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Lawyers, Civil Society Demand Release Of Emefiele

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Several legal professionals and civil society organizations have expressed their disapproval of the Department of State Services (DSS) for maintaining the detention of Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

 

They have also criticized the DSS for filing illegal firearms charges against him.

 

The DSS initiated these charges shortly after a Federal High Court in Abuja ruled that Emefiele’s arrest and detention violated his fundamental rights, and ordered for his release within two days.

 

Prominent senior lawyers, interviewed by Vanguard, have condemned Emefiele’s ongoing detention, emphasizing that it disregards the court’s orders. They have demanded his immediate release.

 

One law professor, Sam Erugo, SAN, stated that the firearms charges brought against Emefiele appear to be an attempt to retroactively justify the DSS’s initial arrest.

 

This implies that the DSS lacked a legitimate reason for arresting Mr. Emefiele in the first place, and subsequently resorted to searching for charges to legitimize the arrest.

 

Erugo said “With all the noise since last year about Emefiele’s crimes affecting national security, it is surprising that DSS will detain him for one month without any charge, and had to wait for court orders before coming up with a spurious charge.

 

“The action of the DSS is condemnable as a clear affront to the rule of law, and in breach of Emefiele’s fundamental human rightsguaranteed under the 1999 Constitution, particularly, his right to personal liberty, fair hearing and freedom of movement.

 

“Our adversarial system of criminal justice does not permit arrest without credible evidence of a crime committed by the suspect; mere suspicion is not enough, and of course, it is wrong to arrest and start looking to see what crime could be found or charged.

 

“This is the impression we get of Emefiele’s arrest and detention, and the story about illegal possession of firearm.

 

“At any rate, whatever the crime, the rule of law requires DSS to arraign an accused before a court of competent jurisdiction within hours of arrest; they do not have to, and do not have the right to detain a suspect for days just to file any charge to justify the arrest and detention.

 

“The question we keep asking is, must DSS or other security agencies in Nigeria detain a suspect for long before charging him/ her to the appropriate court where his/her guilt or otherwise will be determined?

 

Former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kunle Edun, shared his perspective on the matter, stating, “I think we should commend the DSS for obeying the order of the Federal High Court, Abuja in charging Emefiele to court.

 

“I see this move as tactical, probably just to buy more time for them to conclude their investigation, which is taking embarrassingly too long for an agency that made serious allegations about eight months ago that Emefiele was involved in the sponsorship of terrorism and other financial crimes.

 

“I expected the DSS to do better than this. Filing a charge of unlawful possession of firearms against Emefiele is disrespect to the intelligence community.

 

Unlawful possession of firearms should not be the kind of case the DSS should be wasting tax payers’ money on.

 

‘I don’t know how the crime of unlawful possession of firearms allegedly committed by Emefiele would constitute a threat to the security of Nigeria that would warrant the DSS to charter a plane to arrest Emefiele in Lagos and fly him to Abuja.

 

“Do they give other Nigerians same executive treatment? It’s high time we started calling on security agencies to account for how they utilize public funds, so they don’t abuse their office.

 

‘’Unlawful possession of firearms is a matter within the competence of the Police or even the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corp, NSCDC.

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NCDMB’s Exec Sec, Ogbe Bags NSE’s Fellowship

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The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Engr. Felix Omatsola Ogbe was on Wednesday inducted into the Fellowship of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE).

Biztellers reports that the investiture was performed by the President/Chair-in-Council of the NSE, Engr. Margaret Aina Oguntala, FNSE at a ceremony in Abuja.

Oguntala congratulated the 63 new inductees and urged them to uphold the values of their new position in their field of engineering. She highlighted that engineers have been at the forefront of driving progress and development across various sectors of the economy, notably in the oil and gas industry.

She particularly lauded the ES of NCDMB for his excellent leadership and expertise through the strategic development of local content and in-country value retention, which is a testament to his brilliance in the field of engineering.

Oguntala also applauded the strategic partnership between the NSE, the NCDMB and other stakeholders in the oil and gas industry.

Similarly, the chairman Board of Fellows/College of Fellows, Engr. Kamila Maliki, FNSE, commended the new inductees for their resilience, dedication, and contribution to the field of engineering.

He added that it was not a small feat to be chosen for the investiture due to the rigorous and thorough nature of the selection process.

The ES later was joined by the Managing Director of Setraco Nigeria Limited, Engr. Ziad Mouannes and Senator Patrick Ndubueze for the unveiling of the very first edition of the 2024 NSE Quarterly Magazine.

Some senior officials of the Board who accompanied the ES to the event included the Director, Monitoring and Evaluation, Abdulmalik Halilu, Director, Project Certification and Authorization, Engr. Abayomi Bamidele, and the General Manager, Corporate Communications and Zonal Coordination, Esueme Dan Kikile, Esq.

Before he was appointed the ES of NCDMB, Engr. Ogbe had nearly 30 years top-level career in the field of engineering in the employment of Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL), before retiring voluntarily to set up his private firm.

His last position at Chevron Nigeria was Construction Services Group Superintendent, and he oversaw 200 personnel, including Nigerian nationals and expatriates.

Other notable positions he held at the company included Offshore Projects Manager, Construction Manager (Lagos, Escravos -Warri), Construction Engineer (San Ramon) in California, United States of America.

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Soldiers Shut Down Banex Plaza After Clash With Traders [Video]

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On Saturday evening, armed soldiers shut down the popular Banex Plaza in the Wuse 2 district of Abuja after a clash between traders and three soldiers over a phone sale dispute.

According to eyewitness Okechukwu Daniel, the incident began on Saturday afternoon when a young military man returned to a phone shop, claiming a phone he bought about a month ago was faulty.

Daniel, also a trader at Banex Plaza, stated that the seller refused to accept the phone back due to the lengthy period that had passed since the sale.

He said “When the phone seller refused to collect the phone back, the young guy threatened him that he will shut down his shop for refusing to collect the phone, and the seller told him to do his worse.

“That was when he got angry and went to one of the barracks close by and brought two soldiers to come and harass the phone seller for him to collect the phone back.

“When the two soldiers got to the phone shop to threaten the seller, he still refused to collect the phone. The soldiers got angry and wanted to use force on him, that was when other traders came to the rescue of the phone seller and beat up the two soldiers.”

Daniel added that after the soldiers were assaulted, they went back to the barracks to gather reinforcements.

When they returned to Banex Plaza to confront the phone seller and other traders, the traders had already fled from their shops.

He added “When over 50 soldiers who were visibly angry got to the plaza, they could not find the traders that beat up their colleagues, so they decided to shut down the plaza by asking everyone to leave. Anyone found around the plaza was asked to do frog jump and other punishment,”

See videos below:

 

 

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EFCC Returns $22k Recovered From Fraudster To FBI

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has confirmed the transfer of $22,000, recovered from a convicted internet fraudster, Hakeem Olanrewaju, to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).

Dele Oyewale, the commission’s spokesperson disclosed on Saturday that the handover took place in Lagos State on Friday.

Acting Director of EFCC Lagos Zonal Command, Michael Wetkas, expressed appreciation for the collaboration and assured of EFCC’s continued efforts in combating financial crimes.

During the event, FBI’s Legal Attaché Charles Smith praised the EFCC for its action.

He said “The EFCC and FBI work collaboratively together, and it is thanks to the EFCC that we can recover funds of this nature, especially from Business email Compromise, BEC.

“This type of crime cripples businesses in the US, and for them to recover the money within one to two years gives hope to the affected companies and brings some level of justice, even if not all subjects have been identified.

“We hope our relationship continues and fosters a more cohesive partnership between the two agencies. If there’s anything the FBI can do to support this investigation, we will do so. We appreciate this on behalf of the FBI and thank the EFCC.”

On August 15, 2023, Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, mandated that the funds retrieved from Olanrewaju, serving a two-year prison term for identity theft and impersonation, be returned to his victim in the US.

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