ALLEGED N338.8M MONEY LAUNDERING: EFFC REOPENS TRIAL OF EX-LAGOS SPEAKER, IKUFORIJI – DAILYSUN PG.5, PUNCH PG.74
The trial of the Former Speaker of Lagos, Adeyemi Ikuforiji has been reopened at the Federal High Court in Lagos with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) calling its first witness. Ikuforiji is standing trial alongside his former Personal Assistant, Oyebode Atoyebi on 54 counts of laundering about N338.8million.
They had both pleaded not guilty at their re-arraignment before Justice Mohammed Liman and were allowed to continue on an earlier bail granted to them in 2012 when they were first arraigned.
COURT DISMISSES SUIT SEEKING TO STOP APPOINTMENT OF 21 JUDGES – PUNCH PG. 74, NATION PG.3
The Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday dismissed a suit opposing the appointment of 21 persons on the list of 33 candidates recommended to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) for appointment as judges of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory. Justice Okon Abang in his judgment held that the plaintiff, Justice Reform Project Foundation, which is a group of lawyers mostly Senior Advocates of Nigeria, lacked locus standi, the legal right, to institute the suit to challenge the process of appointment of the judges. The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), has since picked 11 of the names on the list recommended to him in April by the National Judicial Council, and they have since been sworn in by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad.
S’COURT JUDGES’ APPOINTMENT: LAWYER DROPS SUIT AGAINST BUHARI – PUNCH PG.74
A Lagos-based lawyer, Lawrence Nnoli, says he is withdrawing a suit he filed in July against the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), over the delay in the appointment of more Supreme Court Justices. The lawyer said the suit, which had been scheduled for hearing on October 6 at the Federal High Court in Lagos, would no longer be necessary as the Senate had on Tuesday confirmed the receipt of a letter from Buhari, seeking approval for the appointment of eight Justices to the Supreme Court.
FIVE YEARS AFTER TENURE, EFCC AMENDING SUSWAM’S N3.1BN CHARGES – PUNCH PG.75
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said on Wednesday said it would amend the N3.1bn money laundering case involving a former Benue State governor, Gabriel Suswam. The commission is prosecuting Suswam, who currently represents Benue North-East in the Senate, along with his then Commissioner for Finance, Mr Omodachi Okolobia, on money laundering charges bordering on alleged diversion a total sum of N3,111,008,018.51 belonging to Benue State. EFCC’s counsel, Mr Rotimi Jacob (SAN), on Wednesday urged Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court in Abuja to adjourn the case to enable him to amend the charges.
GUINEA: 50 KILLED DURING PROTESTS LESS THAN A YEAR – AMNESTY INT’L – DAILY TRUST PG. 6
The Amnesty International yesterday said 50 people were killed in a crackdown on protests in Guinea, two weeks to the presidential election there. The organization, in a report titled, ‘Marching to their deaths: Justice for Victims of Crackdown on Demonstrations in Guinea’, said those killed included those against a change in the constitution allowing President Alpha Condé to seek a third term. It alleged that the defence and security were forces responsible for unlawful killings; victims shot and wounded go into hiding for fear of reprisals; and bodies of some killed during protests turned away from public morgues.
