Vanguard, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2012—13
NJC rejects Osun’s CJ nominees, demands fresh list based on seniority .Considers Salami’s fate today Soni Daniel, Regional Editor, North
From left: Mr. Olalekan Agbana, (National Secretary); Mr. Popoola Ajayi, leader of the group, left, Mr Taye Naibi (representing Oodua groups in South-South) and Comrade Omotayo Kunle, Director of Mobilisation, at the All Yoruba Selfdetermination conference in Akure, Ondo State ,calling on voters to elect ACN candidate, Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) at Saturday's election.
Subsidy scam: Alao’s son granted N75m bail BY ABDULWAHAB ABDULAH & ONOZURE DANIA
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USTICE LATEEFA Okunnu yesterday granted a N75 million bail to Abdulahi, son of Ibadan based business man, Alhaji Azeez Alao-Arisekola, who was charged for swindling the Federal Government of N1.1 billion oil subsidy fund. Abdulahi was arraigned for the third time on different charges bordering on allegedly stealing the
Petroleum Support Fund, PSF. The trial judge also granted his co-accused, Olanrewaju Olafusi, an employee of Sterling Bank Plc bail in the sum of N100m to be guaranteed by the bank. The duo of Arisekola and Olafusi have been charged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on October 10 alongside a company Axenergy Limited,
Opeyemi Ajuyah, her firm, Majope Investment Limited, and one Olafusi on eight counts of N1.1bn subsidy fraud. Ajuyah had been granted bail on Monday, but Okunnu was only able to hear the bail applications filed by Abdulahi and Olafusi yesterday. EFCC, represented by its counsel, Mr. Francis Usali, had asked for an adjournment on Monday till yesterday for it to respond to the processes filed by the
Lagos pilgrims protest over accommodation in S-Arabia BY MONSURU OLOWOOPEJO
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UNDREDS OF pilgrims from Lagos State to this year’s hajj yesterday staged a protest over lack of proper accommodation in Mecca, Saudi Arabia by the state government. A total of 90,000 pilgrims were successfully airlifted from Nigeria for the holy pilgrimage The protest which started some minutes after some of the pilgrims arrived Al Musfalah Hotel, Medinah from Mecca, one of the
official hotels for Lagos pilgrims, yesterday, were left to roam and sleep in the hotel lobby. Sources said that some of the pilgrims who expressed their displeasure over the accommodation process of the state government, also condemned the activities of some of the state officials who apparently abandoned them. He added that the protesters also accused the Commissioner for Home Affairs and Culture, Oyinlomo Danmole and others who arrived Mecca on Monday, for not
responding to their challenge as they perform their pilgrimage. One of the pilgrims revealed “he would no longer tolerate the preferential treatment the state government officials were giving to some of the pilgrims whom they knew from Nigeria.” The situation was, however, brought under control after several hours by the chairman of the Lagos State Pilgrims Welfare Board, Mr. A b d u l h a k e e m Abdullateef, who promised to address the situation.
applicants. The judge ordered that Sterling Bank should, on behalf of Olafusi, pay a bail bond of N100m as part of his bail conditions. The judge said, “The bond should be backed up with a bank guarantee which is to be deposited with the chief registrar of the high court”. The court also ordered the accused to deposit their passports and other travel documents with the chief registrar, adding that they should not travel abroad without the court’s permission. She ordered that Abdulahi’s proposed sureties must be gainfully employed and resident in Lagos and that one of the sureties must be a director of a public or private company. She also said one of them must possess landed property of “substantive value” within Lagos. The judge also directed that Arisekola is to report once every month to the EFCC office during the duration of the trial. The matter was adjourned to December 13 for trial.
NATIONAL T HE Judicial Council, NJC, yesterday threw out the list submitted by the Osun State Government for the nomination of a new Chief Judge of the state. In its place, the NJC, asked for a new list of judges based on seniority for its consideration, a development that may further prolong the emergence of a new judiciary head for the state. NJC may have thrown Osun State Judiciary into confusion, following its decision to step down the consideration of the state’s nominees for appointment as the substantive chief judge (CJ) for the state. A source at the meeting told Vanguard last night that the council stepped down the list of nominees
Appeal Court stops contempt proceedings against FCMB, others BY ABDULWAHAB ABDULAH
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Lagos Monday restrained a Federal High Court, sitting in Lagos from hearing a contempt proceeding filed against First City Monument Bank Plc, its Managing Director and two of its directors over their alleged refusal to pay a judgment debt of N6.8 billion in a case instituted by Hensmor Nigeria Limited. In an ex-parte motion filed by the bank pursuant to Section 15 of
1,500 women for COWLSO national confab O FEWER than 1,500 women from across the country are expected to converge in Lagos for the forthcoming 12th National Women Conference put together by the Committee of Wives of Lagos State O f f i c i a l s , C O W L S O, under the leadersh ip of the wife of the state governor, Dame Emmanuella Abimbola F a s h o l a .
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The 3-day event which has as its theme ‘Women as Leaders’, is billed to take off Tuesday, 30th October in Lagos. The annual conference has over the years served as a platform for Nigerian women to network, exchange ideas and put on the front burner of national discourse, topical issues affecting their gender with a view to proffering
from the state on the grounds that there was confusion over who should be named as the CJ from the list sent in by the Osun State Judicial Service Commission. The commission had forwarded the names of Justices Bola Ojo, said to be the most senior judge in the state; Gloria Olagoke, who presides over the state’s Customary Court of Appeal and Joseph Oyewole, a native of Osun but a judge of the Lagos High Court in Ikeja, to the NJC to pick one of them as the next CJ. The incumbent CJ, Olaniyi Ojo is due for retirement on November 8, 2012. The source added that the fate of the suspended President, Court of Appeal, PCA, Justice Ayo Salami would be addressed by the NJC today.
s o l u t i o n s . Erudite scholars expected at this year's edition include Professor I b i y e m i Olatunji-Bello, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Lagos State Universit,LASU, Professor Sophie Oluwole and Dr. Virgy Anyene of the Lagos State University T e a c h i n g Hospital,LASUTH, among others.
the Court of Appeal Act, 2004, it urged the appellate court to restrain the trial judge, Justice O. E. Abang from further exercising any judicial power whatsoever in respect of the committal proceeding against the bank and the directors. Already, the appellate court has fixed tomorrow, October 18 for the hearing of the motion. Justice Abang had in a judgment delivered on December 2, 2011 ordered, NIMASA’s bank, FCMB, to pay N6,841,108,152.05k.
Meeting LAGOS branch of St. Enda’s College (Agbarho Grammar School), Agbarho Old Students Association holds its monthly general meeting this Saturday, October 20, 2012 at 3.00 p.m. Venue: 12B, Abuja Close, Agbara Estate, Agbara, Ogun State. A statement signed by General Secretary, Mr. Sunday Orode, urged members to be punctual as vital issues have been lined up for discussion.