₦airaland Forum

Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday granted N10 million in damages to controversial Nigerian senator, Dino Melaye, over a lawsuit filed by the senator against the Inspector General of Police. Mr. Melaye had filed the lawsuit in 2014 after the police stopped him from protesting against former Aviation minister, Stella Oduah, who had just been exposed by SaharaReporters for a scam in which she authorized the purchase of two overpriced bulletproof BMW cars for her personal use.


Police had manhandled and briefly detained Mr. Melaye as he led a group of protesters against the former minister, who is now a senator representing Anambra State. The police had justified their actions on the grounds that Mr. Melaye and fellow protesters had not obtained permission to stage their protest.

Justice Kolawole ruled that the police had violated Mr. Melaye’s rights, and awarded N10 million in damages to the senator.

However, in a parting shot, the judge mocked Mr. Melaye as a “self-styled” anti-corruption activist. He said he awarded the cost to the plaintiff because Nigerians have a right to peaceful protest, but also noted that Mr. Melaye has now become a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The usually loquacious Melaye made little noise about his court victory apparently because he and Ms. Oduah, the target of his aborted demonstration, are now both senators and part of a cabal at the Senate that backs Senate President Bukola Saraki who is facing trials for falsification of his asset declaration as well as money laundering.

Her Excellency Hajiya Maryam Mairo Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, wife of the sokoto state governor and Chairperson MMAWT legacy initiative today visited the remanded facility .

She interacted with the inmates, who were detained in the home due to alleged various offences.
The inmates who are minors were all interviewed by Hajiya Maryam and the honourable Commissioner Ministry for Women Affairs, Hajiya Kulu Abdullahi Sifawa.

Some of the inmates who are being remanded for minor offenses and juvenile delinquency rascality were also hosted for lunch during the visit .

MMAWT legacy team felt it was imperative to give them a sense of belonging by associating with them and it drew a lot of tears from mothers on the visitation .

Hajiya Maryam also donated complete bedding sets to all the inmates, chairs, Prayer mats, and mosquito nets. She also pledged to follow up on their cases individually to enable them go back into the larger society as reformed persons .

So Engaging it was , that the inmates were encouraged as they changed their blessings from the old to the new ones they received , mosquito nets and general sanitation. The inmates who were overjoyed by the visit, promised the wife of the governor to be of good behaviour and pleaded their cases are fast tracked for Acquittal or convictions with the respective authorities and possibly amnesty .

The wife of the governor was received by the facility officials and Directors from the ministry of social welfare .
Those who accompanied and also gave the minors – talks on counseling, trauma , rehabilitation benefits etc were the Commissioner of Women affairs and her team, wives of commissioners of Local Government, health and commerce,representative of APC women elders in the State Haj Laraba Dattijo , top women politicians and other women groups in the State.

Doyin Okupe in a post he made on social media has revealed that he met with ex-president, Olusegun Obasanjo and begged for his forgiveness. The former SSA to Goodluck Jonathan says he planted a kiss on Obasanjo when the elderstatesman accepted his plea.

He wrote;
Last Sunday , in the company of some friends I met with Baba Obasanjo principally to try and settle and resolve the misunderstanding that has existed between Baba and I since I joined the Jonathan's Administration. Vintage Baba, he descended on me heavily and vented his anger copiously.
I prostrated and held his feet as a well trained Yoruba man and pleaded earnestly for his forgiveness, occasionally given short explanations for areas I considered my actions were misunderstood. Also typical of Baba, ever willing to forgive a repentant son, we embraced, I even kissed him as a loving son.Politics sometimes is such a bad business, u hurt your friends and even benefactors, but its all that is well that ends well.

The Benin Electricity distribution company(BEDC) Edo state has been on lockdown since yesterday. No staff was allowed to enter even this morning as protesters from the Network of civil society organisations of Nigeria (NOCSON) blocked the entrance.

The protesters of NOCSON demanded that the electricity tarriff be reduced and the epileptic power supply be tackled. They made a list of other demands..see them in the pics below...

Officials of the Federal inland revenue service on Wednesday closed down the offices of Telecoms company, Glo, in Lagos over their failure to remit N24.3 billion in Value Added Tax (VAT).

This is coming after the company refused to abide by the six-week notice given to them by the FIRS. Officials of the FIRS led by the Director of Enforcement, Emeka Obiagwu, sealed off all the major work stations of Glo such as GloWorld, situated at Adeola Odeku, Globacom Towers, located at Mike Adenuga Close, and the company's service station at 17, Saka Tinubu Street, in Victoria Island, lagos.

The officials clashed with some Glo staff at Mike Adenuga towers, who were annoyed by the order that they should vacate their work premises. It took the intervention of some Top Glo staff who calmed their colleagues down and urged them to obey the FIRS.

Bola Obasanjo has revealed a side of her Ex-President husband, Olusegun Obasanjo, many people don’t know about. While speaking at the Ogun State Third Investors’ Forum recently, she had this to say about her hubby;

“I thank God that I am with Baba. Don’t think that it is because of his money, not at all, he doesn’t joke or mess around with his money. If he says he loves you, you must be hardworking. We nicknamed Baba, wole joko jeun (meaning, enter, sit and eat) because of his busy nature. He is always attending to people. He has an answer to everybody’s problem. At times, in our house, we receive over 100 guests in a single day, and we serve food to them.

You dare not tell OBJ (his nickname) that there is no soup in the house, except you want trouble. When he comes in, rush to the kitchen, even if there is nothing, you have to pretend that you are bringing something. If the kitchen is empty, you have to rush to the garden.”

There was a day someone asked me if we don’t have magazine in the house and I asked what the person needed it for and she explained that she wanted to use it to fan herself in case of power outage. I told her ‘we don’t read maga­zine here, people come here to see OBJ’s face.”

OBJ married Bola in 2009,Four years after the death of former first lady, Stella.

Tuneji balogun, ex-husband of popular musician, Tiwa Savage is truly in big trouble. Tiwa had stated in her interview that Teebillz allegedly owes someone N45 million and has the EFCC on his tail, recent discoveries have shown that it is in fact true. Quoting what Tiwa said in the interview;

"What set off all off these was that he went to borrow 45 million Naira from someone and he lost it. I just found out that EFCC was investigating a case against him, and my brother called me from London and confirmed it that TJ is in deep trouble, and that some people might hurt him, that I should be careful. In my frantic mode to try and suppress this situation I went to one of my big bros who can help."

Investigations carried out by Dumebi Ifeanyi, shows that Teebillz collected the money from a lady called Hajara Mustapha who happens to be a cousin to the last daughter of General Ibrahim Babangida, Halima Babangida.

The poor girl who was apparently ignorant of his ulterior motives, gave N45 million to him on behalf of Etisalat for a gig/show. Immediately he collected the money, he dissapeared. Hajara informed her cousin, Halima and they are threatening to deal seriously with him unless they get the money back. They contacted the EFCC to get him.

This development is what seems to have driven the young man over-board as he tried to commit suicide but was stopped.