A Chief Magistrates’ Court sitting in Gwagwalada, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, has sentenced a 25-year-old student, Akeem Yakubu, to forty-eight hours community service over theft.

It was gathered that the convict would cut grass in the Gwagwalada Divisional Police station for two days for stealing two cell phones worth N8,700.

Yakubu, who pleaded guilty after being charged with theft by the police told the court that he sold the phones for N5,000 and used the money he realised to buy clothes.

In his ruling on Tuesday, the Chief Magistrate, Aliyu Shafa, ordered that the convict should report to the Gwagwalada Divisional Police station by 10 a.m. and close at 2 p.m each day.

Shafa, who warned the convict to desist from committing crimes and to be of good behaviour, also ordered him to return to his parents in Okene, Kogi State.

Earlier, the Prosecution Counsel, Abudullahi Tanko, told the court that the complainants, Suleiman Ahmadu and Tijani Adamu of Angwan Fulani, Kuje Road, Gwagwalada, reported the matter at Gwagwalada police station on Sept. 17.

Tanko said that Yakubu stole the phones of the complainants while they were charging it and that the offence contravened the provisions of Section 287 of the Penal Code.

However, the Defence Counsel, Yusuf Jibril, prayed for the court for leniency.

“If he is sentenced to a prison term, he will mostly likely come out hardened and pose treat to the society. He is a very young man at the peak of his formation age, I urge the court to assume a human and parental face, and to temper justice with mercy,” he said.

A Niger State High Court presided over by Justice Mikali Abdullahi on Monday fixed October 14, 2020, for the pre-trial of the relisted money laundering case involving the former governor of Niger State, Muazu Babangida Aliyu.
Aliyu is facing prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alongside his then chief of staff, Umar Nasko and the chairman, Niger State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Barrister Tanko Beji on amended seven-count charge, bordering on money laundering and criminal breach of trust to the tune of N2 billion.

Recall that Aliyu’s case was relisted for hearing on September 14, 2020, and the defendants re-arraigned on the same date, with the matter adjourned till Monday, September 21, 2020, for the commencement of trial.

The relisting was sought by EFCC following the striking out of the case by the court in favour of the defendants on February 10, 2020.

At today’s hearing, prosecution counsel, Faruk Abdullahi, informed the court that the prosecution was ready for trial as approved by the court on the arraignment date of September 14, 2020, which was opposed by counsel to the third defendant, Mamman Mike Osman (SAN) on the ground that Section 14 of the EFCC Establishment Act, provides for a pre-trial protocol as a pre-condition for the hearing of the commission’s cases, adding that the failure to submit pre-trial evidence made the trial unripe for hearing.

The defence lawyer further argued that in pre-hearing, the defence would need to identify the prosecution witnesses and reach out to its own witnesses and identify the nature of their testimonies and prepare questions for cross-examination.

“It is my final submission that this matter is not ripe for hearing,” Osman said.
Abdullahi, however, expressed dismay that the defence counsel challenged the trial commencement, reminding the court that the case was adjourned for trial, today, September 21, 2020 following the arraignment of the defendants on September 14, 2020.

He further noted that the court with the consent of all the counsels on that date, urged the prosecution to open its case.
Abdullahi, therefore, urged the court to go ahead with the hearing of the case as agreed by all the counsels on September 14, 2020.

“I am mindful of the fact that the defendants are entitled to know the witnesses and to have an idea of the document tendered. The prosecution has furnished the defendant’s copies of materials in volumes of the document to rely on, also the list of witnesses, a summary of their statements, and extrajudicial statements.

“The justice of the case demands that we proceed with the trial, the spirit of the trial protocol has been approved by the court, and the court set the case down for trial,” Abdullahi said.

Justice Abdullahi, however, adjourned the matter till October 14, 2020, for pre-trial.

A 38-year-old carpenter, Tochukwu Madu, appeared at Karu Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja, on Monday for alleged breach of trust and cheating.

The defendant who resides in Mararaba, Nasarawa State, is charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust, cheating and criminal misappropriation, but pleaded not guilty.

The Prosecution Counsel, Ayotunde Adeyanju, told the court that the complainant, Idris Usman of Apo, Abuja, reported the matter at the Karu Police Station, Abuja on August 24.

Adeyanju said that the complainant gave the defendant N130, 000 to construct two children bed and one wardrobe for him.

He said the defendant failed to deliver the items and converted the money to his personal use.

The prosecutor said the offence contravened the provisions of sections 312, 322, and 309 of the Penal Code.

The judge, Inuwa Maiwada, admitted the defendant to bail in the sum of N200, 000 with one surety in like sum.

Maiwada adjourned the case until October 13 for hearing.

Four Cameroonian soldiers were sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison and another to two years for the execution-style killings of two women and their two children in a region where the army is fighting jihadists.

Recall that a video was broadcast on social media in July 2018 showing soldiers shooting two kneeling blindfolded women as well as a baby on one of their backs and a girl.

The government initially denied the involvement of its army, but later arrested seven suspects.

Two of the suspects were acquitted.

A Bulgarian court has jailed two men of Lebanese origin for life on Monday over a 2012 bus bombing that killed five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian driver and has been blamed by Bulgarian authorities on the Lebanese Shi’ite Muslim group Hezbollah.

The two men were tried in absentia over the July 18, 2012 attack at Burgas Airport on the Black Sea and their whereabouts was not known.

The Specialized Criminal Court found Meliad Farah, 39, an Australian citizen, and Hassan El Hajj Hassan, 32, a Canadian citizen, guilty of being accomplices and ordered them to pay compensation to families of the victims and the injured.

A third man, of dual Lebanese-French citizenship, was killed in the attack when he blew up a bomb in a backpack he was carrying close to a bus at the airport.

Hezbollah has denied involvement in the attack, which also injured more than 35 Israeli tourists.

A five-member panel ruled that the two men had helped in the attack, which was aimed at causing confusion and fear among the peoples of Bulgaria and Israel.

The verdict can be appealed within 15 days.

The National Industrial Court has issued an interim injunction restraining the conduct of the state election and congress of the Oyo State chapter of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE).

The Caretaker Committee had earlier fixed September 22 for its congress and the election of a new executive in the state.

But, Justice N. C. S. Ogbuanya of the Lagos Judicial Division of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria on Friday issued the restraining order against the conduct of both the election and the congress pending the hearing and determination of the “Motion of Notice” dated September 15, 2020.

The restraining order was issued based on a case filed by Hakeem Ojo Oyewo over what he called “unlawful and unexplained exclusion” as a candidate for the office of the state president in the election.

The court said the restraining order remains valid pending the hearing and determination of the case.