Two Brothers Get Two Years Jail Term for N12m Fraud

Symbol of justice

A Kano High Court presided over by Justice Yusuf Ubale, Wednesday sentenced Audu Haruna and Sani Haruna, to two years imprisonment each with an option of N100,000 for allegedly conspiring to sell 2,430 bags of red beans belonging  one Murtala Sanusi, and refusing to pay him its value put at about N12 million.

In addition to the sentence, the judge also directed that the two brothers, who have been tenants to the complainant’s father for about 20 years at Layin Alasawa, Kurna in Kano, should compensate Sanusi with the sum of N7,140,000.

The brothers received a total sum of N12 million between 2007 and 2008 from Sanusi in order to purchase 2,500 bags of red beans which they did, and the beans was to be kept in Sanusi’s stores, while others were kept in Malam Halliru stores, who incidentally is a friend of Sanusi’s father at Dawanau Grains Market.

Boyloaf: Kuku Denies Complicity in Aide’s Arrest

Hon. Kingsley Kuku

By Chiemelie Ezeobi

The Chairman, Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Hon. Kingsley Kuku, today denied complicity in the interrogation of former frontline ex-militant, Ebikabowei Victor-Ben, popularly known as Boyloaf and the arrest of his aide by policemen.

Kuku was reacting to last Sunday’s media report fingering him in the arrest of Boyloaf’s aide and the subsequent invitation by the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS).

IMO: Piracy in Nigeria Differs from that of Somalia

Transport Minister, Idris Umar

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has stated that piracy in Nigeria and other parts of the West African sub-region is different from piracy in Somalian coast. Reacting to last weekend’s attack by gunmen on an oil barge in the Niger Delta, which claimed the lives of two soldiers and one crew member, the Head of Maritime Security at IMO, Mr. Chris Trelawny, told Arise News that unlike in West Africa, piracy in Somalia was all about kidnapping for ransom.

According to him, the target of pirates in the West African coast is to steal crude oil or petroleum products, while in Somalia the target is to seize ships and crewmembers for ransom. Asked if the latest attack in the Niger Delta was not an indication that the Gulf of Guinea was becoming the new Somali coast, Trelawny said: “I don’t believe it is. We have seen a number of piracy attacks and armed robberies against ships in West Africa for a number of years. The piracy in West Africa is different from the piracy in Somalia. In Somalia, it is primarily about kidnapping for ransom; it is about seizing the ship; seizing the crew until ransom is paid. In West Africa, it is primarily about theft. In this case, it is about oil theft – theft of hydrocarbons and that is the target.

Three Journalists Detained for Probing Mass Failure in Unity School

Governor Godswil Akpabio

Even with the passage of the Freedom of the Information (FoI) Act in place, three journalists from three national newspapers were Wednesday detained by the police in Akwa Ibom State for attempting to probe alleged mass withdrawal of students from a Unity School in the state, the Federal Science and Technical College, Aka Offot in Uyo, the state capital over rot and falling standard of education in the institution.

The journalists are, Aniefiok Macauley of Daily Independent, Aniefiok Udonquak of BusinessDay and Patrick Odey of Daily Trust, were detained in the office of the Principal of the school, Mrs. T. A. Nweke, for hours before they were released following a directive from superior quarters.

Messi Extends Barca Contract Until 2018

Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi has signed a new Barcelona contract, extending his stay at the club until 2018. The Argentine attacker - who joined the Blaugrana in 2000 - originally had a deal that ended in 2016, though an agreement had been struck in December for the 25-year-old to remain at the Liga giants until 2018, and he put pen to paper on that deal on Thursday, reports Goal.com.

The Camp Nou star will reportedly earn an annual salary of 11 million euros after taxes, and he has a buy-out clause of 250 million euros in his new contract.

Messi has become the third Barca star to extend his stay after Carles Puyol and Xavi, although goalkeeper Victor Valdes had turned down talks in January and revealed he wants his current contract to run its course.

Messi has helped his side to three UEFA Champions League trophies, five La Liga titles and many more pieces of silverware during his time at the Catalan club.

Messi, whose latest extension is his sixth renewal with the Liga leaders, was awarded the Ballon d'Or in January for the fourth consecutive year, beating Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo and teammate Andres Iniesta.

-Culled from GOAL.COM

Nigeria We Hail Thee!

The Verdict By Olusegun Adeniyi. Email, olusegun.adeniyi@thisdaylive.com

On an internet forum where many Nigerians (at home and in the Diaspora) identify themselves more by their ethnic affiliations and where trading abuses, curses and hate-speech has become the usual fare, something dramatic happened last Sunday afternoon. The moment the match between Cote D’Voire and Nigeria ended with the Super Eagles coming out victorious against popular prediction, there was a ‘ceasefire’ with everybody suddenly becoming proud to be Nigerian.

SEGUN ADENIYI; Public Service in Private Interest

The Verdict By Olusegun Adeniyi. Email, olusegun.adeniyi@thisdaylive.com

The Adamu Fika-led Presidential Committee on the review of the reform processes in the nation’s public service last week Monday submitted its report. This is the major highlight: “The Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) fixed and allowed the gross amount for salaries and allowances to rise to N1.126 trillion. Of this, salaries took a mere N94.56 billion, while allowances gulped the whole N1.031.65 trillion..It is certainly not morally defensible from the perspective of social justice or any known moral criterion that such a huge sum of public funds is consumed by an infinitesimal fraction of the people.”

That summation tells a compelling story about our public service which, as the administrative machinery of government, is responsible for implementing policies and therefore principally a vehicle for serving the people. Unfortunately, over the years, our public service has proved incapable of mobilizing scarce resources for the advancement of the common good and while the world is tending towards smaller and more efficient government, what we have in our country today is a behemoth that largely serves its own interest. What that means in effect is that spending over a trillion Naira on just about 18,000 persons who have not shown the requisite capacity at serving the people through the equitable management of the nation’s resources amounts to a gross waste.

OLAWALE OLALEYE; Nigeria in the Eyes of Amanpour

Of all CNN reporters, its chief international correspondent and anchor of Amanpour, a nightly foreign affairs program on CNN International, Christiane Amanpour, probably has about the most impressive following amongst the Nigerian people. The reason is simple: Nigeria is a politically inclined society and often times, Amanpour’s choice topic arouses the interests of its people and this has kept them glued to Amanpour’s nightly show with as much excitement.

A fortnight ago, Amanpour featured President Goodluck Jonathan on her show in an interview that lasted about seven minutes. Jonathan, at the time, was in Davos, Switzerland, for a World Economic Forum (WEF). It was in the course of the interview that the issue of power came up in addition to other topical issues thrown up by Amanpour.

Robbers Abandon AK 47 Rifle after Stealing N2m

Police Headquarters

By Chiemelie Ezeobi

It turned out an easy venture. It was too simple a task that in the excitement that followed, they forgot their weapon—a loaded AK 47 rifle.  It happened in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, where a gang of armed robbers, apparently working on insider information, launched an attack on a politician in whose car was a bag containing  N2 million.

The attack was said to have taken place  at a building construction site at Ekorinim, in the outskirts of Calabar metropolis, last weekend.

The politician, the owner of the building under construction, was said to have parked his car at one end of the site and walked towards where the workers were working. He was said to have even walked further to a slope at one end of the site giving directives to the workers on what to be done and how the job should be done.

FINALLY!! Gov Chime Arrives Abuja

Governor Sullivan Chime

Governor Sullivan Chime of Enugu state has arrived Abuja after several weeks of absence from the country. He arrived the Nnamadi Azikiwe International Airport aboard a British Airways flight Thursday morning. He is presently staying in a Guest House in the federal capital city and is due leave Abuja for Enugu on Friday morning.

Jonathan Celebrates Eagles Aboard Presidential Jet

President Goodluck Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan, aboard the Presidential Jet NAF One on his way to London from Egypt has congratulated the Super Eagles over its 4-1 victory over Mali.

In a tweet Wednesday evening, the Special adviser to the President on Media and Publicity Reuben Abati said the president hailed the team saying: "we are on course, Up Nigeria".

The president, Dr Abati said celebrated the Eagles Victory moments after he left Egypt where he attended the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Mali: Total Nigeria Military Personnel Now 500

Nigerian military personnel

The Defence Headquarters has disclosed that Nigeria has so far deployed about 500 military personnel in the ongoing African led International Support Mission to Mali (AFISMA) with more troops expected to deployed as at when due.

This was disclosed Thursday in a statement signed by the Director of Defence Information (DDI), Col Mohammed Yerima, explaining the state of Nigerian troops in Mali war efforts.

Yerima also disclosed that about 140 Nigeria Police personnel are already on standby to be deployed in support of the military operations.