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Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, sues the EFCC and Skye Bank Plc to challenge the freezing of four bank accounts containing $15m.

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A Federal High Court in Lagos has fixed December 7, 2016 to hear the N200m fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by wife of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Patience, against the EFCC and Skye Bank Plc to challenge the freezing of four bank accounts containing $15m.

EFCC placed a ‘No Debit Order’ on the 4 accounts opened in the name of companies which were linked to ex-President Jonathan’s aide on Domestic Affairs, Waripamo-Owei Dudafa.

The EFCC froze the four bank accounts on July 7, 2016 in the course of investigating Dudafa for money laundering.

But Patience had sued the EFCC and Skye Bank claiming the ownership of the $15m found in the four bank accounts.
The matter came up for the first time before Justice Babs Kuewumi on Wednesday.

At the hearing, Patience’s lawyer, Mr. Granville Abibo (SAN), applied to discontinue the earlier motion filed by his client for the purpose of amending it.

Justice Kuewumi granted the application and struck out the motion. Abibo then informed the court that he had filed and served a new motion on the defendants.

But the EFCC lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo, said the suit was not ripe for hearing.

Abibo then urged the court to restrain EFCC from tampering with the $15m in the frozen accounts pending the determination of the suit.

After listening to the parties, Justice Kuewumi adjourned till December 7, for the hearing of the case.

Patience is urging the court to compel the EFCC to immediately remove the ‘No Debit Order’ placed on the four bank accounts which are not in her name.

She also wants the court to order Skye Bank to pay her damages of N200m for what she termed the violation of her right to own personal property.

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FCT court discharges, acquits Adoke in OPL 245 trial

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Justice Abubakar Kutigi of the FCT high court has dismissed the charges of fraud, bribery and conspiracy filed against Mohammed Bello Adoke, former attorney-general of the federation, by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Ruling on the “no case” submission made by Adoke, Kutigi said the EFCC failed to prove its charges of fraud, bribery and money laundering and ruled that the defendant has no case to answer.

He discharged and acquitted the former minister on all counts.

The judge said the allegation of illegal tax waivers granted to Shell and Eni was not corroborated by the Federal Inland Revenue (FIRS) or any authority in government.

On the alleged N300 million bribe said to have been given to Adoke by Abubakar, the court ruled that the EFCC did not provide any evidence to prove its case.

Nigeria has now lost virtually all the cases it filed or joined in Italy, the UK and Nigeria.

This is expected to finally bring litigation over the OPL 245 saga to a close.

The EFCC had earlier conceded that it did not have sufficient evidence to oppose the applications by Adoke, who was listed as first defendant, and others — although it insisted that Rasky Gbinigie had a case to answer over the alleged forgery of company documents to remove the name of Mohammed Abacha as a director.

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DHQ declares eight wanted over murder of army personnel in Delta

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The Defence Headquarters has declared eight persons wanted in connection to the killing of army personnel in Okuama community, Delta state.

The 17 army personnel were killed on March 14 during an operation in the community.

DHQ named those declared wanted as Akeywiru Omotegbono, Ekpekpo Arthur, Andaowei Bakrikri, Igoli Ebi, Akata David, Sinclear Oliki, Clement Oghenerukevwe and Reuben Baru.

The names of the deceased soldiers are A.H Ali, D.E Obi, S.D. Ashafa, U. Zakari, , Yahaya Saidu, Danbaba Yahaya, Kabir Bashir, Abdullahi Ibrahim, Bulus Haruna, Sole Opeyemi, Bello Anas, Alhaji Isah, Clement Francis, Abubakar Ali, Adamu Ibrahim, Hamman Peter, and Ibrahim Adamu.

After the killing of the army personnel, President Bola Tinubu and the military high command promised that the perpetrators would be brought to justice.

On Wednesday, the personnel were buried at the military cemetery in Abuja and were posthumously conferred with national honours by President Tinubu.

The president also offered scholarships to children of the late officers.

Speaking during the burial ceremony of the late personnel at the military cemetery in Abuja, Taoreed Lagbaja, chief of army staff (COAS), said it was “highly demoralising” that the soldiers were killed by those they were equipped to protect.

The army chief added that it took over 72 hours of searching to recover the vital organs of some of the deceased soldiers.

He added that the Nigerian Army exercised “a lot of restraint” in the search for missing arms and body parts of the deceased soldiers.

The army chief also said some of the widows of the slain officers are pregnant.

“The Okuama killing has added to the care of the Nigerian Army and, by extension, the Nigerian state, 10 widows, three of whom are four, five, and eight months pregnant, 21 orphans, and many other dependents, which include parents,” Lagbaja said.

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Flights disrupted as protests rock Port Harcourt airport

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Flight have been disrupted at the Port Harcourt International Airport, after the people of Omagwa and Ipo communities in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, barricaded the entrance while protesting lack of power supply and other amenities.

It has grounded operations at the airport and passengers are stranded.

The situation has also caused a gridlock stretching from the Airport Road to adjoining communities.

The protesters, who trooped out as early as 7am on Wednesday, lamented that despite hosting the international airport and suffering from noise pollution daily, they are not paid any form of compensation and there are no good schools in the area.

One of the protesters, who gave his name as Oki, accused the airport authorities of neglect, saying, “We in Omagwa and Ipo don’t have light for over 10 years. We want compensation for the noise pollution coming from the airport every day. We are tired. That is why we are here. ”

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Bodex F. Hungbo, SPMIIM is a multiple award-winning Nigerian Digital Media Practitioner, Digital Strategist, PR consultant, Brand and Event Expert, Tv Presenter, Tier-A Blogger/Influencer, and a top cobbler in Nigeria.

She has widespread experiences across different professions and skills, which includes experiences in; Marketing, Media, Broadcasting, Brand and Event Management, Administration and Management with prior stints at MTN, NAPIMS-NNPC, GLOBAL FLEET OIL AND GAS, LTV, Silverbird and a host of others

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