metro
N500m ‘Fraud’: Kano Shari’ah court judges, registrars, others sent to prison
A cashier with the Kano State Sharia Court Division, Hussaina Imam and 14 others, including judges and registrars have been arraigned before a magistrates’ court in the state for allegedly diverting the sum of N500 million meant for orphans.
When the case came up on Wednesday, before Chief Magistrate Mustapha Sa’ad Datti, the defendants were accused of committing an offence bordering on criminal conspiracy, joint act, and criminal breach of trust by public servants, theft and forgery.
The offence is contrary to sections 97, 79, 315 and 289 of Penal Code Law.
According to the first information report (FIR), the defendants, Bashir Ali Kurawa, Saadatu Umar, Tijjani Abdullahi, Maryam Jibrin Garba, Shamsu Sani and Hussaina Imam sometimes in 2020/2021 committed the offence in which Imam reportedly used her official position as the cashier in the Kano State Sharia Court of Appeal and conspired with the aforementioned persons.
She allegedly forged the letterheads of Sharia Court of Appeal, signatures of the two signatories to the Stanbic IBTC Bank account 0020667440 belonging to Kano State Sharia Court of Appeal and stole money to the tune of N484,067,327:07 by fraudulently authorizing the bank to transfer the said amount to various bank accounts without the knowledge and or consent of the authorized body or person.
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In a separate charge, the defendants were arraigned for the alleged offences of criminal conspiracy, joint act, criminal breach of trust by a public servant and theft by a clerk or servant contrary to section 97, 79, 315 and 289 of Penal Code, that on 29th August, 2021.
“An official complaint was received by the Commission from Kano State Ministry of Justice that sometime ago, in the year 2018 to 2021, you Sani Ali Muhammad, Sani Buba Aliyu, Bashir Baffa, Garzali Wada, Hadi Tijjani Mu’azu, Alkasim Abdullahi, Yusuf Abdullahi, Mustapha Bala Ibrahim, Jafar Ahmad, Adamu Balarabe, Aminu Abdulkadir, Abdullahi Suleiman Zango, Garba Yusuf, Bashir Ali Kurawa and you Hussaina Imam, criminally conspired, breached the trust in you as a public servant, acted jointly and create 15 fake civil servants’ death benefit files and fraudulently siphoned funds to the tune of N96,250,000.00 that was remitted by the Kano State Pension Fund Trustee to the bank accounts of Kano State Sharia Court Appeal and stole the said amount through eight Sharia Courts under the Kano State Sharia Court Appeal without the consent and knowledge of the authorizing authority,” the FIR reads.
However, all the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges and the counsel representing them applied for the court to admit the defendants on bail.
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In their submissions separately, Barrister Garzali Datti Ahmad, Sani Yakubu Ibrahim, Mubarak Mai Wada, Bashir Ahmad and Mustapha Hussein urged the court to exercise its jurisdiction judicially and judiciously.
They argued that the application was brought pursuant to sections 35 and 36 of the constitution of tge Federal Republic of Nigeria, (1999 as amended) and sections 168 and 172 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law 2019 of Kano.
In his response to the bail applications by the defense counsel, Barrister Zaharaddeen Kofar Mata urged the court to consider the huge amount involved in the case while granting the bail.
The trial magistrate, Mustapha Sa’ad Datti, adjourned the case to February 1, 2023 for hearing and ordered the remand of all the defendants in a correctional centre.
Speaking to journalists after the proceeding, the Acting chairman, Kano State Public Complaints and Anti-Corruption Commission, Barrister Mahmoud Balarabe, said the Commission during its investigations on the matter had recovered vehicles, jewellery, landed properties and other valuable property, including N8 million from the defendants and would be used as exhibits. Daily Trust
metro
Truck falls from Lagos bridge on two buses
Truck falls from Lagos bridge on two buses
A fully loaded truck, with registration number GGE 624 YJ, fell off the Pen Cinema Bridge in Lagos on Saturday, landing on two commercial buses.
Officers of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority rescued the severely-injured driver of the truck and rushed him to the hospital.
General Manager of LASTMA, Olalekan Bakare-Oki, confirmed this in a statement on Saturday.
The statement was signed by Taofiq Adebayo, Director, Public Affairs and Enlightenment Department, LASTMA.
According to Bakare-Oki, the accident occurred on Old Abeokuta Road, Agege, and involved the truck and two painted commercial Volkswagen buses.
He said that LASTMA officers responded swiftly and successfully extricated the severely-injured driver and immediately entrusted him to officers of the Elere Police Division.
He added that the driver was subsequently conveyed to the General Hospital at Ile-Epo for urgent medical attention.
He said, “Preliminary inquiries suggest that the truck driver, who suffered grievous fractures to both hands, lost control of the vehicle while navigating the Pen Cinema Bridge.
“Consequently, the truck plunged from the bridge, landing on the two commercial buses stationed beneath.”
The LASTMA boss said that in a bid to safeguard other road users and forestall secondary incidents, the authority’s personnel swiftly secured the accident site by cordoning off the area and diverting vehicular traffic.
Bakare-Oki added, “Thereafter, operatives of the Lagos State Emergency Management Authority Response Unit expeditiously cleared the wreckage, thereby restoring unimpeded traffic flow along the axis.”
He advised motorists, particularly truck operators, to exhibit high level of vigilance and circumspection, especially as the rainy season sets in.
He also urged strict compliance with road safety protocols, and that drivers should use the newly-installed speed-limiting devices, a measure deployed to curb accidents and promote collective road safety.
metro
Police recover bodies of father, son after mysterious death
Police recover bodies of father, son after mysterious death
Authorities in Ebonyi State have recovered the remains of a man and his son who were found dead under unclear circumstances in the Ebebe Junction area of Abakaliki.
State Police Command spokesperson, SP Joshua Ukandu, confirmed the evacuation to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday.
Ukandu said the deceased, identified as Mr. Light Nwodor and his son Miracle, were found lifeless, prompting swift action by officers in the area.
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“When I was called by an individual about the incident, I quickly called the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in the area,” he said.”They swung into action and the dead bodies have been evacuated.“The police have launched investigation into the matter.”The command will definitely inform the general public on completion of investigation.“Right now, nobody knows what caused their deaths,” he added.
He also noted that no updates had been received from the DPO regarding any arrests linked to the case.
Initial unconfirmed reports circulating online suggested that the deaths may have resulted from eating food prepared by a woman who is allegedly now at large.
Police recover bodies of father, son after mysterious death
metro
Many missing, one killed in Ebonyi community clash
Many missing, one killed in Ebonyi community clash
One person has been shot dead, two injured and many people missing in Ndiagu Amagu, Ikwo in Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State following a leadership tussle. The deceased, Nwoyika Ugbaloke and Thomas Ngaragu were reportedly attacked by some gunmen, but Ugbaloke couldn’t survive the attack.
Many people are said to be missing in the attack.
It was gathered that trouble started when a faction in the community imposed N40, 000 level on all the adults in Nduche Umuomara in the community, which did not go down well with another faction in the area.
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It was also gathered that the faction that imposed the N40,000 levy on the adults was also selling lands belonging to the faction that opposed the levy.
A son of the deceased, Nwoyika Kingsley Emeka, lamented the killing of his father and called for arrest of his killers. He said the killers were moving freely in the community, sealing people’s farmlands with palm fronds and warning them never to set their feet on the farms until the fines were paid.
He alleged that the perpetrators were being protected by some highly placed persons in the community.
When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Joshua Ukandu said he had not received any report on the incident.
Many missing, one killed in Ebonyi community clash
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