Appeal court dismisses Melaye’s case against recall

The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal on Friday dismissed an appeal by Kogi West Senator, Dino Melaye, challenging the validity of the process of his recall embarked upon by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

The unanimous judgment of a three-man panel of the appeal court also dismissed the suit which Melaye had filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja to challenge the validity of the recall process.

With the Court of Appeal’s dismissal of the suit, the preconditions earlier given by the Federal High Court in Abuja for INEC to fulfill before continuing the recall had been set aside.

The appeal court’s judgment has therefore paved the way for INEC to continue the recall process which had been stalled since June 23, 2017 when Melaye commenced the suit.

The court ruled that contrary to Melaye’s contention, the 90 days provided by the 1999 Constitution for the recall process to be concluded had not run out but had been paused since July 6, 2017, when Justice Tsoho of the Federal High Court made an order halting the process.

Justice Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court in Abuja, to whom the case was later reassigned, had in his judgment delivered on September 11, 2017,  dismissed Melaye’s suit, but gave a pre-condition for INEC to continue with the recall exercise.

As the pre-condition for the process to continue INEC, ordered the electoral body to serve the senator with the recall petition and the accompanying documents, including the signatures of the about one-half of the constituents calling for his (Melaye’s) recall.

But Melaye had appealed against the Federal High Court’s judgment.

But delivering the lead judgment of the Court of Appeal on Friday, Justice Tunde Awotoye, substantially affirmed the judgment of Justice Dimgba but held that the Federal High Court ought not to have heard the case as the suit did not disclose any cause of action against INEC.

The court also dismissed the allegation of denial of fair hearing leveled against INEC by Melaye.

The court added that the powers of INEC to conduct a recall process was given by the Constitution and such the could not be taken away even by the court.

The court held, “The powers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is a statutory one given by the constitution and not even the court can take away the powers of INEC to conduct a referendum. “

Breaking: Tiwa Savage files for divorce from hubby

Popular Nigerian singer Tiwa Savage has allegedly filed for divorce from her estranged husband Tunji Balogun, a.k.a TeeBillz.

According to media reports, all attempts by the couple to resolve their differences have failed, and Tiwa has decided to formally call it quit, citing ‘unsolvable issues’ as the reason for the decision.

Tiwa-Savage-and-Tee-Billz

However, Tiwa a.k.a ‘Marvin Record First Lady’, is yet to confirm nor deny the divorce issue.

The embattled couple have not been together since their marital crisis in 2016; Teebillz made their marital issues public as he wanted to commit suicide by attempting to jump into the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos.

The duo then engaged in ‘war of words’ on the social media, as Teebillz alleged infidelity, among other accusations, on the part of his estranged wife.

Tiwa, who shares a son with Teebillz, in turn granted a 45 minutes video interview to debunk the accusations.

However, fans and industry watchers had assumed all was now well with the couple when many of their friends, colleagues and family members intervened, urging them to reconcile their differences.

Tee Billz had to testify on social media that all was now well with him, after he went through rehabilitation process in the hand of a seasoned life style coach, Lanre Olusola.

He said: “The way I handle things now is completely different from how I acted in the past.

“I do better now because I know better, and If I had gone through the experience before now, it probably wouldn’t make sense to me until I go through some challenging situations.

“But I thank God that I have been able to overcome all those through the guidance of my coach.”

However, it seems things had taken a different turn as the estranged couple who were said to be resolving issues, have finally given up on each other.

Savage signed a recording contract with Mavin Records in 2012, also signed a management and publishing deal with Roc Nation in June 2016, which she later confirmed via Instagram.

She co-wrote the track “Collard Greens & Cornbread” off Fantasia Barrino’s Grammy-nominated album, Bact to Me.

Savage was featured on Solar Plexus, a compilation album released by Mavin Records.

Her debut studio album, `Once Upon a Time,’ was released on 3 July 2013.

It was supported by the singles “Kele Kele Love’’, “Love Me (3x)”, “Without My Heart”, “Ife Wa Gbona”, “Folarin”, “Olorun Mi” and “Eminado’’.
Savage’s second studio album, `R. E. D’, was released on 19 December 2015.

It produced the singles “My Darlin’”, “African Waist” and “If I Start To Talk”.

She is a recipient of many awards including, MTV Africa Music Award, The Headies Awards, Channel O Music Award, Nigeria Music Video Award, and City Peple Entertainment Awards among others.

NAN

‘Snake girl’ accused of swallowing N36m in JAMB office breaks silence

For the first time after she was accused of turning to a snake through which she swallowed N36m from the vault in the account office of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, in Makurdi, Benue State, 16-year-old Dor, has opened a can of worms.

Philomena Chieshe, a sales clerk in JAMB office, Makurdi shocked the world penultimate weeks ago after she claimed that her housemaid connived with another JAMB staff, Joan Asen, to “spiritually” swallow N36m from the vault in her office.

In her confessional statement while being interrogated by a team of auditors, she said that Joan Asen and her accomplices confessed that they have been stealing the money “spiritually” through a mysterious snake that always sneaked into the office to swallow the money from the vault.

According to her “It was a mystery to me too. I have been saving the money in the bank, but I found it difficult to account for it. So I started saving it in a vault in the office. But each time I open the vault, I will find nothing. I became worried and surprised how the millions of Naira could be disappearing from the vault.

“I began to interrogate everybody in the house and office, and no one could agree on what might have happened to the money. I continued to press until my housemaid confessed. She said that the money disappeared “spiritually”. She said that a “mysterious snake” sneaked into the house and swallowed the money in the vault.”

However, the erstwhile housemaid, who was relieved of her job following the shocking revelation in November 2017, denied ever confessing to have turned to a snake or swallowing any money.

Dor, a native of Angantiv in Obi LGA of Nasarawa State, recalled that her ‘madam’ truly went to Plateau State for a conference last year but she did not follow her.

According to her, few days after returning home from the crusade, hosted by a popular man of God in Jos, her boss (Philomena) asked her to go that she was relocating to Abuja.

“That was towards the end of 2017. I was at home when they went for the crusade. When madam came back from Jos, she asked me to go that they were relocating to Abuja and she would not go with me.

“I came to her house in 2015 July and I did not at any point steal even her one kobo before I left last year. Maybe she was not referring to me, but I am sure she didn’t have any maid before and after me,” Dor, who now resides in Karu area of Nasarawa said when an insider directed us to her new residence.

When this reporter stormed Philomena’s family house in High Level, Makurdi on Saturday to confirm if it was Dor, who actually turned to a snake, a man we met there said she had since relocated.

“Madam Philo no dey live here again,” he said rudely.

Meanwhile, when Fabian O. Okoro, JAMB’s director of Information and Technology, was reached for update Monday morning, he did not reply our text at the time of this report.

Ex-Lagos NURTW boss, Olorunwa, paraded for alleged murder

A former Lagos NURTW boss, Rafiu Olorunwa Akanni, has been paraded by the police on suspicions of murder.

This is coming three weeks after he allegedly hired an assassin to murder one Ganiyu Ayinla, the personal assistant of chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Lagos Island,

The assassin had confessed that Olorunwa hired him to assassinate Lawal for N1.5 million and was given N500,000 as advance payment.

Opratives of the Inspector-General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team (IRT) on Thursday  arrested Olorunwa alongside the “most notorious assassin in the South-West,” Adeola Williams aka Ade Lawyer (39).

The alleged assassin, Ade Lawyer, was said to have been on police ‘Wanted List’ for five years. According to police, Ade Lawyer allegedly confessed to have assassinated many people in the past, including Hamburger, a union chairman in Oshodi Lagos, Baba Jide Dosumu aka Mados in Ebute Meta Lagos, Salawe in Ajah, Lagos, Ganiyu Asaro and four others at Badore area of Lagos. He said that at the Badore area of Lagos, he sprayed bullets into a car and killed five occupants.

He was alleged to have been arrested along with Olorunwa. Olorunwa was alleged to have hired Ade Lawyer to kill his last victim. The hunt for the men followed the murder of Ganiyu Ayinla aka Piero, Personal Assistant (PA) to Azeez Adekunle Lawal aka Kunle Poly on Lagos Island on January 23.

A police source said: “The suspect, Ade Lawyer, is a native of Isasi village, Ijebu-Ode Local Government Area of Ogun State. The IG, Ibrahim Idris, deployed IRT operatives, led by Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mr. Abba Kyari, to go after the killer. “On February 14, the professional assassin, who had been on the Most Wanted List of the Nigeria Police for over five years, Adeola Williams aka Ade Lawyer, was arrested in his newly rented house in Akure, Ondo State by IRT operatives.”

JAMB: More drama as Yobe, Kogi officials blame Boko Haram, poverty for missing N8m

The last has not been heard of missing funds in the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB.

Days after a staff in Makurdi office claimed that a snake sneaked into the accounts office and swallowed N36 million cash, some other officers have given reasons why they cannot produce funds in their care.

On Thursday, the Yobe State Coordinator of JAMB, Sanusi Atose, blamed the ongoing Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria’s North-East for his inability to account for N613,000 belonging to the board.

JAMB had summoned Atose to Abuja to appear before an administrative panel led by Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede to explain the disappearance of the cash after he received registration scratch cards of that amount.

But in his explanation, the official, claimed an alleged Boko Haram attack in Yobe State left him unable to account for the money.

Premium Times quoted him as claiming that tellers, receipts and invoices were destroyed in the attack, which he said left him with no documentation for the transaction.

Oloyede, however, dismissed his claim as another disingenuous cover-up for fraud.

“Kindly go and pay government money within one week, else you will be in trouble,” the registrar told Mr. Atose.

Also appearing before the panel, Daniel Agbor, who is the Kogi State coordinator of JAMB, said he spent N7 million, which his office could not account for, on assisting other workers in his office, who he said were ravaged by poverty.

He also claimed that some of the cards sent to the state were stolen by unknown persons.

“The state of the state offices is such that we are in poverty and money is there with us,” the coordinator told the panel.

“You need the grace of God in the state offices not to steal money because money is tempting. We borrowed the money and I am not the only one, I will provide the list of everyone involved in the fraud.

“To err is human, to forgive is divine, please don’t take me to the police, please be lenient with me, sir,” he pleaded.

“If you hear that I have given up in the police cell, will you say ‘I am sorry’? My wife just gave birth to our first issue.

“Most of us are on loan, my salary is N175, 000, but when they deduct my loans, my salary remains N90,000, which is not enough for me so I borrowed from the government purse”.

Agbor told the panel that he paid N265,000 into an account allegedly on the instruction of the former registrar of the board.

“I was informed of missing scratch cards, but security personnel, the police and civil defence, invaded the office, retrieved the cards and they paid some money back.

“I informed the former registrar and he directed me to send the money to an account, which I did. I later learnt the money was transferred to the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence. So that one was not calculated at all,” he said.

But the panel told him that he was in trouble.

“I will give you one week from today as we speak,” Oloyede told the coordinator.

“I want to see you pay everything in your custody, else I will hand you over to the police.

“Deduct the N265, 000 from the N7 million, then give us the account in which the former registrar gave you to send the money to.”

Another JAMB official ‘steals’ N23 million, gives strange defence

Labaran Tanko

A few days after the bizarre report that a snake ‘swallowed’ about N36 million from the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board’s vault in Benue State, another state co-ordinator of the board in Nassarawa state has come up with a rather strange story to back an alleged fraud.

This time, JAMB staffer, Labaran Tanko, said his car got burnt and in the process scratch cards worth N23 million were destroyed in the inferno.

However, not impressed, as in the case of the Benue saga, the board, reacting through its registrar, dismissed Mr. Tanko’s claims.

Few days ago, a JAMB sales clerk, Philomina Chieshe, had told JAMB registrar and his team who conducted fact-finding sessions on alleged fraud at the Board, that she could not account for N36 million she made in previous years before the abolition of scratch cards by the organisation.

In the course of interrogation, Ms. Chieshe confessed that her housemaid ”connived with another JAMB staff, Joan Asen, to “spiritually” steal (through a snake) the money from the vault in the accounts office.

In the case of Mr. Tanko, the board said after a thorough investigation, it discovered that the cards which reportedly burnt alongside Mr. Tanko’s car were used by students in Nassarawa state to register.

It said this was easy to discover through simple checks done by its officials.

Mr. Tanko, who made this confession at a session where suspects of fraud and criminality were interrogated by top officials of the board, including Registrar Ishaq Oloyede, however stood by his claim.

“I thank God that I am alive today,” Mr Tanko told the panel. “I had an accident on July 3rd 2016. I was not the one that packed the cards because I was rushed to the hospital, and they came to pack the burnt scratch cards to the office but it could not be counted. I have the serial numbers of the cards.”

Until Mr. Oloyede’s took over as registrar, JAMB candidates usually purchased scratch cards from JAMB state offices and other designated centres to gain access to the board’s website for either registration or to check their admission status.

However, new reforms introduced by Mr. Oloyede, when he assumed office in 2016, ended the use of scratch cards, replacing it with a more efficient and effective platforms.

The board also gave reasons why Mr. Tanko’s defence was untenable.

“Every (member of ) staff who has scratch cards in their possession must have the serial numbers. We found out that the cards you claimed got burnt were used despite the police report you presented to us and for JAMB, that is N23 million of government money,” the registrar said during the session.

He also said the suspect, just like the lady indicted in Benue, would be handed over to the police once the board concludes its in-house investigations.

“Those that we want to transfer have been transferred to the (board) headquarters until they account for the missing funds. But those we believe are ‘beyond us’ will be handed to the police immediately,” Mr Oloyede said.

In a separate reaction the spokesman of the board, Fabian Benjamin, he outlined steps taken by the board on the matter.

“All the suspects have been suspended by the board. In Tanko’s case, the committee has already written a report which the management have sent to the (Education) ministry. Once it is approved, it will be done,” Mr. Benjamin said.

He also said the board will monitor with careful scrutiny how staff entrusted with sensitive responsibilities handle government funds henceforth.

“The fight against corruption by the board was given a boost by the recent visit by the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu. Given the kind of commendation by Magu and the confidence reposed in the management of the Oloyede-led board, we would have no option than to continue to do more,” Mr Benjamin said.

BREAKING: Gun duel, Benue police shoot down fulani herdsman

The Benue State Command of the Nigeria police says it had engaged some herdsmen in a gun duel in Ayilamo, Logo Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue state and killed one of the herdsmen in the process.

The police said it was also able to recover an AK 47 from the herder with some rounds of ammunition.State Police Commissioner, Fatai Awoseni, who disclosed this while parading some suspects in Makurdi on Tuesday said it was also able to arrest a mole who have been feeding the herders with information that has helped them in the attacks.

Details later…….

Missing N36m: Senator Sani storms JAMB office with anti-snake venom, charmers

There was a little drama at the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB, office on Tuesday as the senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, stormed the board’s office with anti-snake venom and snake charmers to recover a missing N36m allegedly stolen from the board’s vault by a mysterious snake.

Senator Sani storms JAMB office with anti-snake venom, charmers

This is following the recent startling report of a missing N36 million in JAMB vault, purportedly swallowed by a spiritual snake as confessed by an official of JAMB, Philomena Chieshe, who, failing to account for the N36m she made from the sale of JAMB scratch cards, accused her housemaid of conniving with another JAMB official, Joan Asen, to “spiritually” steal the money from the vault in the accounts office through a spiritual snake.

However, while presenting the anti-snake venom and the charmers, Senator Sani said, “The reason for my presence here is in response to the story that a snake swallowed about N36 million. It is my concern that such a huge amount of money is reported to have been swallowed by a snake. I believe the contribution I can make is to bring snake charmers from my constituency to the JAMB office to help them fish out the snake or weed out snakes from their premises.”

“If a snake can actually swallow N36 million, one day, we may wake up in this country to see that a snake has swallowed our foreign reserve or it has swallowed money that was gathered in the TSA.”

JAMB Registrar, Ishaq Oloyede, could not contain his amusement over the development.

Meanwhile, the Public Relations Officer, PRO, of the board, Fabian Benjamin, said the board has heard similar startling and frivolous defence like the one given by Mrs. Chieshe over the missing fund. He however said that the board is dealing with the cases.

According to him, “There was even a case in Nasarawa when a staff claimed that on his way to come and submit the scratch card, he had an accident and the car got burnt with the scratch cards.”

“The cards have numbers and when we checked we found out that those cards were used. There was another staff that said his signature was forged. He agreed that it was his signature but he wasn’t the one that signed and did not collect the scratch cards. We have many issues like that but all of them have been queried, they appeared before the disciplinary committee, they were interrogated. A report has been written. Once that report has been approved, we will be commended for their dismissal and prosecution.”

Strange snake swallows N36 million cash in JAMB office

A mystery snake is said to have sneaked into the accounts office of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, in Makurdi, the Benue State capital and made away with N36 million cash.

Before now, JAMB candidates purchased scratch cards from JAMB state offices and other designated centers, to gain access to the Board’s website for either registration or to check their admission status but the reforms introduced by JAMB registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, recommended an end to the use of scratch cards.

A team of auditors was dispatched to different state offices of JAMB to take inventory of the sold and unsold scratch cards and recover whatever money that might have either been generated or mismanaged during the period of the sale of scratch cards.

On their visit to Makurdi office of JAMB, a sales clerk, Philomina Chieshe, told JAMB registrar and his team that she could not account for N36 million she made in previous years before the abolition of scratch cards.

In the course of interrogation, Philomena confessed that it was her housemaid that connived with another JAMB staff, Joan Asen, to “spiritually” steal the money from the vault in the accounts office.

She said: “I was one of the four sales clerks attached to JAMB office in Makurdi. My responsibility was to sell scratch cards to candidates and not involved in handling the revenues. It was the responsibility of Joan Asen and my other senior colleagues. I only remit money when am done selling the cards.

“Few months ago, there was issue of fraud in the Makurdi office. Auditors were sent from Abuja to carefully flip the record books of the office, to perhaps, ascertain the current state of affairs.

“The state Coordinator, Obilo, was not around when the audit team came. But in the course of the audit, N36 million was discovered to have been missing from the account. An investigation was launched. In the course of the investigation, it was discovered that Joan Asen, who is account staff and a lady outside JAMB have connived to steal the money.”

Philomina in her confessional statement said that Joan Asen and her accomplices confessed that they have been stealing the money “spiritually” through a mysterious snake that always sneak into the office to swallow the money from the vault.

According to her “It was a mystery to me too. I have been saving the money in the bank, but I found it difficult to account for it. So I started saving it in a vault in the office. But each time I open the vault, I will find nothing. I became worried and surprised how the millions of Naira could be disappearing from the vault. I began to interrogate everybody in the house and office, and no one could agree on what might have happened to the money. I continued to press until my housemaid confessed. She said that the money disappeared “spiritually”. She said that a “mysterious snake” sneaked into the house and swallowed the money in the vault.”

Customs Finally Arrests Oscar Okafor Over Importation Of 661 Riffles (Photos)

Nigerian Customs has finally arrested Oscar Okafor, the man that allegedly imported 661 Riffles into the country through Tincan Island Port last year.

See photos

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