News
Alleged N27bn fraud: Court to hear ex-Taraba gov’s motion challenging jurisdiction
An Abuja High Court on Tuesday adjourned until Nov. 11, hearing in a motion filed by a former governor of Taraba, Darius Ishaku, challenging jurisdiction to hear the alleged N27 billion fraud preferred against him.
Ishaku and a former Permanent Secretary of Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Bello Yero were arraigned on a -15- count charge by the Economic and financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Justice Sylvanus Oriji adjourned the matter after both counsel to the defendants told the court that they had filed preliminary objections before the court.
Justice Oriji adjourned until Nov. 13 for hearing of the two motions.
At the resumed hearing of the matter , Rotimi Jacobs, SAN, the prosecution counsel told the court that the matter was slated for trial.
He however told the court that he was served with preliminary objections by both counsel for the defendants.
“The defence counsel knew very well that the case was slated for today as agreed by all the parties on Oct. 3.
”They filed these motions on the day of the trial thereby scuttling the matter.
”I seek the court’s direction. If I am allowed, I will address the court in 30 minutes but if it is adjournment, I will abide by the court ‘s direction ” he told the court.
Responding , P.H Ogbole, the first defence counsel told the court that he served the motion on the prosecution only Monday.
” We were aware of today’s date but in the cause of our research, we filed the motion which borders on jurisdiction.
”I am not sure that the matter will likely go on today because we will also want him to reply” he told the court.
Similarly, Adeola Adedipe , SAN, the second defence counsel told the court that his motion was served on Nov. 1.
”There is no intention to scuttle the trial.
”The prosecution can not reply orally like that except in some special circumstances which this is not one” he said.
“On the face of the motion marked M/ 14609/24, the 2nd defendant contended that this Honourable court lacks jurisdiction to entertain this charge, for incompetence and lack of substantive, procedural and territorial jurisdiction,” he said.
In the copy of the charge sheet dated Sept. 27, marked CR/792/24, the EFCC accused the defendants of diverting the sum of N1,010,000,000 to their personal use between Aug. 25, 2015, and March 21, 2016, in Abuja.
The agency said the amount formed part of the 2.5 per cent contingency funds belonging to the Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs.
The EFCC noted that the duo committed an offence contrary to Section 315 of the Penal Code A, Cap 532, Laws of the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria 2007 and punishable under the same section.
Ishaku and Yero were also accused of diverting an aggregate sum of N1, 1 billion which formed part of the 2.5 per cent contingency fund belonging to the Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs between July 2015 and May 2019.
Also, between Sept. 3, 2015, and Jan. 29, 2018, in Abuja, the defendants were accused of diverting the sum of N761 million to defray the loan of N1bn granted by Zenith Bank Plc. to your company, Worthy Construction Limited.
They however, pleaded not guilty to the allegations levelled against them.
They were admitted to bail on Oct. 3, in the sum of N150 million each with two sureties in like amount, one of whom must be a federal government employee and must be a Director.
The judge ordered that the two sureties must be resident in the FCT with their house addresses to be verified by the Registrar of the Court.
The court also barred from travelling out of the country except with the permission of the judge.
(NAN)
Donald J. Trump just won the 2024 election. President Elect Trump will be getting inaugurated on January 20, 2025 as the 47th President of The United States after the Electoral College vote on January 6th 2025.
The former president’s victory was the highlight of a big night for Republicans, who were also projected to regain control of the Senate after four years in the minority.
The fate of the House of Representatives was too close to call early Wednesday, with the majority not likely to be determined for several days.
In an eerie repeat of the scenes on Election Night 2016, thousands of Harris supporters who gathered on the campus of the veep’s alma mater, Howard University, to watch the results come in were left shocked and in tears as it became clear their candidate could not win.
In the end, it was not Harris but her campaign co-chair, Cedric Richmond, who was left to inform the desolate crowd that the Democratic nominee would not be appearing.
“We still have votes to count … so you won’t hear from the vice president tonight,” said Richmond, a former Louisiana congressman and Biden White House official. “She will be back here tomorrow.”
“Go HU and go Harris.”
The 45th president had projected supreme confidence against Harris, 60, in the final days of the race, with heavy messaging aimed at male voters and a marathon schedule of rallies and media appearances — including a shift at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s.
Meanwhile, Harris downplayed both her potential to make history as the first female president and her racial identity as a child of Jamaican and Indian immigrants.
Instead, she campaigned as a pro-small business warrior for the middle class, while seemingly disavowing a host of former left-wing stances she had espoused as San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general and a senator from the Golden State.
Trump’s victory makes him just the second president to be elected in non-consecutive cycles, joining Democrat Grover Cleveland — who was picked as the 22nd president in 1884 and the 24th president in 1892, with Republican Benjamin Harrison of Indiana serving four years in between.
The race was widely considered a toss-up right through Election Day, as surrogates for both candidates made rhetorical blunders that received widespread media attention.
Jamilu Abdullahi, a Bureau de Change, BDC, operator, has revealed how he exchanged naira brought to him by agents of Kogi State Government for the payment of school fees of the daughters of former governor, Yahaya Bello to dollars.
Abdullahi revealed this while speaking as the third prosecution witness in the trial of Ali Bello, on Tuesday, November 5, 2024, before Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court, Maitama, Abuja on 18-count charges of money laundering and misappropriation to the tune of over N3 billion by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
In a cross-examination by Ali Bello’s counsel, A.M. Aliyu SAN, Abdullahi affirmed that a dollar equivalent in cash was exchanged for each tranche of naira brought to him: “I made it clear that it was cash that was brought to my office for payment of the school fees,” he said,
An effort by the defence to evaluate a WhatsApp conversation between the witness and the second defendant, Abba Adaudu as evidence, was objected to by prosecution counsel Abbas Mohammed, who argued that the copy of the WhatsApp conversation was unknown to the court.
Consequently, the defence requested an adjournment to enable it to furnish the prosecution with the WhatsApp chat.
Justice Egwuatu granted the request and adjourned the matter till November 6, 2024 for continuation of trial.
Ali Bello, cousin to Yahaya Bello is being prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, alongside Adaudu, Yakubu Adabenege and Iyada Sadat.
Again, Trump wins 2024 US Presidential election
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