November 30 has been fixed for the burial of former Senate President Joseph Wayas, who died three years ago.

Wayas, who served as senate president from October 1, 1979, to December 31, 1983, died on November 30, 2021, at a London hospital after a protracted illness. He was 80 years old.

On July 10, his remains arrived in Nigeria after several controversies that followed the repatriation of his corpse.

Speaking on Thursday at a press briefing in Calabar, the capital of Cross River, Dorn-Cklaimz Enamhe, secretary of the central planning committee for Wayas’ burial, thanked Bassey Otu, governor of the state, and other individuals for repatriating Wayas’ body.

Enamhe noted that the committee, in collaboration with other authorities in Nigeria and the Nigerian High Commission in the United Kingdom (UK), worked together to ascertain the authenticity of the body.

He also appreciated the media for constantly reminding the nation that the body of the former senate president was yet to be buried.

“Unfortunately, the body has been kept this long due to issues and disagreement among members of his family,” he said.

“We had to wait for these issues to be resolved, and as of today, they have been resolved; that is why we are going ahead with the burial.”

Nsa Gil, the chief press secretary to the governor of Cross River, added that the funeral would be held at the UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar and later at the deceased’s hometown in Bassang, Obanliku LGA.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio and many other dignitaries are expected to attend the burial.

A federal high court in Lagos has ordered the final forfeiture of $2.045 million linked to Godwin Emefiele, a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

In a ruling delivered on Friday, Deinde Dipeolu, presiding judge, ordered the permanent forfeiture of the monies, seven choice landed properties and the two share certificates of Queensdorf Global Fund Limited Trust.

The judge held that Emefiele was not able to connect his lawful earnings as a staff of Zenith Bank and the CBN to the acquisition of the properties.

The court held that the former CBN Governor failed to provide documents or links to show that he owned the properties.

On August 15, Akintayo Aluko, a vacation judge, issued an interim order of forfeiture against Emefiele following an application filed by Rotimi Oyedepo, EFCC counsel.

Oyedepo said the forfeited assets were reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities.

The court directed the EFCC to publish the order for any person interested in the funds to explain why it should not be finally forfeited to the federal government.

At the hearing on October 11, the EFCC counsel applied for the final forfeiture of the sum as well as share certificates, which he said were not contested by the interested party.

Emefiele had denied any connection between him and the companies in whose names the properties were purchased. Representatives of the companies had also failed to appear before the court to claim the properties.

In his ruling, the judge held that “the conclusion that can be deduced is that there must be something dark about the acquisition of the properties which Emefiele and the companies does not want to come to light.”

“I therefore order the final forfeiture to the Federal Government of Nigeria of all those properties…which are reasonably suspected to have been acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities,” the judge said.

The companies listed include Amrash Ventures Limited, Modern Hotels Limited, Finebury Properties Limited, Fidelity Express Services Limited, H & Y Business Global Limited and SDEM Erectors Nigeria Limited.

The forfeited properties include two fully detached duplexes of identical structures situated at No. 17b Hakeem Odumosu Street, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos; an undeveloped land, measuring 1919.592sqm with Survey Plan No. DS/LS/340 at Oyinkan Abayomi Drive (Formerly Queens Drive), Ikoyi, Lagos; a bungalow at No. 65a Oyinkan Abayomi Drive, (Formerly Queens Drive), Ikoyi, Lagos and a four-bedroom duplex at 12a Probyn Road, Ikoyi.

Others are an industrial complex under construction on 22 plots of land in Agbor, Delta State; eight units of an undetached apartment on a plot measuring 2457.60sqm at No. 8a Adekunle Lawal Road, Ikoyi, and a duplex together with all its appurtenances on a plot of land measuring 2217.87sqm at 2a Bank Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.

There was chaos at a federal high court in Abuja on Friday after some children who allegedly took part in the #EndBadGovernance protests collapsed while waiting to be arraigned.

The court had fixed Friday for the arraignment of the defendants who are mostly minors.

At the commencement of proceedings, the children who looked ill and malnourished, were asked to come forward to take their plea.

While some huddled in the dock, others stood outside the cubicle due to insufficient space.

However, four of them hurriedly rushed out of the courtroom after they collapsed and writhed in pain.

Obiora Egwuatu, presiding judge, had to rise abruptly before calm returned to the courtroom.

When the court session resumed, the prosecution asked that the names of the four ill children be removed from the charge.

The application was granted and the other defendants were arraigned.

The 76 defendants, who were arrested in Abuja, Kaduna, Gombe, Jos, Katsina, and Kano states, are being accused of treason, among other offences.

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