Trial Of Boko Haram Suspects In Detention To Resume March — FG

 The Federal Government has perfected plans to [i]commence the second phase of the prosecution of Boko Haram suspects currently being held in a military facility at Kainji, Niger State.

The Solicitor-General of the Federation, SGF, and Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mrs Beatrice Jedy-Agba, who made the disclosure to newsmen on Sunday, said the planned trial of the detained terror suspects would resume in March.
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It will be recalled that the Federal Ministry of Justice had recently acknowledged the special intervention granted by President Muhammadu Buhari for the provision of funds & other logistics for the commence-ment of the exercise.

The SGF revealed that the trial, which has been done in phases, was temporarily halted to ensure proper investigation of the suspects and to put necessary measures in place to ensure that they were given a fair trials that would meet global standards.

She said the federal government was committed to ensuring that justice was dispensed to assuage the feelings of victims and survivors of terror attacks and to decongest the detention facilities.

According to the SGF; “The federal government is taking steps to reconfigure the military holding facilities to make it adaptable and conducive for recommencement of trials.

“We will start the prosecution by the end of the first quarter of 2023. We are in the process of renovating and, in fact, reconstructing facilities such as the Courtrooms and residential areas.

“It is important to ensure that there are enhanced measures put in place. We are utilizing Military facilities and therefore, they were not built like proper Courts.

“The resort to the use of Military facilities is to ensure that trials are conducted in a safe and secure environment. There are risks associated with moving such large number of accused persons at the same time for trial, so this is one critical issue that is of utmost concern.

“We have secured all relevant approvals to proceed with the projects and we are working very closely with the Office of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and other military authorities to ensure that by the end of the first quarter of 2023, we will definitely start trials,” she added.

Besides, Mrs Jedy-Agba, said the Federal Ministry of Justice was concerned about the pain and plight of victims of terrorism, likewise the sensitive issue of the rights of the accused persons.

“The whole idea is to ensure that while respecting the rights of the defendants, we also have to consider the sensibilities of Nigerians who have been victims of terrorism, as well as the general security of Nigerians as a whole.

“So, we will, as much as possible, ensure that the minimum human rights requirements are met. We will open the trial venue for observations of select Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), as well as human rights institutions, like the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

“We are working with the Legal Aid Council (LAC) and other stakeholders to ensure that accused persons have access to justice.

“We are obviously not going to open the place up, because of security concerns. I’m sure you are aware that recently, like a few weeks ago, there was an attempt to hit the facility.

“So, obviously, it is not going to be as open as you may want because we want to ensure that the security of our judges, witnesses and interpreters are protected,” she added.

The SGF said the number of accused persons in the scheduled trial was huge and appreciable, saying she was however not in a position to give the specific number as arrests were still being made in the anti-terrorism fight.

“I don’t want to be specific on that, because the figure changes every time, as security agencies keep making arrests.I cannot say for certain, how many they are right now. But it is quite a sizeable number’’, the SGF added.

WATCH: Ten Hag tells young fans he wants to sign Bellingham & Mbappe but Man Utd cannot afford it

 Erik ten Hag has told young fans he wants to sign Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe but Manchester United cannot afford it.

The Man Utd boss was asked if he was going to sign Jude Bellingham as he signed autographs for young fans. Ten Hag revealed he would like to before another supporter urged him to also bring Kylian Mbappe to Old Trafford. The Dutchman asked for pennies, alluding to the fact the duo would cost hundreds of millions of pounds.

While Ten Hag has steadied the ship, United are still some way off from landing the likes of Bellingham and Mbappe. Instead, they have been strongly linked with a loan move for Burnley striker Wout Weghorst, and the former Ajax coach will have to continue to his work his magic on a more modest budget before he will have the funds to sign the world's top talent.

WHAT NEXT FOR MANCHESTER UNITED? While Ten Hag will be working hard this month to bolster his United squad, his attention this week will turn to Tuesday's League Cup quarter-final against Charlton before the Manchester derby on Saturday.

NDLEA Freezes ₦‎4.3 Billion In Suspect’s 126 Bank Accounts

 

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has frozen 126 bank accounts belonging to a suspected drug lord, Nsofor Chukwukadibia.

The accounts domiciled in various commercial banks, had cash inflows of N4.3bn and outflows of N7.9bn, while over N50bn had passed through them.

This was contained in court documents obtained by our correspondent in Abuja on Friday.

Chukwukadibia was arrested last October following the discovery of a large consignment of drugs worth N8.8bn from one of his mansions in the highbrow Victoria Garden City, Lekki area of Lagos.

The substances were contained in hundreds of cartons kept in the house, according to a statement by the NDLEA Director of Media, Femi Babafemi.

Sequel to the investigations into Chukwukadibia’s drug trafficking empire, the NDLEA last week uncovered domiciliary accounts with $381, 794.19 (about N267,255,933) , £5,543.24 and another N100m.

The NDLEA has also confiscated 20 mansions belonging to the suspected drug baron located in Lagos, Abuja and the South-East.

Six of the buildings were located in Victoria Garden City, it was learnt.

“Though he claimed to have sold the mansions in the South-East, investigation is going on to ascertain his claims. Meanwhile, he is due to face drug trafficking and money laundering charges soon,’’ a senior official confirmed to SUNDAY PUNCH. 

It was further learnt that the NDLEA also seized nine vehicles, including three bulletproof SUVs from Chukwukadibia’s residences.

In a related development, the drug agency has struck an agreement with India to block the illegal importation of tramadol from the Asian country.

This is expected to significantly reduce the shipping of tramadol and other banned drugs into Nigeria in addition to the successful operations against the drug barons which had led to the crippling of their criminal networks across the country.

Atletico Madrid set Joao Felix asking price amid Man Utd & Arsenal interest

 WHAT'S HAPPENING? Atletico are demanding a £9.5 million ($10.8m) loan fee for the Manchester United and Arsenal target, with an obligation to buy the Portugal international for £70.5m, according to the Daily Mirror. The 23-year-old moved to the Spanish capital from Benfica in 2019 but is now free to leave having fallen out of favour with manager Diego Simeone.

THE BIGGER PICTURE: Erik ten Hag is looking to bolster his forward options at Old Trafford following the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo in November while Arsenal are also looking for an additional spark as the Gunners look to maintain their lead at the top of the Premier League table.

AND WHAT'S MORE: United have already stepped up their pursuit of the attacker and made an opening offer of a straight loan for around £3.5mwhile committing to cover the player's agent. Jorge Mendes is understood to have met with Atletico’s CEO Miguel Angel Gil on Thursday to present United’s opening offer but the move was dismissed.

Cheap Blackmail Won't Stop Us From Winning 2023 Presidential Election - LP

 Nigerians should snub opposition's orchestrated propaganda that the Labour Party, LP does not have polling agents in core northern states as we are solidly on ground championing the ways and means to change the narrative this year, Dr Yunusa Tanko, LP PCC spokesman revealed on Sunday. 

Tanko who was reacting to sponsored stories by opposition parties at the weekend rubbished the alleged deliberate falsehoods being perpetuated as LP has foot soldiers scattered all to "man all polling units in the north and the entire nation. 

"Opposition gimmicks to weaken the resolved minds of Nigerians to Vote Peter Obi and Datti Baba-Ahmed into power this year will not fly. 

Tanko made these declarations in a statement issued on Sunday saying:


"The attention of the Labour Party Presidential campaign council, (LPPCC) has been drawn to yet another deceitful information circulating in the social media to the effect that our party has not submitted agents for 90,000 Polling Units in North Central, Northeast and Northwest.

"We see this as yet another propaganda from the opposition to bring our rising influence down and deceive the electorate in an election year. 


"We have volunteers all over the country that surpass even the number of agents required for each Polling booth so the issue of not being able to supply agents for 90,000 units is a complete fallacy designed by the enemies of progress in Nigeria.

"INEC gave a window of up to January 20th for political parties to submit their list of agents for the elections and as such cannot at this time raise concerns about any political Party not being able to submit enough agents.

"The Labour Party has a task force on the recruitment and selection of agents headed by our presidential candidate H.E. Peter Obi himself and his Vice, Datti, the National Chairman and the National Secretary of the party are all members of that committee.

"LPPCC is investigating the source of this propaganda because we know it is not definitely from the INEC.

"We appeal to the Obidient family and the teeming supporters of our party to disregard the deceitful information and focus on the collection of their PVCs which are our collective weapons to dislodge the enemies of our dear country.

Prophetess Wields Gun While Praying In Tongues In Church

 

Asisat Oshoala Scores And Provides An Assist As Barcelone Beat Sevilla 4-0

 

Asisat Oshoala scored and provided an assist as Barcelona Femeni beat Toni Payne's Sevilla 4-0 at the Johan Cruyff Stadium yesterday. 

Barcelona mounted pressure on Sevilla from the blast of the whistle and Fridolina Rolfo's shot hit the Sevilla post in the 9th minute. 

Claudia Pina slipped a pass through to Oshoala and she skilfully held off the defender and fired a shot into the goal for her 4th goal in 3 games. 

Oshoala repaid the favour in the 34th minute when she ran down the right and cut the ball back for Claudia Pina to slot it into the goal (2-0).

Oshoala had 2 chances to score before the second goal. The first was saved by the keeper and the second hit the post.

Oshoala again almost provided another assist in the 36th minute, with a beautifully weighted ball into the area, but Patri's header went just wide.

Claudia Pina raced down the right and squared the ball for Oshoala in the 45th minute, but it was a bit too far for Oshoala to reach. This led to a goalmouth scramble and in the midst of the confusion, Oshoala and Mariona pushed the ball into the defender's arm. The referee blew for a penalty to Barca, but Claudia Pina's penalty hit the post just before half time.

Barcelona began the second half the same way they started the first, with lots of pressure and Mariona Caldentay's shot went just wide of the post in the 51st minute. 

Barcelona brought on Salma Paralleluo, Aitana and Marta Torrejon in the 64th minute (can you imagine such talent on the bench) and they made a huge impact. 

Paralluelo scored from a one time shot in the 70th minute and then scored a second after a beautiful exchange of passes with Aitana in the 84th minute. 

Antoinette "Toni" Oyedupe Payne played the entire 90 minutes for Sevilla.