₦airaland Forum

Pdizzle: why wil someone kill his wife

Customers of First Bank Limited may find it difficult to carry out some banking transactions from Thursday to Monday due to the decision to shut down the bank’s branches nationwide during the period.

The shutdown, according to the bank, is to enable it upgrade its core banking application from Finacle 7 to Finacle 10, which will ensure easier and faster customer services and experience.

Our correspondent gathered that the decision to shut down operations in order to facilitate the migration to Finacle 10 would affect the bank’s over 700 branches nationwide.

Apart from all the branches being shut, Point of Sale transactions and transaction alerts by Short Message Service will not be possible during the period. In addition, all card services, except Visa prepaid card, will not be available via Quick Teller and the Web.

First Bank said in an explanatory note, “All transactions that will impact on the banking platform e.g. settlements, inter bank (RTGS, NEFT, FIP) inflows, will not be available.”

However, the bank said skeletal services would be available on its ATMs throughout the migration period until 5pm on Sunday, and would be restored at 6am on Monday.

Online banking services, according to the bank, will also be available until 5pm on Sunday and be restored at 6am on Monday, while its mobile money services will be available throughout the migration period.

The bank had notified its customers through SMS and email of the development and apologised for inconveniences that they might suffer as a result of the platform upgrade.

The Group Managing Director, First Bank, Mr. Bisi Onasanya, said in an open letter to the customers, “I write to thank you for your continuous patronage and inform you of our plan to upgrade our core banking application as part of the ongoing transformation of the bank.

“I am particularly excited at the prospect of this milestone as it represents the opportunity to significantly transform our service delivery to you in many respects, while also supporting our plans for the introduction of new and innovative products as we anticipate your every banking need.

“This is a major project and on account of the technical requirements, we regret that there will be some disruptions to our services for about three days, while the upgrade is ongoing.”

Onasanya said only intra-bank transactions would be available on the alternative channels while the upgrade was going on, adding that the clearing of customers’ might also be slightly delayed but that all investments due on any transaction within the period would only be terminated when all services were restored without affecting the value dates or the value of accrued interests on such investments.

However, the decision is causing anxiety among the customers of the bank, who complained that the planned shutdown would further compound the problems they had been coping with lately in accessing the institution’s services.

For instance, customers have been complaining of not being able to draw cash from the bank’s Automated Teller Machines for sometime now, while money transfers to other banks from First Bank branches have been difficult in the last two weeks.

When contacted, the spokesman of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Ugo Okoroafor, said he was not aware of the plans by the bank to close its branches and urged our correspondent to call back to enable him make enquiries.

However, subsequent calls and SMS sent to his mobile telephone line were unanswered as of 9.30pm when this report was put together.

An Abia State High Court has sentenced a banker, Mr. Theophilus Ajakaiye, to death by hanging for killing his wife, Theodora.

The convict allegedly murdered his wife on October 12, 2009 at Azumini Ndoki in the Ukwa Judicial Division of Abia.

The charge read, “The accused person is charged with one-count of murder contrary to Section 319 (1) of the Criminal Code Vol. 11, Cap. 30 Laws of Eastern Nigeria, 1963, applicable in Abia State.”

Until her death, Theodora was an employee of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc.

The legal battle between the deceased’s family and the accused began soon after the alleged killing until the judgment recently.

The Presiding Judge, Justice T.U. Uzokwe, said in his judgment that having heard from the accused person, learned counsel for the accused and the prosecuting counsel, the offence carried a mandatory sentence which is death.

He said the court had no power to reduce the sentence and that being the case, he had no option but to sentence the accused.

The judge said, “Though the accused was not seen killing the deceased, I find that the accumulated circumstantial facts found proved that the accused indeed murdered his wife, Theodora Ajakaiye.

“Suffice it to say that I find the accused guilty as charged and I convict him accordingly.”

The sentence read, “Theophilus Ajakaiye – The sentence of this court upon you is that you be hanged by the neck until you be dead and may the merciful Lord have mercy on your soul.”

In the allocutus, counsel for the accused pleaded for mercy on behalf of his client.

He said, “I thank the court for this well considered judgment. The accused has no criminal record. We plead for mercy. There are two children to the marriage and they have already lost their mother.”

It was learnt that the convict had yet to appeal against the judgment.

The All Progressives Congress has said its governors supported Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State as Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum to disgrace President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party.

The spokesmen for the APC told SUNDAY PUNCH that the merger of major opposition parties was to oppose the interests of the PDP and the President in the NGF election, the way opposition did during the election of the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The National Publicity Secretary of the Congress for Progressive Change, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, said the opposition parties were out to oppose any attempt by Jonathan to act as an authoritarian.

He said, “If you look at the actions of the progressives, you will notice that we have been consistent for quite some time. If you will recall that at the election of the current Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, the PDP had already zoned the position to the South-West, because they had nominated Mulikat Akande-Adeola, who is now the Majority Leader. But because of the cooperation of the lawmakers from the progressive parties, Tambuwal got the position.

“It is exactly the same thing we are witnessing now. With the cooperation of the progressive governors, Amaechi disgraced Jonathan, by winning the NGF election despite the federal might that was against him. Let it be clear to Nigerians that what happened at the NGF election is a dress rehearsal for 2015.”

Fasakin added, “The progressive parties will always do anything that will stop Jonathan from assuming an imperial status. We will continue to oppose Jonathan’s authoritarian tendencies. We supported Amaechi because Jonathan’s intervention in the governors’ forum election was self-serving. As a progressive opposition party, our duty is to oppose that. So, we have no apologises for that.”

When asked if APC was wooing Amaechi and the PDP governors in his faction of the NGF, Fashakin said some of the governors were afraid of openly opposing Jonathan.

“We saw that when the chips were down, some of the governors who were purportedly against Amaechi voted him in the secret ballot. Just wait, there are many more surprises awaiting Jonathan and the PDP,” he said.

Also, the National Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Mr. Lai Mohammed, said the decision to support Amaechi was taken at the APC governors’ forum, not at the party level.

He said, “All ACN governors are in support of Amaechi but the decision was taken at the APC governors’ forum. It was not discussed at the party. You know the APC has its forum and they discuss their affairs as it concerns the merger. Remember they were all in the Maiduguri and Yobe and they hold meetings regularly. So, they decided to vote for Amaechi at the NGF election. Is there anything wrong with that?”

Malam Nuhu Ahmed Ribadu, pioneer chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has just replied President Goodluck Jonathan’s outburst that Ribadu is suffering of ‘ethically challenge’ and series of vindictiveness against Jonathan instead of appreciation.

Ribadu in his reply to Jonathan said that it is Jonathan that is ethically challenged and struggling to redeem his lost morality and integrity.

Ribadu in a statement issued by his office in Abuja described Reuben Abati, Jonathan’s spokesman as fraud presidential spokesman, standing on crooked crutches of rehashed falsehood fabricated by corrupt politicians prosecuted by Ribadu while he was heading EFCC.

The statement said “Reuben Abati’s statement, typical of his increasingly desperate personality, has exposed him as a fraud of a presidential spokesman who does not have the simplest level of media literacy. It is unfortunate that he stands on crooked crutches of rehashed falsehoods fabricated by corrupt politicians prosecuted by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, in his desperate attempt to hold on to his job.

“His conjectured statement is a sad commentary on the type of people we have in the helms of our affairs: even with the resources at his disposal, Abati could not conduct a little research to save himself from embarrassment before he set out barking.

“It is a huge gaffe for Abati to charge Ribadu of ingratitude as the latter has more valid stand to make similar accusation having been betrayed after his selfless service to the nation in the Petroleum Revenue Task Force committee. The question of who is ethically challenged, however, is left for Nigerians to answer.”

Wife of President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, on Friday attributed the success recorded by her husband in the various sectors in the first half of his four-year tenure to the outstanding performance of the women in his cabinet.

Mrs. Jonathan made the observation in a short remark she made at a dinner she organised for women at the Presidential Villa, Abuja in commemoration of this year’s Democracy Day.

“Two days ago, the President read his mid-term report to Nigerians. He and his team have done very well. Women are the powerful people in that cabinet,” she said.

Mrs. Jonathan singled out the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, for her efforts to reposition the nation’s economy and the Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Stella Odua, for giving a facelift to the nation’s airports.

She said female appointees in the present administration have done the womenfolk proud with their brilliant performances.

She said the womenfolk should be held responsible for the success or otherwise of the present administration since women are well represented in the government.

She thanked the President for giving the women the opportunity to prove themselves.

“We thank God for Mr. President for giving women a chance. Since independence, this is the first time women can walk tall and talk where men are talking. So, we thank this administration. We will continue to support this administration and make it succeed,” she said.

On the security challenges being witnessed in parts of the country, Mrs. Jonathan urged women to take the front seat in changing the situation.

She said, “On the issue of security, women are more involved. Soldiers are our children, Boko Haram members are our children, militants are our children.

“It is high time we talked to our children at home to shun evil behaviours and make sure we desist from anything that can bring the country down. We should be proud of our country.

“We should preach peace and be peaceful in our homes, local governments, states and the country. Our watchword should be peace. We should move from door-to-door to preach peace.

“Without peace, there will be no development and we need development. Women are saying enough is enough. We don’t want our children to die again.”

Among dignitaries that attended the dinner were a former First Lady, Hajia Ajoke Murtala Muhammed; wife of the governor of Anambra State, Mrs. Margret Obi; Majority Leader, House of Representatives, Mrs. Mulikat Adeola-Akande; wife of the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mrs. Fatima Tukur; PDP’s National Women Leader, Mrs. Kema Chikwe; business tycoon, Hajia Bola Shagaya; Mrs. Stella Okoli; female members of the Federal Executive Council, female presidential aides, female lawmakers, wives of service chiefs and representatives of different women groups, among others.