MALAMI: RIVERS, NOT FED GOVT, DEFAULTS IN FUNDING NDDC-THE NATION PG.7
The Federal Government has described as false, Rivers State Government’s claim that it was defaulting in its statutory contribution for the funding of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).Rather, the Federal Government said it was Rivers that had consistently failed in making its contributions to the common pool for the operations of the 22-.year-old intervention agency. To buttress its claim, the government pointed out that Rivers State has been receiving 100 per cent of its share of the Ecological Fund without surrendering 50 per cent of it as its own contribution for funding the NDDC.The government also accused Rivers State of arm twisting the NDDC by demanding from it the sum of N50billion as tax liabilities.
ALLEGED FRAUD: DEFENDANTS ACCUSE POLICE OF PERSECUTION – THE SUN PG.4,
The two defendants, Ezekwere Don, and Mrs. Mopelola Domingos, arraigned before the Tinubu Magistrate’s Court, Lagos, for alleged N75 million fraud have accused the police at the Zone 2 Command, Onikan, Lagos, of being economical with the truth in order to protect one Al Maroof.They alleged that the two-count charge against them was fabricated by the police, adding that the police were expected to be neutral and professional in carrying out their duties. Don and Domingo, whose counsel, Bolanle Olugbani, presented their case, were arraigned before the court for allegedly obtaining the sum of N75 million from a complainant, Ifeoma Obi, under the pretence of selling five plots of land to her. According to the charge, the defendants allegedly collected the money from the complainant with a promise to sell five plots of land to her in Ibeju-Lekki since July 2017, but the defendants failed to provide the land for the complainant to date and instead converted the money to their use.
NDLEA INTERCEPTS 1.5M TRAMADOL TABLETS EN ROUTE KEBBI, KANO AT LAGOS AIRPORT, SEAPORT – THE SUN PG.4, DAILY TRUST PG.16, THE PUNCH PG.5, THE NATION PG.4, THIS DAY PG.8
The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has intercepted about one million, five hundred thousand tablets and capsules of pharmaceutical opioids such as Tramadol, Exol-5 and Diazepam in Edo State. The banned substances were loaded in Onitsha, Anambra State, heading to Yauri, Kebbi State. This is even as a total of 425,000 Diazepam tablets were recovered at Segemu, Kano. In addition, a total of N1,413,344 was seized along with firearms and ammunition from a suspected bandit and a drug kingpin in Plateau State, while over 137.754 kilogrammes of assorted illicit drugs were recovered during interdiction operations across seven states in the past week. A statement by the director of media and advocacy, Mr. Femi Babafemi, said operatives of the agency in Edo, acting on credible intelligence, intercepted a trailer from Onitsha going to Yauri on January 14.
I WANT TO MENTOR AJAH HAWKER GIVING MONEY TO INMATES IN TRAFFIC – OBI CUBANA – THE PUNCH PG.8
A socialite, Obi Iyiegbu, popularly known as Obi Cubana, who chairs the Cubana Group, on Saturday, promised to mentor a young hawker, Ekuma Jeremiah, who was caught on camera in the Ajah area of Lagos last week giving money to persons being transported to prison in a Nigerian Correctional Service van. Cubana disclosed his intention in an Instagram live interview with a broadcaster and radio talk show host, Ifedayo Olarinde, popularly known as Daddy Freeze. He promised to sponsor the boy’s tertiary education in any institution of his choice and also establish him.
ABIA CJ FREES 14 INMATES – THE PUNCH PG.9
Fourteen inmates of the Nigeria Correctional Centre, Afara Umuahia, have regained their freedom. The Abia State Chief Judge, Justice Onuoha Ogwe, ordered the release of the inmates at the state High Court Complex, Umuahia, over the weekend. Justice Ogwe advised the beneficiaries to turn a new leaf and contribute positively to the society, instead of constituting nuisance. In separate interviews after their release, some of the inmates, including Anyanwu Daniel and Ifeanyi Ukpo, identified impatience and exuberance as some of the factors contributing to crimes. They advised Nigerian youths to distance themselves from acts capable of implicating them.
NNAMDI KANU: SOUTH-EAST GOVS, IGBO LEADERS TO MEET BUHARI, INSIST ON POLITICAL SOLUTION – THE PUNCH PG.18
The South-East Governors Forum, leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Igbo leaders of thought will meet the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.), within the first quarter of the year over Biafra agitation and detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, The PUNCH learnt on Sunday. It was further gathered that the reports of five committees set up by the South East governors and Ohanaeze Ndigbo after a presidential delegation to the South East in June 11, 2021 following agitation for self-determination in the region would be presented and discussed with the President.
BUHARI RENEWS CRACKDOWN ON BANDITS’ ORDER TO MILITARY – THE NATION PG.16
President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered a military crackdown on bandits terrorising communities in Niger State, his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity Garba Shehu said in a statement yesterday. Shehu said the directive to launch a major military campaign in the North central state was handed over to the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) by the President. The President’s order came barely two weeks after the Federal Government published the court order classifying bandits, kidnappers and others as terrorists into a Gazette. It also came on a day that gunmen killed three and abducted 28 people in Farin-Shinge, Kulho, Jigawa, Dogo Fadama communities of Mashegu local government areas of Niger State.
N’DELTA COMMUNITIES DRAG NATIONAL ASSEMBLY TO COURT OVER OWNERSHIP OF NIGERIA’S CRUDE OIL – THIS DAY PG.8
Some monarchs and civil society groups in the Niger Delta have dragged the National Assembly to the Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking a restraining order in the continued use of the 1999 constitution in the operations and exploration of the crude oil in the region. The monarchs and civil society groups who alleged rights violations, urged the Federal High Court to direct and mandate the use of 1963 constitution in the adjudication and operations of crude oil in the oil rich Niger Delta area. The suit which filed on January 10, 2022, by the Peoples Confederal Constituents Assembly Of Nigeria (PECCAN) before the Federal High Court, Abuja with Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/18/2022 and a motion restraining the defendants – President of the National Assembly, Clerk of the National Assembly and the Chairman Senate Committee on Constitution Amendment, from further engaging and using amendment of the 1999 constitution in the present democratic setting.
ACJMC COMMENCES FREE LEGAL SERVICES FOR POLICE DETAINEES – THIS DAY PG.58
With the formal launch of the Police Duty Solicitors Scheme (PDSS), succour may have come the way of many indigent citizens, who spend days languishing in police detention cells due to their inability to afford the services of legal practitioners. The launch by the Administration of Criminal Justice Monitoring Committee (ACJMC), over the weekend, was aimed at ensuring an effective justice system in the country.
