NEWS
Lagos Court Sends Man To Life Imprisonment
Kazeem Adedayo, a man who sexually assaulted an eleven-year-old child, has been given a life sentence by Justice A. Soladoye of the Special Offenses Court in Ikeja, Lagos State.
The defendant was the subject of two exhibits and three prosecution witnesses who testified against him in court.
The victim (name withheld), who was the second prosecution witness, described the incident in detail, claiming that the defendant, whom she identified as Daddy Jamal, stuck his finger in her private area, causing her excruciating pain and causing her to sob.
She claimed that her mother had instructed her and her brother to go get water at some point in January 2018. She spilled part of the water while getting it on her body. Adedayo, their neighbor, approached her as she was attempting to clean up her body and inquired as to what had happened to her chest. She responded that she had been hurt while going to get water.
She claims that after asking her if she had taken care of her private area, Adedayo now put his finger inside it. She declined his request to accompany her into his room after that.
Justice Soladoye said, “During cross-examination, the victim was truthful, unambiguous and maintained that the defendant inserted his finger in her vagina despite the fact that she struggled with him.”
a medical doctor who works with Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, simply identified as Dr Alabi, recalled that he medically examined the victim after receiving a referral letter from the Divisional Police Officer of Akinpelu Police Station, Oshodi, Lagos.
According to him, he noticed that the victim’s private part was reddened and bruised, adding that her hymen was almost obliterated. He said his findings concluded that the victim had suffered repeated penetration, adding that the victim could not have consented to any sexual act with the defendant.
While reading her judgement, Justice Soladoye said the evidence presented by the doctor was truthful, consistent and quite persuasive with no reexamination questions from the defense counsel.
The third prosecuting witness, Investigating Police Officer, Adebayo Eko, who served at Akinpelu Police Station in 2018, told the court that he obtained statements from the victim and the defendant, which were tabled as Exhibit A and B before the court.
While reading her judgement, Justice Soladoye said the defendant “denied assaulting the victim, that he met the victim and other kids playing in a manner that he considered rough. He cautioned them before going into his room with a friend and gave them some of the toys his own children play with. According to him, he was still in his room till evening and only went outside for a party when he noticed that the victim and her siblings were no longer outside.”
She stated that the evidence given by the defendant was only an afterthought to distance himself from being held accountable for his crime. She then rubbished the evidence given by the defendant’s sister whom she described as a tainted witness, saying she served a purpose which was to redeem the image of her brother.
“The defendant having been found guilty as charged for the offense of sexual assault by penetration contrary to Section 261 of the criminal law volume 3 laws of Lagos State 2015, is hereby sentenced to life imprisonment,” the judge said.
The President of the African School of Governance, Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu has admonished state actors against resorting to brutal force in the bid to muscle out separatist agitators.
In the aftermath of Mazi Simon Ekpa, the Finland based Biafran nationalist agitator being caught in legal web and the Nigerian government moving swiftly to seek his repatriation, the former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has cautioned that ‘We either fix our problems, or our problems will eventually “fix” us. No alternative to a renegotiated union.’
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The political economist, while expressing his hope in Nigeria, made it clear that “hope is not a strategy”.
He bared his mind in a series of posts on his verified handle on micro-blogging site, X on Friday.
Moghalu wrote, “Despite sustained contemporary difficulties, I am hopeful about Nigeria. But hope is not a strategy. We need to improve state capacity for effective governance.
“We either fix our problems, or our problems will eventually “fix” us. No alternative to a renegotiated union.
“We must learn to be honest with ourselves and address the root causes of our problems. Why ignore them, when the problem is actually quite solvable? The problem with continuing with this approach is that when the danger crystallizes, those who thought they were benefiting from
Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has criticized the federal government’s plan to secure an additional N1.7 trillion loan through Eurobonds to cover a shortfall in the 2024 budget, describing the borrowing as unsustainable and harmful to Nigeria’s economy.
In a statement shared on Thursday via his X (formerly Twitter) handle, Atiku accused the Bola Tinubu-led administration of burdening Nigerians with debt while failing to provide clear answers about the country’s fiscal challenges.
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He also faulted the National Assembly for enabling what he called a “voracious appetite” for loans.
The former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate expressed alarm over a recent World Bank report ranking Nigeria as the third most indebted country to the International Development Association (IDA), calling the development troubling.
“The recent report released by the World Bank, showing Nigeria as the third most indebted country to the International Development Association (IDA), is very concerning,” Atiku stated.
He raised further concerns about the government’s decision to benchmark the proposed loan at an exchange rate of 1 USD to N800, despite the Central Bank of Nigeria’s official rate being over N1,600.
“What makes this particular loan proposal even more concerning is that it is benchmarked at the exchange rate of 1 USD to N800, whereas the current exchange rate from the Central Bank of Nigeria stands at over N1,600 to 1 USD,” he said.
Atiku questioned the need for additional borrowing, given the government’s earlier claims of record-high revenue collection.
“In July this year, Tinubu boasted that the FIRS and Customs under his watch had collected all-time high revenues to finance the budget. Why are they still borrowing?” he said
He accused the government of a lack of transparency, describing the borrowing spree as detrimental to Nigerians already struggling under economic hardship.
“There is something that they are not telling Nigerians, even as they are being crushed by a combination of their failed trial-and-error policies and loan rackets.”
Atiku also referenced a report by BudgIT, a budget monitoring group, which criticized the 2024 budget for its inefficiencies.
He alleged that corruption, rather than infrastructure or development needs, was driving the government’s borrowing decisions.
“These loans are powered by corruption and not for infrastructure and development needs. This voracious appetite for humongous loans is deeply concerning,” he said.
Reflecting on Nigeria’s financial history, Atiku lamented the return to significant foreign indebtedness just years after former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration cleared the country’s debt.
“It is agonizing to see that just a few years after the Obasanjo administration took us out of foreign indebtedness, we are today back at the top spot in the same conundrum,” he stated.
He called for a more cautious approach to borrowing, urging the government to prioritize fiscal responsibility and transparency to avoid worsening Nigeria’s economic challenges.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has taken a historic step, issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The charges include crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed during Israel’s recent assault on Gaza.
In a detailed statement, the ICC accused the Israeli leaders of “intentionally and knowingly depriving the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity.”
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The ICC’s move marks a significant escalation in international scrutiny of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Netanyahu and Gallant are alleged to have orchestrated policies that caused severe harm to the civilian population in Gaza, leading to widespread condemnation from human rights organizations.
Alongside the charges against Israeli officials, the ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif. Deif has long been a central figure in Hamas’s military operations. Israel’s military claims to have killed him in a July airstrike, although this has not been independently verified.
The warrants highlight growing calls for accountability amid the ongoing conflict in the region. The ICC’s actions are likely to provoke heated debate and may complicate diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving the crisis.
With the warrants issued, global attention now turns to how the international community will respond and whether any practical steps will be taken to enforce them.
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