Resilient and efficient dispute resolution mechanism, key to strong capital market, says CJN

The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed yesterday said that a resilient and efficient dispute resolution mechanism is an imperative for a strong and reliable capital market, The Guardian reported.

Justice Mahmud Mohammed, while declaring open the 2016 workshop for judges on legal issues in the capital market, organized by the Securities and Exchange Commission in collaboration with the National Judicial Institute (NJI) holding in Abuja, added that the entrenchment of sound adjudicatory processes must be seen as a precursor to a world class market and so, which must be accorded priority.

According to the CJN, the ongoing capital market reforms embarked upon by the Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] are aimed at building a world class capital market with the underlying need to boost investor confidence in the dispute resolution mechanisms available in the Nigeria capital market, in the report.

Represented by Justice Ibrahim Tanko Mohammed at the occasion, the CJN said that all over the world, capital markets are principally established to mobilize long-term capital for investment and productive purposes even as the capital markets play a very significant role in our society because they enhance industrial growth and aid socioeconomic development by expediting the rate of capital formation, fostering free enterprise, promoting creativity, advancement and good governance.

Speaking on, ‘’Current Reforms in the Nigeria Capital Market and the role of the Securities and Exchange Commission,’’ former Acting Director-General and Executive Commissioner, Operations of SEC, Ms. Daisy Ekinelu said ‘’Reforms have been introduced to address specific concerns such as unclaimed dividends, corporate governance and compliant management, reforms have also taken a comprehensive form, all aspects of the capital market for transformation purposes.”

In his welcome address, the Director-General of SEC, Mounir Haliru Gwarzo said that the interactive workshop is one of such engagements conceptualized as a platform to hear from the judiciary, the most critical stakeholder in dispute resolution.

Nigerian Military Deploys Hi-tech Mine Clearing Equipment In Counter-Insurgency Operation

Col. Sani Usman, Acting Army spokesman

The Nigerian Army said on Wednesday that it had deployed its newly acquired hi-tech mine clearing equipment in the ongoing military operation against Boko Haram in the North East.

This is contained in a statement issued by Acting Army spokesman, Col. Sani Usman, on update of the counter-insurgency.

Usman said other supporting weapons and ammunitions had also been launched in the ongoing operations across the area.

He said the commissioned equipment were the first mine clearing machines in the inventory of the Nigerian Army and among the best in the world.

The army spokesman said the introduction of new equipment for the northeast operation had begun to yield results.

Usman disclosed that Nigerian troops in joint operation with their Cameroonian counterparts had destroyed many of the insurgents hideout around Bank-Kumashe axis.

He said several suspected insurgents were killed in the particular operation while different kinds of items were recovered.

According to Usman, 150 persons, mainly children, were rescued at Kodo community in Borno by troops in the ongoing offensive against the insurgents.

He said the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Butatai, while taking briefs from field officers at the command and control centre in Maiduguri, commended the efforts of the troops.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Buratai is visiting front-line troops in the northeast.

Secondus arrests: Party condemns action, says Ekweremadu, Akpabio on seizure list

It is more woes for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday arrested Uche Secondus who served as the Acting Chairman of the party’s National Working Committee from 2015 to 2016.

Secondus who was a two-term Rivers State chairman of the party was picked up yesterday morning by the commission in connection with an investigation that concerns Jide Omokore, an ally of former President, Goodluck Jonathan, and Chairman of Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts Nigeria Limited.

Meanwhile, the EFCC is waiting for the court to fix a date for the arraignment of former Minister of Interior, Abba Moro and other four persons indicted in the N676 million immigration recruitment scam.

A reliable source within the commission yesterday said that the anti-graft agency was ready for the arraignment and had filed the charges but would need to wait for communication from the court in order to be given a date for arraignment, told The Guardian.

“The commission is ready to arraign the accused persons but the court is yet to fix a date”, he said.

 A source said that Secondus was alleged to have received some exotic cars from Omokore .

“What he benefited was not financial as such. He allegedly received some luxury cars from Omokore, and on this he has been asked to come and offer some explanations,” the source said.

The EFCC invited and quizzed Omokore in connection with some multi-billion dollar petrol import and crude export deals, among other allegations on January 27 and has since been released on an administrative bail as investigations continue.

The PDP yesterday expressed dismay over the arrest of Secondus , describing it as another example of oppressive and unfair treatment against its key leaders by the Federal Government.

A statement by the PDP National Legal Adviser, Victor Kwom said the arrest and detention of Secondus by the EFCC was part of the grand script by the All Progressives Party-led Federal Government to decimate the opposition.

‘‘We are also aware that plans have been perfected by the Federal Government to arrest and detain the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio and other leaders of the party on imaginary charges.

“Finally, we state that this war on the PDP and its leaders has indeed gone too far. It has now become a mockery of democratic practice.”

Moro, who has been in detention since Monday morning, will be arraigned along with Anastasia Daniel Nwobia, F. O. Alayebami, Mahmood Ahmadu (who is at large) and Drexel Tech Global Nigeria Ltd, which was allegedly used to obtain money online from the applicants in the failed recruitment exercise of March 2013.

Another reliable source said that 676,675 persons applied for the recruitment examinations, each of whom paid N1,000. The five persons are, therefore, charged for N676 million.

Britain's 'first black and white twins' born from same egg

Twins Jasmine (left) and Amelia  Photo: SWNS

These siblings are thought to be the first "black and white" twins born in the UK - despite coming from the same egg.

Libby Appleby, 37, was told her unborn babies would look so similar that they would need to be "marked with ink" to tell them apart.

But she was surprised when Amelia was born with dark skin, black hair and brown eyes - while her sister Jasmine has fair skin, blue eyes and mousey curls.

Despite their contrasting skin tones, the siblings are genetically identical and are thought to be the first of their kind in the country.

Ms Appleby said: "When they were born, we were flabbergasted, even the doctors couldn't believe it.

"They look like they're different races. Amelia is the spitting image of her dad, while Jasmine is a mini version of me."

The 37-year-old, of West Rainton, County Durham, said strangers assume the twins - who have just celebrated their first birthday - are step-sisters.

She added: "We get a lot of funny looks when we tell people the girls are actually identical."

Ms Appleby and her partner of three years, 40-year-old electrical engineer Tafadzwa Madzimbamuto, found out she was pregnant in June 2014.

Three months later, they were told it was twins and medics at University Durham Hospital warned they would be so identical they would be difficult to tell apart.

Ms Appleby said medics "gasped" when they delivered the twins - who are monozygotic - meaning they were formed in the same embryo but developed in separate sacs.

She added: "We put them next to each other in a cot and couldn't believe how different they were. Amelia was so much darker than Jasmine, they barely even looked related.

"Doctors told us the chances of conceiving mixed race twins are one in a million. We were thrilled they were so unique."

A sample of Libby's placenta confirmed the twins are 100 per cent genetically identical, despite them looking nothing alike.

She said: "I don't blame strangers for thinking they aren't sisters, because they do look nothing alike.

"The girls are just noticing the difference in their skin colour now, but they're so wonderful and unique. Looking back, it's funny that we were worried we'd never tell them apart."

Dr Claire Steves, from the Department of Twin Research, said that multiple genes control skin colour and while identical twins are very likely to share them completely, it is not definite.

Dr Steves, who works at King's College London, said that Amelia and Jasmine could look so different if there was a change in the way each developed in the womb.

She said: "However, an exception might be when a change in one of these happens after the twins separate in very early development - so called somatic mutation.

"Alternatively, sometimes markers on the DNA which influence the extent to which the DNA is expressed can be different in the twins. We do have some evidence that skin colour is subject to this kind of 'epigenetic' control.

"Lastly, if the twins have been exposed to different environments, they may differ in skin colour due to this - for example if one has had greater sun exposure or has developed a condition where the pigmented cells are affected, which may happen to one just by chance.

"Despite these possibilities which might explain this intriguing phenomenon, the vast majority of identical twins have very similar skin colouring and this case is very unusual indeed."

Breaking Into San Bernardino iPhone Would Be ‘Bad for America’ – Tim Cook

Tim Cook, Apple CEO 

Apple CEO Tim Cook on Wednesday said that complying with a court order to help the FBI break into an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino shooters would be “bad for America,” and set a legal precedent that would offend many Americans.

“Some things are hard, and some things are right, and some things are both – this is one of those things,” Cook told ABC News in his first interview since the court order came down last week. He added that the government was asking for “the software equivalent of cancer” and that he planned to talk to President Barack Obama directly about getting the dispute “on a better path.”

Later asked whether Apple would be prepared to fight this case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, Cook said, “We would be prepared to take this issue all the way.”

Apple’s chief executive officer also said there should have been more dialogue with the Obama administration before the U.S. Justice Department’s decision to seek relief from a federal magistrate judge in California.

“We found out about the filing from the press, and I don’t think that’s the way the railroad should be run, and I don’t think that something so important to this country should be handled in this way,” Cook said in an interview being aired on “ABC World News Tonight.”

Apple has publicly said it intends to fight the court order and has until Friday to respond.

The iPhone in question was used by San Bernardino shooter Rizwan Farook, who along with his wife went on a shooting rampage in December that killed 14 and wounded 22.

The Justice Department wants Apple to help access encrypted information stored on Farook’s county-owned iPhone 5C by writing software that would disable its passcode protections to allow an infinite number of guesses without erasing the data on the device.

Apple has said the request amounts to asking a company to hack its own device and would undermine digital security more broadly.

“This would be bad for America,” Cook told ABC. “It would also set a precedent that I think many people in America would be offended by and when you think about those, which are knowns, compared to something that might be there, I believe we are making the right choice.”

Some major tech companies have solidly sided with Apple while others have issued more muted statements on the importance of digital security. Verizon Communications Inc Chief Executive Lowell McAdam told Reuters Wednesday his company supports “the availability of strong encryption with no backdoors.”

The government has repeatedly insisted its request in the iPhone case does not amount to “backdoor” access.