The Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has secured the conviction of a 26-year-old forex trader: Kolawole Temidayo Joshua and two others for offences bordering on internet fraud. The two others are Abdullahi Isiak and one Daniel Roland Orji. The convicts: Joshua, Isiak and Orji were arraigned on Monday, October 10, 2023, on separate charges of one count each before Justice Mahmoud Abdulgafar of the Kwara State High sitting in Ilorin. The charge against Joshua reads: “That you, Kolawole Temidayo Joshua, sometime between April and May 2023 at Ilorin within the Judicial Division of the High Court, did cheat by personation, when you pretended to be one Mia Phillips vide your Google Voice account: denissefranptonphm85@gmail.com and induced one Daniel Murphy a.k.a Wagba Wealth and Danny, to part with gross sum of $400 (Four Hundred US Dollars) through Gift Cards and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 321 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 324 of the Penal Code”. They pleaded guilty to their respective charges, prompting the court to adjourn for judgment. At the resumed hearing on Wednesday, October 11, 2023, EFCC counsel, Muinat Bello and Isabel Adeniran while reviewing the facts of the cases, tendered exhibits including phones, extrajudicial statements and money which they brought as restitutions by the defendants, which were admitted in evidence. Thereafter, they prayed the court to convict and sentence them accordingly. Justice Abdulgafar thereafter convicted and sentenced them. Joshua was sentenced to six months imprisonment with an option of a fine of N500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira only) and ordered that one iPhone 12 and the sum of $200 (Two Hundred United States Dollars) be forfeited to the federal government. The court also sentenced Isiak to six months imprisonment, which is to be suspended and ordered that his iPhone 12 Promax used as an instrument of crime be forfeited to the Federal Government. Equally, Justice Abdulgafar sentenced Orji to six months imprisonment with an option of a fine of N150,000 (One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira only) while his iPhone 6 and the sum of $250 (Two Hundred and Fifty United States Dollars) were forfeited to the Federal Government. The convicts made their way into the Correctional Centre when they were arrested by operatives of the Ilorin Zonal Command of the EFCC for internet-related offences. They were charged to court and convicted.
Security Operatives Seal PDP Secretariat in Ondo State
The secretariat of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was in the early hours of Monday barricaded by security operatives in the state over the move by members of the party to protest the continued absence of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu from the state.
The security agencies comprising the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), the Department of State Services (DSS), and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) arrived at the party secretariat as early as 6:00 am.
The secretariat was cordoned off with barricades of no fewer than 13 patrol vans and one armoured personnel carrier (APC) with stern-looking security operatives mounting the entrance of the secretariat.
The youth wing of the party had vowed to protest the prolonged absence of the governor from the state.
According to the youths who were prevented from accessing the secretariat, there has been a vacuum of leadership in the state without anyone seen piloting its affairs
According to one of the leaders of the youth wing of the party, Tayo Oluyi, the protest was aimed at drawing attention to what they perceived as the governor’s negligence and the resultant negative impact on the state.
Meanwhile, the forceful intervention by the security agencies has sparked outrage among residents of the city, who claim that democratic rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression have been violated.
However, the party alleged Akeredolu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of orchestrating the security forces’ intervention to suppress dissent and prevent their members from airing their grievances.
Pope Seeks an End to The Isreal-Hamas War
Pope Francis, yesterday, waded into the ongoing attacks and violence in Israel and Gaza, saying enough to the killings that had claimed children and women among others.
Francis, who called on the humanitarian corridors to allow the delivery of essentials to the Gaza Strip, which is under heavy Israeli bombardment following a bloody attack by its rulers, Hamas, insisted humanitarian laws must be respected in the midst of the fighting.
Report, however, claimed conditions in Gaza hospitals were so critical that health workers had begun to store bodies in ice cream freezer trucks because moving them to hospitals has become too risky, even as cemeteries were reportedly full.
This was as the Israeli forces were last night readying for a ground invasion of Gaza.
Conversely, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency published comments yesterday by President Mahmoud Abbas, criticising Hamas over its actions but later removed reference to the militant group without any explanations.
Concerns had increased over a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where Israel hasreportedly cut off water, food and power, vowing to maintain the complete siege until all hostages taken by the Palestinian Islamist militant group were freed.
In the eight days since Hamas gunmen killed more than 1,300 Israelis in their attack, Israel has responded with a devastating bombing campaign that hadclaimed over 2,300 lives in Gaza.
But the Pope, who spoke after his traditional Angelus prayer in Rome’s Saint Peter’s Square, said, “Humanitarian law must be respected, especially in Gaza, where it is urgent and necessary to guarantee humanitarian corridors and help the population.
“I strongly urge that children, the sick, the elderly, women and all civilians should not fall victim to the conflict.
“There have already been so many deaths, please let’s not shed any more innocent blood, not in the Holy Land, not in Ukraine, not anywhere else. Enough is enough. War is always a defeat,” he said, castigating “the diabolical force of hatred, terrorism and war.”
Pope Francis also renewed his call “for the release of the hostages” kidnapped by Hamas fighters in southern Israel, and invited “all believers to unite in prayer with the Church in the Holy Land” on Tuesday.
Nnamdi Kanu to Know Fate at Supreme Court on December 15
The Supreme Court has fixed December 15 to deliver judgment on the appeal seeking to compel the Federal Government to release the embattled leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja had in a judgment delivered on October 13, 2022, ordered Kanu’s release.
In a unanimous decision by a three-member panel, the appellate court also quashed the terrorism charges filed against the IPOB leader by the Federal Government.
However, dissatisfied with the judgment, the Federal Government appealed at the Supreme Court.
At the proceedings on Thursday, a five-member panel of the apex court headed by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, fixed the matter for judgment after the parties adopted their final briefs.
While adopting his final brief, Kanu’s lead counsel, Mike Ozehkome (SAN), urged the court to not only order the immediate release of Kanu but to also award a heavy punitive cost against the government.
“We urge My Lords to uphold our cross-appeal and do substantial justice to this matter in favour of the respondent who has been in detention since June 29, 2021, even after the lower court ordered his release. My Lords should also order that he should never be prosecuted again on the same counts.
“They are still holding him unconstitutionally. We pray My Lords to deliver justice and use this case, just like in Ojukwu vs. State, to demonstrate that no man or government should be above the law,” Ozekhome said.
However, FG’s lawyer, Tijani Ghazali (SAN), urged the apex court to set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal which ordered Kanu’s release.
He also prayed for the court to order the resumption of his trial before the Federal High Court in Abuja on terrorism-related charges.