Appeal Court frees Erastus Akingbola of N47.5billion theft charge

 

PM News reported this:

Ruling on Akingbola's application on jurisdiction, the court presided over by Justice Amina Augie held that the High Court of Lagos State presided over by Justice Lateef Lawal-Akapo lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit filed against him by the commission

Justice Augie said it amounted to miscarriage of justice for the lower court to have dismissed Akingbola's application challenging its jurisdiction on the matter.

 

"The appeal is meritorious and allowed," she declared.
 

"I am convinced that the lower court refused to align itself with the decision of this court in Nwosu's case," she further held.
 

Akingbola and his co-defendant, Bayo Dada, had filed two separate applications challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear the 22-count charge filed against them by the EFCC.
 

But, the lower court, in its ruling on 2 May, 2014 dismissed their applications.
 

Justice Lawal-Akapo had then held that the charges preferred against the defendants were within its competence and jurisdiction to determine.
 

Dissatisfied with the ruling of the high court, Akingbola and Dada approached the Appeal Court, praying that the trial court's decision be set aside.
 

Delievering the judgement, Justice Augie declared that the lower court fell into serious error by not abiding by the decision on Nwosu's case adding, "it is most unfair and is an injustice".
 

According to her, the lower court has no option than to follow the decision of the higher court on Nwosu's case.
 

"The point must be made that the decision of this court in Nwosu's case was based on proof of evidence."
 

The judge noted that all the charges against the defendants arose out of capital market transactions.

"Only federal high court is conferred with the exclusive jurisdiction to try cases of capital market transaction," she stressed.
 

The appellate court held that the lower court owes it a duty to compare and contrast the documents cited by parties.
 

"It is its duty to examine materials brought before him. It is the role of the judge to do justice in adjudicating all the cases brought before him.
 

"One sided justice would amount to injustice and favouring one side.
 

"The proof of evidence was there but the trial judge at the lower court accused the defendants of not furnishing him with the documents.
 

"He has failed in his duty.
"

Justice Augie further held that the appeal filed by the defendants has nothing to do with evidence, noting that the lower court failed to go through argument canvassed before it assumed jurisdiction on the matter.
 

She emphasised that the issue of jurisdiction should not have been toyed with by the lower court.
 

"I agree with the appellant that the lower court ought to have gone through the proof of evidence.
 

"There is no way a charge of stealing can stand without going through the proof of evidence," she declared.

Usher gets punched in the eye at a club

 

 

The singer got into a fight on New Year's eve inside Miami's hotspot E11even and shared a pic of his bloody red eye on his instagram page, captioning it ''You should have seen the other guy". A source told MTO what really happened

''Usher was in VIP with his girlfriend, and some drunk white guy was screaming disrespectful things towards Usher, trying to get his attention. When that didn't work, he started saying nasty things about his [fiancee Grace]. The guy called her ugly. To Usher's credit, he didn't act like a b*tch. He broke through security and started fighting the guy. Usher f*cked him up. It was like a four piece - Usher must be a boxer or something because the punches were very fast. I don't know how Usher's eye got like that because I didn't see White dude even tough Usher.'' The source said.

Nigerians included in the Queen of England's Honours List 2015

The Queen of England released her New Year Honours List of 2015 yesterday November 1st, and honoured a few Nigerians. Among them, Dr Pamela Bernard (pictured left), the recently-appointed director of the Nigerian Community Assocation Bedfordshire CIC. She has been honoured for her work. She received an MBE for services to the African and Caribbean community in Bedford. While Professor Uduak Archibong (pictured right), Professor of Equality at the University of Bradford has also been honoured with an MBE for services to higher education and equality.

Pictures from Genevieve Nnaji's vacation in Jamaica

Nollywood Genevieve Nnaji and a few of her friends hit Ocho Rios Resort & Golf Club in Jamaica for a vacation and celebrated the transition into 2015 while there.

 

 

 

Source: LIB

Child abductor arrested by Police in Abuja

A child abductor identified as Bola Adeshina (pictured above) has been arrested by the Abuja Police command for kidnapping a 5 year boy identified as Ahmed from Sagamu, Ogun state.

 According to Punch, 31 year old Adeshina kidnapped the little boy and was on his way to Kaduna to deliver him when he was arrested at the Utako motor park in Abuja following suspicious movement.

The Commissioner of Police for the FCT, Wilson Inalegwu, while confirming the arrest, said Ahmed has been reunited with his family in Ogun State while Bola will be charged to court accordingly. "The suspect will be arraigned in court as soon as sitting resumes. Meanwhile, the child has been reunited with his parents" he said.

Boko Haram attack travellers, scores dead, others missing

A number of Cameroonian travelling with a bus were ambused and killed by members of Boko Haram yesterday January 1st. Cameroonian investigative journalist Chief Bisong shared the information on twitter.

Cameroonian authorities are said to be recruiting 20,000 military officers as part of measures to prevent further attacks by members of Boko Haram even as information emerged that the sect members are working to enlist young Cameroonians into their group.

A known lawmaker in Cameroon's parliament, Senator Haman Paul told Voice Of America

"There was something that we witnessed in Maroua (in northern Cameroon). People told us that they found people in town that were not actually people they were used to. When we found that one part of the country is in a very delicate situation, it is better to manage prevention instead of consequences,"

Source: LIB 

Floyd Mayweather having a hard time choosing which shoes to wear

 

Boxing Heavyweight champion Floyd Mayweather shows his expensive collection of Louboutins and sunglasses on instagram, asking his followers to help him choose the pair to put on.

Wizkid acquires a Bentley Convertible for the new year

Photo: Daddy Showkey and his family

Veteran Nigerian singer Daddy Showkey posted a new picture of his family on his Instagram page
 

203 soldiers dismissed over alleged mutiny

According to reports,203 soldiers have been dismissed by the Nigerian Army for Allegedly disobeying a direct order from their commanding officer.

Premium Times reports that one of the dismissed soldier attached to the 7th division in Maiduguri Borno state, who spoke on the condition of anonymity said  that after the sect members dislodged their unit in Damboa, Borno state sometime last year,  they (the soldiers) were reconvened in Maiduguri in August to further engage in the fight against boko haram and upon their arrival, they were they were given two weeks pass and that at the expiration of their pass, they were issued new uniforms, boots and handed 30 rounds of bullets each as against the 60 rounds meant to be given to them. He said their commanding chief ordered that they move in a tipper to continue the fight to dislodge the sect members in Damboa but that some of the soldiers argued that serious weapons would be needed in the fierce battle they are expected to embark on as they have being fighting with the sect members and known the type of weapons they use.
  
"So we asked for support weapons. No support weapon was provided. Our CO (Commanding Officer) said he would discuss with the GOC (General Officer Commanding) of the 7 Division at the headquarters. When he came back, he said we should stand down. We thought all was well," our source said.

He said the next day their new CO, Mohammed A, a lieutenant colonel from 195 battalion, Agenebode, ordered them to submit their weapons and uniforms or be charged with mutiny.

"On the morning of 16 of August, after the GOC briefing, our commander started calling our names and he said anyone whose name is called should submit their uniform and weapon. He added that anyone who failed to do that would be charged for mutiny. We were surprised at what was happening. He started from the most senior soldier among us, a warrant officer who had served for almost 30 years. They asked us to go back to the barrack. It is a war zone and our weapons had been taken from us. Staying around was of no use so we left Maiduguri back home."

The next order from the army hierarchy was for the soldiers to report to the 4th Brigade headquarters in Benin where they were detained for three months.

"They kept us in the fenced field at the officers' mess in 4th battalion headquarters. When we first arrived at Benin they took statements from us and took it to Maiduguri. The original charge against us was for deserting but after our statements were taken they changed the charge to disobedient to particular order. They said we disobeyed the CO's order. They seized our phones, we couldn't communicate with our families for the 90 days we were kept in detention," our source said.

After they were released on December 24, they were conveyed to their various units. The soldier said on getting to their units, a court martial was set up at about 11.30 p.m. where they were tried and dismissed. He said the next morning, they were evicted from the barrack with their families.

"It was dismissal without benefits. After 17 years in service. Even people that served for 30 years were dismissed without benefits. We had no legal representation." the source said

The Nigerian military has not reacted to the report.

 

 

Police seek to identify victims of China new year's eve stampede

Worried relatives streamed into hospitals today, desperate for information regarding the missing of loved ones after a stampede during New year celebrations in Shanghai's historic waterfront area killed at least 36 people and injured scores of others.

At one of the hospitals where the injured were being treated, police brought out photos of unidentified victims, causing dozens of waiting relatives to crowed around. Not everyone could see, and a group of women who looked at the picture broke into tears when they recognised one of the dead.

The Shanghai authorities said 47 people had received hospital treatment, including 13 who were seriously injured, after the chaos erupted about half an hour to midnight. A number of injured people were discharged.

The deaths and injuries occurred at Chen Yi Squre in Shanghi's popular riverfront Bund area. The Shanghai government information office said one Taiwanese visitor was among the dead, and two Taiwanese and one Malaysian were among the injured.

The cause of the crush is still being investigated, although some witnesses said it was at least partly triggered when people rushed to pick up coupons that looked like bank notes. However this version of events was disputed by Shanghai police.

The official Xinhua News Agency quoted one witness, Wu Tao, as saying some people had scrambled for coupons that looked like paper money being thrown out of a third-floor window.

However, Shanghai police said that while CCTV footage did show some papers had been thrown from a bar in a building overlooking the bund, which a small number of people picked up, this did not cause the crush. '' This incident happened after the stampede,'' police said in a brief statement.

A salesman in her 20s, who declined to give her name, said she had been celebrating with three friends when the stampede occurred. ''I heard people screaming, someone fell, people shouted, 'Don't rush',''she said. ''There were so many people and I couldn't stand properly.''

One photo from the scene released by Xinhua showed one person performing CPR on a shirtless man while several others lay on the ground nearby, amid debris.

Authorities has shown some concern about crowd control in the days leading up to New year's Eve. They recently cancelled an annual laser light show on the Bund, which last year attracted as many as 300,000 people.

In Beijing, President Xi Jinping has asked the Shanghai government to get to the bottom of the incident as soon as possible and ordered governments across the country to ensure a similar disaster could not happen again, state television said.

AP; Reuters

Monalisa Chinda tweets on domestic abuse, tells women to stand up for themselves

 

Apple now requires cases to protect its devices from 1 meter drops

 

In an effort to ensure better protection of its hand-held devices, Apple has reportedly updated its Made for iPhone (MFi) licensing guidelines for case manufacturers.

The new guidelines require manufacturers to ensure that their cases are able to protect Apple devices from drops up to 1 meter (3.2 feet) onto a hard surface in any orientation. In addition, the Cupertino-based company has also made it mandatory for cases to provide a buffer of at least 1mm between the cover glass and a flat surface, either by covering the display entirely or having the front lip protrude slightly from the glass to keep it from touching the surface.

Lastly, with environmental impact in mind, the tech giant has also restricted manufacturers from using a number of substances, including Formaldehyde, Phthalates, and more, in the construction of cases.

For the uninitiated, the MFi Program allows manufacturers enable iPhones, iPads, and iPods to connect to third-party devices, as well as include a “Made-for-iPhone/iPad/iPod” logo on their packaging.

Twitter user writes about how she was raped & robbed by taxi driver in Lagos

According to LIB, a Twitter user @MadamFunky took to her twitter page early this morning to share a horrible experience she claimed she went through in Lagos in the hands of a taxi driver who robbed and raped her after she boarded his Taxi on a Friday night heading to Festac.

It may not be a true story because she plugged in an advert for Access Uber Taxi...but just in case it's true..it's something we can all learn from. Read her story after the cut...

Please read from bottom to top to understand this better...

Photos: BBA Huddah Monroe exposes her down-side at the club

 

Too bad I couldn't get the uncensored version. Who on earth sits like that knowing what she is wearing????