Winners and Losers: Court Strikes Out Okada Riders Suit

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FASHOLA

A Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja, has struck out a suit instituted by an association representing commercial motorcyclists in Lagos against the ban of motorcycles, popularly known as ‘okada’ on major highways in the state. It struck out the suit seeking to overturn their ban on Thursday morning. The commercial motorcyclists (Okada riders) had challenged the state’s traffic law banning their operation on federal roads in the state.
Justice Aishat Opesanwo in her judgment held that the Lagos State House Of Assembly has the right to make laws governing roads within the state. She held that from the evidence before her, the Lagos state traffic law did not in anyway prohibit freedom of movement as alleged by okada riders.

Gov. Lamido: My Son Not A Money Launderer

Gov. Sule Lamido

Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa on Thursday in Dutse said that his son was not in anyway involved in money laundering.
He described the arrest of his eldest son, Aminu Lamido, 34, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged money laundering as “false and mischievous”.
Lamido’s son was arrested on Tuesday by operatives of the EFCC at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport with 50, 000 United States Dollars.

20 Babies Delivered At RCCG Congress

Pastor Adeboye

Twenty babies, including a set of twins, have been delivered since the 15th Holy Ghost Congress of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) began on Monday at its Camp Ground along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
The General Overseer of the  church, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, made the announcement at the Redemption Camp on Wednesday night.

Abduction of Okonjo-Iweala’s Mother, Part of a Trend

Police searched Monday for the kidnapped mother of Nigeria’s powerful finance minister, after an abduction that shows no one is out of reach of criminal gangs in the West African nation’s oil-rich southern delta.

Kamene Okonjo, the 83-year-old mother of Nigeria’s Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was kidnapped Sunday afternoon in her hometown of Ogwashi-Uku in Delta State. Okonjo-Iweala, a respected economist, became a finance minister with extensive powers last year. She was also a possible candidate to head the World Bank before losing the position to U.S. nominee Jim Yong Kim.

Does Nigeria Need a New Police Force?

 

By Chukwuma Charles Soludo

Over the last 20 years, every new Inspector General of Police (IG) has launched one special ‘operation’ or the other to signal his zero tolerance to crime. Over the same period, the size of the police force has more than tripled, its budget ballooned, and yet the state of insecurity worsens. Nigeria is ranked the “kidnap-for-ransom capital of the world”, accounting for 25% of global kidnappings. The global peace index ranks Nigeria the 6th most dangerous African country to live in; KPMG ranks Nigeria the most fraudulent country in Africa; while the Economist Intelligence Unit ranks Nigeria the ‘worst place to be born’ in 2013. 

Killing Industry Softly, Steadily

Simon Kolawole Live!: Email: simon.kolawole@thisdaylive.com

A friend visited me during the week. He is a young Nigerian full of hopes and dreams. His parents had wanted him to study Medicine or Pharmacy, but he had always been fascinated with Agriculture, so he put in for Agric Economics without their knowledge. They were angry when they discovered but it was too late. He travelled out of the country for his post-graduate studies. He did so well that the school wanted to employ him. He opted to return to Nigeria to pursue his first love. As a stop-gap, he worked in a bank and earned some good money. But he wanted to set up a poultry processing plant. That was what could make him feel fulfilled. He resigned his appointment and began the journey into… Well, let us hope the story will still end well.

Nigerian Kills Ex-lover in UK over Child’s Religious Faith

Arogundade and Adebiyi

It had started with the blazing fire of new-found lovers. Consumed by their passion, and determined to share love and emotional affinity, neither Esther Arogundade, 32, nor Shola Adebiyi, both Nigerians, cared a hoot about their religious differences. They found love between themselves, and religion was not going to be a barrier. Or so they thought. While Arogundade was a devout Christian, Adebiyi was a committed Muslim.

Between them, they could handle their religious differences. But a third member,  their daughter, soon joined to change their calculation. The faith to be practised by the two-year-old daughter became an issue.   Should she be allowed to be a Muslim like the father or should she, like the mother,  be a Christian? Neither parent accepted to bulge. And that began to generate tension and create rift between the erstwhile lovers.

Japan: 94-year-old Man Eyes Parliament

Ryokichi Kawashima, a 94-year-old parliamentary election candidate, speaks in front of his election campaign poster

When Ryokichi Kawashima burst into a Tokyo city office to register as a candidate in Japan's parliamentary election, the woman behind the counter first froze, then stuttered: "Are you serious?"

He was. Kawashima had just taken 3 million yen ($36,400) from the sum saved for his funeral and at 94, and just three hours before the deadline, he became the oldest contender for Sunday's election to the lower house of parliament.

Police to Lose Power to Prosecute Suspects

Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke

The police will soon forfeit their power to prosecute suspects under a new arrangement being worked out by the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF).

The AGF and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), said at a lecture yesterday in Abuja that in the impending dispensation, his office would assume the power to prosecute any criminal suspect.

Adoke, while delivering a keynote address at a national dialogue on torture, extra-judicial killings and national security, organised by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), also said extra-judicial killings in the country had claimed about 7,195 lives, adding that the situation has contributed to the wave of terrorism in the country today.

IG Orders Arrest of Abductors of Okonjo-Iweala’s Mother

Prof. Kamene Okonjo

A flurry of activities began Monday for the rescue of Prof. Kamene Okonjo, mother of the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who was kidnapped on Sunday by a 10-man gang at the palace of the Obi of Ogwashi-Uku in Delta State.

The Inspector General of Police (IG), Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, ordered the police to spare no efforts in ensuring that not only is Okonjo rescued hale and hearty, her abductors must be arrested to face justice.