Court orders arrest of ex-PDP secretary

Following a Motion Ex-parte filed by the Ekiti State Government against former State Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Temitope Aluko over alleged perjury, a Chief Magistrate Court in Ado-Ekiti, has ordered the State Commissioner of Police to arrest Aluko.

Chief Magistrate Adesoji Adegboye gave this order on Wednesday, upon a Motion Ex-parte number MAD/10cm/2016, filed by the State Government against Aluko and the State Commissioner of Police, pursuant to Section 117 of the Criminal Code Law, Cap C16, law of Ekiti State 2012, Section 79 of the Ekiti State Administration of Criminal Justice Law 2014 and Section 23 (D) of the Magistrates’ Courts Law 2014.

In the Motion, which was filed and moved by the State Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Mr Gbemiga Adaramola, an order of the court was sought to issue warrant of arrest against Mr Aluko to be executed by the State Commissioner of Police for the purpose of committing him (Aluko) for trial for the offence of perjury.

Chief Magistrate Adegboye said the order was granted as a means for the first defendant (Aluko) to attend the court for defence.

The matter was premised upon an application to the State Attorney General by a lawyer, Mr Sunday Olowolafe, calling for the prosecution of Aluko for alleged perjury.

The legal practitioner said; “I hereby apply to your office that Dr Temitope Kolawole Aluko be arrested and sued for perjury in view of the interview recently granted on Channels Television by ‪8:00pm on Sunday 31 January, 2016.

“The said Dr Temitope Kolawole Aluko now recanted the evidence he gave in the cause of the hearing of the Ekiti State Governorship Election Petition as a star witness even up to the Supreme Court. The Certified True Copy of the State on Oath, evidence of Dr Temitope Kolawole Alukoin Court on the 12/11/14 and Nigerian Tribune and The Punch newspapers of Monday, 01/02/2016 that reported the interview granted are hereto attached.

“It is to be noted that this if this act (Perjury) is not looked into, it will definitely defile the cause of justice and consequently rubbished the judicial proceedings.”

In the affidavit filed in support of the motion ex-parte by Special Assistant to the State Governor on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, he said Mr Aluko, who was a witness before the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sworn to a Statement on Oath on August 4, 2014 wherein he stated that the Election was not only
free and fair, but devoid of violence, thuggery, hooliganism, snatching of ballot boxes, and related forms of electoral disorderliness.

Olayinka further averred that Mr Aluko tendered and adopted his Statement on Oath on November 12, 2014 and further gave evidence under cross examination.

He stated that all what Aluko said on Channels Television on Sunday,January 31, 2016 were contrary to and opposite in direction to his evidence before the Ekiti State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.

Issuing the warrant of arrest against Mr Aluko, Chief Magistrate Adegboye said since the court had the power to grant the order and it will serve the interest of justice, the State Commissioner of Police should arrest Aluko for the purpose of investigating and prosecuting him.

With The Guardian

NNPC reports N267bn loss for 2015

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation recorded a loss of N267.14bn in 2015, the latest data from the group’s financial report for the month of December 2015 shows.

According to the report, the national oil firm lost N11.861bn in the month of December alone, down from the N14.29bn loss recorded in November.

Its gross revenue was put at N2.046tn, while its expenses stood at N2.3tn, leaving a loss of N267.138bn for the 2015 financial year.

The refineries continued their poor performance through the out 2015 with the three refineries posting a combined loss of N82.09bn in the period under review.

The Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company lost N34.7bn, while Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company and Port Harcourt Refining Company lost N24.308bn and N23.09bn, respectively.

With The Punch

Alleged $620,000 bribe: Emenalo to testify against Farouk Lawan

Former co-accused to the ex-Chairman, House of Representatives ad hoc committee on fuel subsidy, Farouk Lawan, Boniface Emenalo will testify against Lawan in the case of acceptance of bribe brought against him and Lawan.

Until yesterday, Lawan and Emenalo, who acted as the committee’s secretary, were listed as defendants in the seven-count charge brought against them by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC).

But yesterday, prosecution lawyer, Adegboyega Awomolo announced that the prosecution has amended the charge, reduced the counts to three and deleted Emenalo as a defendant.

The amended charge indicated that Lawan demanded $3 million from Mr. Michael Otedola and did collect $500,000 from the businessman. The offences are said to be contrary to sections 8(1)(a) and 17(1) (a) of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000, and punishable under sections (8)(1) and 17(1) of the same Act.

Awomolo, through Emenalo as first prosecution witness, tendered some documents in aid of the prosecution’s case. The documents include:  Order Paper for the special session sitting of the House of Representatives on Sunday, January 8, 2012; votes and proceedings of the special session on the same date; Order Paper, vote and proceedings of the House on Wednesday April 18, 2012; and Order Paper, votes and proceedings of Tuesday April 24, 2012.

Also tendered was ‘Report of an ad hoc committee to determine the actual subsidy requirement and monitor the implementation of the subsidy regime in Nigeria (Resolution number HR.1/2012)’.

Trial Judge Justice Angela Otakula dismissed the objection by the defense lawyer, Sekop Zumka, who contended that the documents were not admissible as exhibits because the prosecution failed to provide the evidence of payment for its certification by the House of Representatives as provided for in the Evidence Act 2011.

But Justice Otakula held that unpaid fees does not render a document inadmissible in as much as it is relevant to the case. She also held that there was no provision of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 which prohibited the tendering of documents obtained after a case was filed.

She, however, gave the prosecution seven days to pay the fees and fixed further hearing for February 9.

With The Nation

Militants hijack ship in push for Kanu’s freedom

A merchant ship has been seized by some militants who are demanding freedom for the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, within 31 days or they will blow up the ship.

Kanu, the promoter of Biafra radio, who was arrested on October 17,  last year, is standing trial for treasonable felony before a court in Abuja. The judge has denied him bail.

There have been protests in the Southeast states for the revival of the defunct Biafra.

The hijacking of the ship is the latest attempt to compel the government to release the IPOB leader.

The ultimatum to the government was reportedly given at the weekend by a militant identified by the General Ben. Ben. “Some Niger Delta militants have shown interest in working with us,” said Uchena Madu, a leader of the Movement for the Actualization of a Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB).

The hijacking indicates the Biafran agitators could be working with some Niger Delta militants who recently bombed oil pipelines in the Niger Delta.

The Defence Headquarters yesterday confirmed the hijack of a merchant ship in the Niger Delta by some “criminals”.

Although it did not give the name of the ship, it said the ship is now in about 7.4 nautical miles off the coast of Nigeria.

It said Benin Republic Navy is guarding it.

The Acting Director of Defence Information, Brig-Gen. Rabe Abubakar, said yesterday: “We can confirm the hijack of a merchant ship but we don’t know who really hijacked it.

“We are suspecting that the ship was hijacked by some criminals and not militants.

“There is nothing like militants in the Niger Delta again since the Amnesty Programme was launched.

“The ship is not even within the waters of Nigeria. It is in about 7.4 nautical miles off the coast of this country.

“The Navy personnel in Benin Republic have been guarding the ship. We are collaborating with all our neighbours.”

With The Nation

French-Swiss chef dies from apparent suicide one month after restaurant is named the world’s greatest

A French-Swiss chef whose tiny restaurant was named the best in the world just one month ago was found dead Sunday from an apparent suicide, police said.

Friends of culinary master Benoît Violier speculated that he may have cracked after his sudden rise to global fame.

“I hope that the stress of this number-one ranking is not the cause,” Paris restaurateur Pierre Gagnaire told the Swiss newspaper 24 Heueres.

Pierre Keller, a wine merchant who saw Violier just days ago, told the paper: “I am appalled, absolutely destroyed.”

Referring to Violier’s esteemed restaurant, he added: “It takes a lot of pressure to do that.”

Violier, 44, died in his home in Crissier, Switzerland, from a self-inflicted shotgun wound, according to police.


The young culinary star quietly earned top honors for his low-profile Restaurant de l'Hôtel de Ville, which he ran with his wife, Brigitte. It was one of about 100 restaurants in the world to earn the maximum three stars from the Michelin Guide. In December, La Liste — a restaurant ranking by the French Foreign Ministry — deemed it the greatest eating establishment in the world, ahead of bigger names like New York’s Per Se and Paris’ Guy Savoy.

Violier openly discussed the pressures of meeting such high expectations.

“It’s my life,” he told the Swiss TV station RTS in 2014.

“I go to sleep with cooking, I wake up cooking.”

Violier last year lost his father, as well as fellow chef Philippe Rochat, whom he considered a “mentor” and “second father,” according to The Guardian

iolier’s death came just hours before he was due in Paris for the release of the new French Michelin guide. 

French reports said Violier was haunted after his rating in the Gault & Millau guide went down, and he feared a similar slip in the next Michelin book.

In 2003, French chef Bernard Loiseau killed himself with a shotgun amid rumors that the three-star rating for his restaurant, La Côte d’Or, was about to fall.