are a former military general and minister under the Sani Abacha regime, Tajudeen Olanrewaju, an army lieutenant colonel, Akiyode, who was an aide of former deputy to General Abacha, Oladipo Diya; and all the junior officers jailed over the 1990 abortive Gideon Orkar coup.
Nyame, 66, was governor of Taraba State from 1999 to 2007, and was serving a 12-year jail term at the Kuje prison for misappropriation of funds while he was in office. The Supreme Court upheld his conviction in February 2020.
Dariye, 64, who governed Plateau between 1999 and 2007, was jailed for stealing N2 billion of public funds during his time as Plateau State governor between 1999 and 2007.
The former governor, elected as senator representing Plateau Central in the Senate in 2015, was sentenced in June 2018 but still completed his tenure from jail in June 2019.
In 2021, he led a partly successful appeal at the Supreme Court with a five-man panel of the court headed by Mary Odili, quashing his conviction in respect of criminal misappropriation in a unanimous decision.
The offences he was discharged of only attracted two years’ imprisonment and, so had no impact on his overall number of years of imprisonment.
The apex upheld the ex-governor’s conviction in respect of criminal breach of trust, which attracted a 10-year jail term.
Adebukola Banjoko of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, had on June 12, 2018, convicted Dariye and originally sentenced him to 14 years imprisonment on charges of criminal breach of trust and two years jail term for criminal misappropriation.
But following his appeal against the judgment, the Court of Appeal in Abuja on November 16, 2018, commuted the 14-year jail term to 10.
While the Court of Appeal affirmed his conviction, it held that Section 416 (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, prohibited the imposition of a maximum sentence on a first offender, such as the convict.
The former governor had appealed to the Supreme Court.
Ejembi Emo, a member of the apex court’s panel noted that Dariye’s appeal “succeeded in part” after quashing his conviction in respect of charges of criminal misappropriation.
The meeting of the Council of State was attended by former presidents and military heads of state, except former President Olusegun Obasanjo who is in the United States on medical vacation.
The Nigerian Council of State is an organ of the Nigerian Government as stipulated by Third Schedule Part 1B of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
News
Place arms embargo on Nigeria, IPOB tells Italy
Place arms embargo on Nigeria, IPOB tells Italy
The separatist group, IPOB, has called upon the Italian government to halt the sale of air force jets to Nigeria due to ongoing human rights violations against indigenous people and communities in the country
IPOB’s Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, emphasized the need for all civilized nations to refrain from further supplying military hardware and software to Nigeria.
Powerful said, “The Nigerian government has created the terrorist groups that they are pretending to have been fighting in order to displace indigenous nations and allow individuals in power to loot the country’s funds.
“Therefore, we appeal to the Italian government to stop the military aircraft purchase deal they entered into with the Nigerian government.
“We also ask other countries considering selling arms to Nigeria to stop because Nigeria is not using the arms for their intended purposes.”
He stated that “IPOB has no intention to interfere with the Italian Government’s business but wants to inform them that the Nigeria military has not used the previously acquired arms and ammunition including fighter jets to fight terrorists who operate in the open in Northern Nigeria but have targeted innocent and peaceful people”.
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“Unarmed IPOB members have also been the victims of Nigerian military’s brutality,” Powerful said. “Some of the Internally Displaced People’s (IDP) Camps in Nigeria have been intentionally bombed by the Nigeria military to prevent the displaced persons from returning to their communities already ceded to the terrorists as their own.”
He said, “Recently, an Okuama Community in Delta State, Nigeria, was invaded, bombed, and the entire community displaced by the Nigerian military. The Nigerian government and her military are known for human rights violations and genocide against her civilians.”
The IPOB spokesperson further stated: “In 2021, the Nigerian Air Force bought “12” A-29 Super Tucano Jets from the United States of America to fight terrorism in Nigeria.
“After the delivery of those fighter jets, they were deployed in the Eastern region of the country and were used in bombing of Igbo villages and their people mostly in Orlu Local Government Area of Imo State.
“From the day the Tucano jets arrived in Nigeria in 2021 till late 2023, they were never used against terrorists but were consistently used in the bombing of innocent people in Imo State in the Eastern part of the country that is Biafra land and also in the bombing of IDP camps in the North who are victims of Boko Haram terrorist attacks.”
IPOB urged the Italian government to “halt the sale of jets to the Nigerian government because their fight against terrorism is a hoax”.
“The Italian government should not fall into the Nigerian government’s deception,” he said.
The Italian government should not fall into the Nigerian government’s deception,” he said.
“Any supply of arms and ammunition to the Nigerian government is a tacit support to human rights abuse and violations. The Italian government and her citizens are civilized and should not support any government that is violating the fundamental human rights of her citizens.
“We are calling on the Italian Prime Minister, Ms. Giorgia Meloni, to place an arms embargo on the Nigerian government for their history of bombing civilian populations and for human rights violations,” he added.
Place arms embargo on Nigeria, IPOB tells Italy
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Netizens mock prophet who prophesied world will end today
Netizens mock prophet who prophesied world will end today
Social media users have reacted to a self-proclaimed preacher named Prophet Metuh, who has declared that the world will come to an end on Thursday, April 25.
According to him, he received a ‘clear message’ from God, indicating that April 25, 2024, marks the final day for humanity.
In a video that has since gone viral on X, Metuh said: “By the 25th of April, the world is going to end. If you like take this seriously, if you don’t like don’t take it seriously.
“But this is real, rapture is coming, on the 25th of April 2024, I saw it very clear, do you understand? I saw the date very clear and the lord ministered to me. He mentioned it twice, it has happened twice.”
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He also chastised social media users who were criticising him for his claim of rapture.
“This is not a joke, this is a reality. Rapture is coming, prepare yourself. The message was very clear and the date is also very clear, 25th of April 2024. Rapture is coming. The world has come to an end and that is just the reality.”
“I have seen a lot of reactions and comments on social media but it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that you have to prepare yourself. The message was very clear, it is not for me to finetune for you to be happy or for you to like it. It is to pass the message as I got it and that is what I have done.
Netizens mock prophet who prophesied world will end today
News
Bullying: Tacha accuses Nigerians of ‘selective outrage’
Bullying: Tacha accuses Nigerians of ‘selective outrage’
Reality star Tacha has tackled Nigerians on what she described as ‘selective outrage’ following the trending internet topic, bullying.
Her criticism followed a video capturing the bullying of a student by her classmates at Lead British International School in Abuja circulated online.
Angered by the outrage that followed the video, Tacha lambasted Nigerians for being hypocrites.
On her platform X, she uploaded a video where she criticized social media users, emphasizing that many of those advocating for justice in the prominent bullying incident were also prone to swift criticism and may have exhibited bullying behaviour during their own secondary school days.
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She said: “This thing with Nigerians and selective outrage is something that I would never understand. All of a sudden everyone is acting brand new screaming ‘justice for…’ since yesterday and today, as if you guys were not bullies back in secondary school. Or as if you guys did not watch your friend bully junior students for doing absolutely nothing or seizing their food.
“You people wake up and bully celebrities unprovoked and insult them and nobody says anything. Is that not bullying? Are you not bullies yourselves? Justice for you! Justice for Tacha too that you people would insult unprovoked. Even if the person that they are owing over a million naira, no outrage because it’s someone that you don’t like. Hypocrites! Don’t come and be disturbing this timeline with justice for…’”
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