₦airaland Forum

Officials of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) and the Nigeria police and their counterparts in the neighbouring Benin Republic have dislodged a gang of notorious robbers which used to escape through waterways after operations.


Three members of the gang were arrested while others escaped with bullet wounds.


The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni, who addressed journalists at Seme yesterday, said that Lagosians and Benin Republic nationals living along the water areas should report to the police if they see floating bodies on the water.


It was gathered that the bandits, who battled both country security forces, specialized in robbing and escaping through waterways.


Owoseni said it had been a week of intensive intelligence work, which eventually paid off on Wednesday night with a bloody encounter that forced the gang to flee.


In their quest to run, they abandoned their armored boat, dynamite and close to 3,000 units of ammunition. Owoseni said it was the collaboration between the two countries and agencies that made the arrest of three suspects possible.

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A former Director of Finance and Account of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), Air Commodore Salisu Abdullahi Yushua (rtd), yesterday revealed how the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh (rtd), diverted public fund to purchase properties for himself and his children. Yushua, a Prosecution Witness, told the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja that Badeh bought a N1.1 billion property for himself and N770 million properties for his two sons in Abuja with the money belonging to the Nigerian Air Force. Badeh is being tried over alleged diversion of about N3.9 billion belonging to NAF. The witness told the court that the money was diverted by the former CDS between 2012 and 2014.

In his testimony, Yushua told the court that Badeh instructed him to buy houses for two of his sons in a highbrow area of Abuja. According to him, the former defence chief in-structed him to look for choice property for his first son, Alex Badeh jr., because he wanted him to own a house.

The witness claimed that Badeh bought a house at Wuse 2 at N260 million for his first son, renovated it with N60 million and furnished it with N90 million. He also said that when Badeh’s second son turned down a house worth N340 million, a second house had to be bought for N330 million. “My chief also told me he wanted his second son, Kam, to own a house. The name of the owner of the house is Isiaka Rabiu. “I told him the price of the house was about N340 million.

He directed me to pay. I paid the dollar equivalent of the money to Rabiu. The money was from the normal amount I take to my chief monthly. “When Kam saw the house, he didn’t like it. When my chief saw it, he said we should look for another one.

“One evening, I was sitting in my house. One Hon. Bature called and requested me to see him. He was then living at Kumasi Crescent at Wuse 2. When I saw him, he told me he wanted to sell his house. He was building another house somewhere.

“He requested me to find someone who can buy the house. I told my chief (Badeh) and he said he wouldn’t like Hon. Bature to know that he was the one buying. “I told him we could use Barrister Useni Umar. I told Useni that my chief would like to buy a house, but he wouldn’t want the buyer to know he is the one buying.

“I took Useni to Hon. Bature as an agent. After two days, the barrister told me he had concluded negotiation with Bature and that he had agreed to sell the house for N330 million. “My chief directed that I should pay for the house.

I took the equivalent of N330 million in dollar, which was deducted from his (Badeh’s) own money, and effected the payment. “I collected the title documents for the house and handed them over to my chief,” he added.

Speaking further, the witness told the court that NAF is funded through budgetary allocation under capital, overhead and personal monument subheads and that the amount budgeted and approved for NAF each year varies, but said they receive a little above N4 billion monthly for personal emolument only.

“We usually receive a little above N4 billion monthly for personal emolument, however, our total wage bill as at that time was over N2 billion including salaries and allowances. After salaries and allowances are paid, we usually have a balance of about N1.6 billion or N1.7 billion monthly.

“Out of the amount, the sum of N558 million is usually earmarked for Chief of Air Staff’s control while the balance is disbursed to Commands and directorate unit for priority projects and training,” the witness told the court.

Yushua further stated that the former CDS instructed that the N558 million should be changed into dollar denomination and he, in turn, directed the finance officer to convert it into dollars. He, however, told the court that he had no written instruction because it was verbal instruction.

He further told the court that every month, he and the finance officer take the sum in dollar to Badeh’s residence at Niger Barrack, Abuja. He said in January 2013, Badeh told him that he wanted to buy a house and he made inquiry and got a house in Ogun Street, Maitama, through a friend. According to his evidence, Badeh inspected the house and paid N1.1 billion to purchase it after being satisfied with the property.

“He directed that we should pay for the house after negotiation was completed. He brought the balance to make up N1.1 billion and I gave the money to Barrister Hussein Umar, who sold the house on behalf of the owner,” he added.

According to the witness, when Umar asked in whose name the house document should be prepared, he said it should be prepared in the name of Iyalikan Nig. Ltd, a company, which the commission said Badeh has interest.

The witness further stated that sometime in 2013, Badeh also approached him that he needed a plot and an engineer was brought, who sighted Plot 1386, Oda Crescent, Wuse 2, which was later paid for at the cost of N650 million after being satisfied.

Earlier, the court had refused an application by Badeh seeking to stop further hearing on the 10-count criminal charge the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) preferred against him. Badeh, through his counsel, challenged the jurisdiction of the court to try him on the basis of the charge, which he said was grossly defective.

In his application dated March 15, Badeh argued that the charge did not disclose any offence known to Money Laundering Act, insisting that the charge lacked legal validity. However, counsel to EFCC, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), urged the court to disregard the application, saying it was a deliberate ploy by the defendant to stall the commencement of his trial. Jacobs argued that sections 221 and 396(2) of the ACJA, 2015, provided that any objection challenging jurisdiction of the court or validity of a criminal charge must be considered alongside the substantive case.

He contended that it was late in the day for Badeh to raise the objection since his trial has already commenced. In his ruling, the trial judge, Justice Okon Abang, held that there are laid down procedures for the prosecution of criminal cases under the ACJA. “Having regards to section 396(2) of the ACJA, the application can only be considered alongside the substantive issue and ruling delivered along with judgement on the matter.

“Section 221 of ACJA said objection shall not be entertained during proceeding or trial on the ground that a charge is defective. The court can only entertain and make findings on the application at the end of the proceeding and ruling delivered when the matter is decided.

“Right of the defendant to be heard has been preserved till the end of the proceeding. It would have been a different matter if this is a civil matter or if it was raised before the enactment of the ACJA. As at today, the law has changed. “The application is hereby refused.

The prosecution is hereby directed to call its first witness for the trial to commence now,” the judge held. The court later adjourned to March 23 for continuation of trial. The court had earlier admitted Badeh to bail in the sum of N2 billion with two sureties in the sum of N1 billion each. Badeh is, however, yet to perfect his bail condition.

A 27-year-old man at Ndieke Ndiagu village, Amagu community in Ikwo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, Joseph Anyigor, has been beaten to death for riding his motorcycle recklessly inside a market. Anyigor was the chairman, task force unit of Motorcycle Riders’ Union at Ndiagu Amagu.

Members of the union, who alleged that the man rode his motorcycle recklessly at Afia Igwe Market Square, attacked him which led to his death. Confirming the incident yesterday, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP George Okafor, said that on March 4, Chairman of Ndieke Ndiagu Amagu, Earnest Nwoba, in company with Walter Nwanchor Nwangbo and Godwin Anyigor reported at Ikwo Police Station Anyigor’s death about 4:30p.m.

Okafor said there was a fight between the late Anyigor and his task force members over the way he rode his motorcycle at the market square.

The PPRO, however, said that the police were yet to get the full details of how he rode the motorcycle.

He said: “We are yet to discover what actually transpired that led to the death of the young man. Whatever the situation, it could not have led to beating him to the extent that he died. We are yet to know if they used weapons on him or just fists that really killed him.”

About 56,000 Nigerians currently taken refuge in Cameroon will soon be repatriated to the country, Adamawa State Governor, Muhammadu Jibrilla, yesterday said.

The governor, who disclosed this while hosting the Country Director of International Rescue Committee (IRC), Ms Sarah Ndikumana, in his office, urged the organisation as well as other humanitarian agencies to assist the state in view of the mass scale deportation.

He noted that in view of the unprecedented deportation, his government has started entering into synergy with humanitarian and security agencies to ensure that security as well as welfare of the deportees were taken care of across the various locations where they would be settled.

Meanwhile, the governor noted that in anticipation of the arrival of the deportees, his administration has procured large consignments of food items and other essentials, but added that the efforts of the state government needed to be complimented in view of the unprecedented number of the expected deportees.

“We are used to handling around 10,000 IDPs at the peak of the insurgency, but when you are talking of 56,000 people, you are talking of people about the size of a town and city,” Jibrilla said, explaining that to take charge of such large number of people was a big task.

“We are grateful to President Muhammadu Buhari for the assistance his administration has continued to give us on the issue of IDPs,” added.

Ndikumana, in her response, noted that with the success recorded in the war against insurgency, their focus was being shifted from providing nutrition to the provision of water, sanitation and shelter in the recaptured areas. She said that they were extending their frontiers and activities to 11 Local Government Areas in Borno State in the quest to sustain partnership with other states afflicted by the insurgency in the country.

The Senate made the resolutions after considering a motion, entitled: “Interim Financial and Material Support/Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons Returnees in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States” sponsored by the Senate Leader, Ali Ndume and eight others from Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.

Three more suspects have been arrested in connection with the abduction of three female students of Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary (BMJS), Ikorodu, Lagos State. They were arrested at the weekend in a hotel where they were hiding.

The suspects confessed to the police that they were in charge of cooking, feeding and ensuring that the girls did not escape. The police had earlier arrested three persons, Emmanuel Arigidi, James Henry and Akanji Oluwasegun, bringing the number of suspects in police custody to six.

But four of the suspects were said to be confirmed members of the kidnap gang. The schoolgirls, Timilehin Olosa, Tofunmi Popoolaniyan and Deborah Akinayo, were kidnapped by gunmen while they were reading in one of their classrooms at night.

A police source said: “Three more suspects were arrested at the weekend in their different hotel rooms. We tracked them through the network providers. They confessed that their roles were to cook and feed the abducted girls.

They were also to ensure that the girls did not escape. They told us that they fed the girls with noodles. The suspects also informed us that they had attempted to kidnap students twice from the school, but did not succeed until the third attempt.”

Arigidi, the prime suspect, had earlier revealed that the kidnappers were members of a 12-man gang. When contacted on the phone yesterday, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Dolapo Badmus, said she was in a meeting.

The second round of the presidential election in Benin will feature Lionel Zinsou and Patrice Talon.

The current Prime Minister and the businessman made it to the top of the presidential polls of March 6th, according to the results announced on Sunday, by the Constitutional court.

“From the results, Lionel Alain Louis Zinsou-Derlin scored 858 080, Patrice Guillaume Athanase Talon got 746 528, while Sébastien Germain Ajavon scored 693 084,” announced Théodore Holo, President of the Constitutional court.

About 100 000 votes separate the current Prime Minister and the businessman.

The second round of the election is scheduled for March 20th because none of the candidates obtained the absolute majority, the second round would however decide between the two.

The 2016 presidential election is expected to produce the successor of current president,Boni Yayi, whose mandate ends on April 5th, 2016 after two five-year terms.

Initially planned for February 28th, the country’s presidential election was postponed on March 6th because of delays in the distribution of the 4.7m voters cards.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), had deployed 120 observers and 16 experts across the country, and have also hailed “the absence of major incidents during the electoral process “. This one took place “in acceptable conditions of freedom and transparency,” it said.

The campaign has began and will come to an end on Friday at midnight.

Lionel Zinsou had thanked voters and greeted his challenger saying “both words which are going to matter for this decisive week are the unity and the peace”.

Patrice Talon has also congratulated his opponents adding that he hoped to embody the ideal man for Benin.

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