News
N80bn fraud: Court orders former AMCON MD’s arrest
The Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja, on Tuesday, issued a bench warrant against the former Managing Director of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, Ahmed Kuru, over alleged N76bn and $31.5m of fraud.
Justice Mojisola Dada ordered Kuru’s arrest for failing to appear before the court for his arraignment by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The court had scheduled Tuesday to arraign Kuru along with the Managing Director of Arik Air, Captain Roy Ilegbodu, the receiver manager of Arik, Kamilu Omokide, Union Bank Plc, and a company, Super Bravo Limited, for alleged N76bn and $31.5m fraud.
They are facing six counts bordering on making a false statement, fraudulent conversion, abuse of office, stealing, and dishonest conversion of property.
According to the EFCC, the offences committed contravened Section 96 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015 and Sections 278 (1) (b) and 278(6) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011.
However, the arraignment could not go on due to the absence of Kuru and his lead counsel, Olasupo Shasore (SAN).
Earlier, when the case was called, the EFCC’s prosecuting counsel, Dr. Wahab Shittu (SAN), announced his appearance while Prof. Taiwo Osiptan (SAN) appeared for the first defendant (Kamilu Omokide ) and the third defendant ( Captain Roy Ilegbodu).
Olalekan Ojo (SAN) announced his appearance for the fourth defendant (Union Bank of Nigeria Plc), while Tayo Oyetibo SAN appeared for the fifth defendant (Super Bravo Limited).
However, the second defendant (Ahmed Kuru) was absent from court and was not represented.
The court then issued a bench warrant against Kuru.
However, as the judge was about to adjourn the case, she was informed that Kuru was on his way to court. So, she stood the case down for a while.
When the court recovened, Kuru was still absent but a lawyer, I.B. Amefula, announced appearance as Kuru’s lawyer.
However, Shittu, displeased by the development, prayed the court to issue a warrant for Kuru’s arrest.
“The former MD of AMCON had jumped administrative bail granted by the EFCC on several occasions.
“In view of the attitude of the second defendant, we urge the court to issue a bench warrant.
“My Lord, all the defendants in this case were served, but they got to the residence of the second defendant, the man had disappeared. He had blocked his contact.
“Someone who is a former MD of AMCON is not supposed to behave that way,” Shittu argued.
Justice Dada granted Shittu’s prayer and issued a bench warrant against Kuru.
The plea by Amefula for the judge to lift the bench warrant was declined.
“I will retain the order until the next adjourned date. When he is here on the next adjourned date I will revoke the order,” the judge said and adjourned till January 20, 2025 for the arraignment.
By Emmanuel Agaji
The Rivers State High Court Chief Registrar, David D Thua-Maduenyi has rubbished speculations suggesting that Rivers Sole Administrator has been removed by the state’s High Court.
Naijablitznews reports this was contained in a statement personally signed by the Chief Registrar saying:
“My attention has been drawn to an online news report with the caption “BREAKING
NEWS: Governor Sim Fubara secures Court victory over Wike and Tinubu –
Federal High Court Orders Sole Administrator to vacate Government House”,
authored by one Joy Musa published by 247 ureports on Tuesday, 15th April, 2025.
“Ordinarily, I would not have bothered myself with any refutal, but for the
mischievous mention of the name of Hon. Justice Boma Diepriye which appears
synonymous with Hon. Justice Boma Diepiri of the Rivers State High Court in
paragraph 4 of the report thus:
“Justice Boma Diepriye, who presided over the case, ruled that the
appointment of a sole administrator to oversee the affairs of a state with
a sitting, democratically elected governor is “illegal, null and void…”
“In view of the above, I wish to state as follows:
Hon. Justice Boma Diepiri is not a Judge of the Federal High Court but a
Judge of the Rivers State High Court, and is already on Easter Vacation,
which commenced on Monday, 14th April, 2025.
“For the period of the Easter Vacation, only the vacation Judge is sitting:
and Hon. Justice Boma Diepiri is not the Vacation Judge.
“The mention of the name of Hon. Justice Boma Diepriye which is similar
with Hon. Justice Boma Diepiri of the Rivers State High Court is not only
false, but misleading, and clearly exposes the crass ignorance of the
reporter; as the Federal High Court is different from Rivers State High
Court.
“No State High Court gave any order(s) relating to or concerning the
subject matter as captioned in the online news.
“It is regrettable that some bloggers and online news reporters have traded
professionalism on the altar of pecuniary gains they seek to derive from traffic on
their social media handle and web pages.
“Henceforth, the Judiciary enjoins the general public to seek clarification on any
news report concerning the Court and official of the Court before publication.
“The general public is advised to clearly ignore the false and misleading publication.
The newly appointed administrator of Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, Mr Atajit Francis has warned staff of the council against negligence to duty.
Francis handed down the warning at Ngo, the council headquarters, shortly after resumption of duty.
The administrator who also met with the Head of the Local Government Administration said that the third tier of government requires diligence to deliver people-oriented services.
Francis further said that under his watch, underperformance and dereliction of duty would not be condoned.
He stated, “While we are on the saddle, we shall reward diligence and hard work. We urge staff to work towards achieving set goals.
“My mandate is specified, they include sanitation, environmental development, job creation, primary education and primary health care.
“The essence is to positively impact the lives of our people, knowing that the local government is the closest tier of government to the people.”
Insisting that transparency and integrity were critical to effective grassroots development and service delivery, he said, “So I expect all staff to uphold the highest ethical standards and accountability in the discharge of their duties.”
Recall that the Rivers State’s sole administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (rtd) recently appointed administrators to oversee the affairs of the 23 local government councils in the state after he suspended the Heads of Local Government Administration appointment by Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
Newcastle soared up to third in the Premier League with a 5-0 thrashing of Crystal Palace on Wednesday to close in on a return to the Champions League next season.
Jacob Murphy, Harvey Barnes, Fabian Schar and Alexander Isak were on target for the Magpies, with Marc Guehi also scoring an own goal, as Newcastle made light of the absence of manager Eddie Howe due to pneumonia.
A sixth consecutive victory in all competitions opens up a five-point lead for Newcastle over sixth-placed Chelsea, with a place in the top five good enough for Champions League qualification.
Palace remain down in 12th with their season now fully focused on an FA Cup semi-final date with Aston Villa later this month.
Newcastle travel to Villa on Saturday in a huge clash in the battle for European places.
But the League Cup winners are pulling away from the chasing pack for a top-five finish, buoyed by ending their 70-year wait for domestic silverware last month.
“That gave us huge confidence,” said Newcastle assistant manager Jason Tindall, who is was deputising for Howe, of lifting the League Cup.
“We were able to enjoy that for a period of time but we knew what our objectives were for the remainder of the season – to finish as high up the league table as possible.
“The manager always leads and sets that example of never switching off. They’ve gone out there, been really consistent and delivering performances.”
Isak wasted two big early chances to open the scoring when he was firstly denied by a fine Dean Henderson save and then headed over from Murphy’s enticing cross.
Newcastle only had to wait until the 14th minute to open the scoring when Murphy blasted in a remarkable finish from a narrow angle.
– Eze fluffs penalty –
Palace were gifted the chance to get back into the game when goalkeeper Nick Pope rushed off his line and wiped out Chris Richards in his attempt to punch the ball clear.
After a lengthy VAR check, a penalty was finally awarded.
However, Eberechi Eze’s lackadaisical spot-kick was easily collected by the relieved Pope.
Within a minute, Newcastle had doubled their lead when Guehi turned into his own net as he attempted to block Barnes’ cross towards Isak.
The England defender has been regularly linked with a move to Tyneside and has now scored an own goal in each of Palace’s two meetings with Newcastle this season.
“There are some days where nothing works, and at the same time everything worked for Newcastle,” said Palace boss Oliver Glasner.
“We couldn’t deal with their intensity and directness and pace.”
It went from bad to worse for the visitors as Barnes continued his fine form with a composed finish for his fourth goal in three games.
Murphy’s free-kick was then flicked in by Schar to make it 4-0 before the break.
The normally lethal Isak continued to be frustrated in front of goal as Henderson spread himself to deny another effort from point-blank range early in the second half.
However, the Swedish striker finally got his 25th goal of the season with a fine finish from outside the area just before the hour mark.
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