Robbers kill Ogun Vigilante Services operatives

A gang of suspected armed robbers on Friday night killed five operatives of the Ogun State Vigilante Service at Onihale, Ifo in Ifo Local Government Area of the state.

The operatives were said to be part of the security personnel guarding a filling station at Onihale area, a satellite town of Ifo.

A witness, who pleaded anonymity said the robbers, numbering about 20 who operated in an unmarked lorry caught men of the vigilante services unawares.

It was learnt that some policemen attached to the State Anti-Robbery Squad arrived the scene and exchanged fire with the robbers.

Two of the dead vigilante operatives identified as Nurudeen Kasali, the leader of the team and one Akeem popularly called Omo Iya Laja had already been buried in Ifo on Saturday while the identity of their three other colleagues had yet to be revealed as at press time.

The Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, confirmed the robbery attack but said only two persons were killed.

Adejobi, a deputy superintendent of police, added that the robbers escaped with varying degrees of bullet wounds which they sustained during the gun duel with policemen.

The PPRO also said items recovered from the vehicle abandoned by the fleeing robbers following included one pump action gun, two double- barrelled guns, one phoenix pistol, 34 live ammunition of the pistol, five empty magazines of AK 47 rifle, a sledge hammer as well as three cars.

Adejobi also said 250 expended shells of AK47 rifle were recovered from the scene of the robbery.

The police however appealed to all medical practitioners, both traditional and orthodox, to inform the police in case anybody approaches their hospitals to treat bullet wounds.

Maku mourns Daily Trust MD; says death a huge loss to journalism

ABUJA—Information Minister, Mr. Labaran Maku, has described the death of the Managing Editor of Daily Trust Newspaper, Mallam Suleiman Mohammed, as a huge loss to the journalism profession.
The minister stated this in Abuja when he paid a condolence visit to the management and staff of the newspaper.
He said the deceased worked hard to uplift the standard of the profession and showed exemplary character as well as uncommon commitment to journalism.
He remarked that the people of Nasarawa State, where the deceased hailed from also share from the loss, as a young state that is in need of manpower, especially in the media to complement the projection of the image of the state and its citizens.
The minister also condoled the family of the deceased and prayed God to strengthen and give them the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.

JTF nabs eight suspects over SPDC pipeline inferno

YENAGOA — The Joint Task Force, JTF, in the Niger Delta code-named Operation Pulo Shield, Sunday, said its operatives have arrested eight persons in connection with the recent fire outbreak at a Shell Petroleum Development Company, SDPC, pipeline in Bodo West, Gokana Local Government Area, Rivers State.
Also, five suspected crude oil thieves were nabbed in two separate raids in the creek of the delta.
Spokesman of the Task Force, Lt. Col Onyema Nwachukwu in a statement in Yenagoa said the arrest of the eight suspects was effected by troops of 146 Battalion of Sector 2 of the JTF.
Nwachukwu said the troops who sighted the fire at about 1.30 am on Wednesday mobilised to the scene where they found the suspects in two tug boats.
He said the suspects upon interrogation,  claimed to be employees of Steve Integrated Technical Service and Sege Marine hired by Shell Petroleum Development Company to fix broken pipelines in Bodo.
The suspects, he said, are currently in Sector 2 Headquarters for preliminary investigations, adding that they will be handed over to an appropriate prosecuting agency if found culpable at the end of the investigations.
Also, troops deployed at Sanbarth have arrested two suspects who specialized in vandalising oil pipelines along Kalamabo and Opukula communities in Akuku Toru council area of Rivers State.
The suspects, Fineface  Shedrack and Solomon Doutimiti, identified as serial pipeline vandals and illegal oil distillers, according to the JTF spokesman, were arrested by troops of 130 Battalion of Sector 2 after three nights of ambush.
According to Lt. Col Nwachukwu, the suspects were hacking into Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) pipelines located in the said community when they were nabbed.
Items including an open boat containing pipe hacking equipment were recovered from the suspects, he said.
“The Commanding Officer who conducted the operation, Lt Col Caius Baushe, has called on SPDC to conduct an assessment exercise on the pipeline, noting that the level of excavation and possible touch on the pipeline cannot be ascertained due to high tide that covered the entire area,” he said.
On its operations in the Western Delta he said, its operatives deployed in 3 Battalion of Sector 1 of the JTF also nabbed three suspects running 3 illegal oil distillery camps in Opumani Gbekebor, Beneth Island of Warri South Local Government Area of Delta state and Agbede forest in Edo state.
He said the suspects were arrested during an anti illegal oil bunkering operation with 4 metal tanks, 236 drums and 13 pumping machines at the illegal oil distillation sites.
According to him, five dug out pits used by the oil theft suspects to store stolen crude oil at the illegal distillation camps were also sealed up by the troops.
The suspects, Samson Kristo, Lawrence Pius and Powede Clerk, who are currently helping in preliminary investigations at the Headquarters 3 Battalion he said will be handed over to the appropriate prosecuting agency.
“During the operation, the troops also intercepted twenty seven open boats used by oil thieves to convey illegally distilled products along Chanomi West in Warri South Local Government Area of Delta state,” the JTF Spokesman said.

Operators assess Dangote’s leadership and market development

The Nigerian Stock market has improved  in the last one year as performance indicators, market capitalization and All Share Index moved up by about 76 per cent each.
This is coming barely one year after Alhaji Dangote Aliko, returned as President of Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
An analysis of the market as at the end of trading  Thursday last week  showed that the market capitalization closed at N11.875 trillion while the All share Index ended 36,963.77.points, while market capitalization stood at N6.56 billion.
In the period between August 5, 2010 and June 18, when there was an interim president, Mallam Ballama Manu, there was a huge sell down due to high level of investors’ apathy. The NSE All-Share Index lost 18.2 per cent, falling from 25,715.39 to close at 21,028.37.
The height of uncertainty in the market was said to have led to the sell-down observed during this period. However, the trend changed after Dangote resumed. The first three months in office saw the Index rising  by 21.6 per cent.
Global comparison
On global scale, Nigerian market topped other global indices in the green zone during the Dangote’s regime; leading the continent with  89 per cent  followed by Kenya with 56.20 per cent  of one year return.
Furthermore, African continent rode on the back of these performance to close with one year average return of 30.12 per  cent  gain. Among other continents, Asia recorded lowest one year average returns of 4.55 per cent while the advanced countries (G7) recorded one year average gain of 19.10 per cent to close second.
Shareholders’ remarks
In his own assessment, the President of Association for the Advancement of Rights of Nigerian Shareholders, Dr. Faruk Umar, said “Dangote’s ability to support the election of a first vice president, who may likely succeed him, indicates the kind of solid foundation Dangote is laying. The fact that he is the richest person in Africa and the 25th richest in the world gives international investors the confidence to invest in the Nigerian capital market.”
Similarly, the President, Proactive Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Mr. Oderinde Taiwo said the performance is worth celebrating because while the market capitalisation rose by 77 per cent, there are some other stocks that have recorded higher growth within one year that Dangote assumed office.
He added that “the growth recorded so far came from positive initiatives supported by the Council led by Dangote. These include the reconstitution of the Council members. A market segmentation exercise from 33 to 32 sectors was completed to rebrand and reposition Nigerian stock market among its counterparts. A series of new products were introduced. Among them are the SIM Capital Alliance Value Fund, the ABSA NewGold ETF and the NSE-Lotus Islamic Index.

One Year After: Dangote and the stock market upward swing

Investors and other stakeholders could not have had a better yield than they are presently enjoying in the stock market, following the return to the full grip of the bulls on the market from the bearish era after a long spell of lull.
Many investors lost hope following the global financial meltdown which ravaged economies across the world in 2008, and Nigeria not immune, as the downturn wiped off almost 70 per cent of the value of the market. Since then, the market has been struggling to recover.
However, investors began to have hopes rekindled when the market began to bounce back. In the second half of 2012, the market recorded a record growth of 34.5 per cent. The market began the upward swing precisely after the President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Aliko Dangote, resumed office on June 19, 2012 after an interregnum.
Dangote, a former Vice President of the Exchange, had been elected the President. He had barely assumed office when his election became a subject of judicial dispute. He was however returned to the office after 22 months following the ruling of the Court of Appeal. His resumption, stakeholders claimed, opened a new vista in the life of the market which hitherto had been comatose.
Prior to his assumption of duties, the implementation of government policy on fuel subsidy in January of 2012 had stalled economic activities at the beginning of the first quarter, the result of which was felt in the capital market through the first half of the year.
However, there was more excitement in the second half of the year with steady growth across most sectors, and the inclusion of selected government bonds in the JP Morgan Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets (GBI-EM). Consequently, international institutional investors flocked to the bond market, while local institutional investor” appetite for equities was reawakened.
After a superlative growth of 74.7 per cent in 2007, the market dipped by 45.7 per cent in 2008, 33.7 per cent in 2009. It recovered by 18.9 per cent 2010 before falling again by 16.3 per cent in 2011. Towards the end of 2012, the market growth, measured by the NSE. All-Share Index (ASI) was already over 33 per cent. The President of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS), Mr. Ariyo Olushekun, assured that there was no likelihood of any major negative development in the market that could reverse this performance and make the market to close negatively in the year.
Given the efforts of regulators aimed at repositioning the entire financial system and the capital market in particular, market analysts were optimistic that a positive growth would be recorded this year; however, they never expected the magnitude of growth that was about to manifest. In the beginning of 2012, analysts from three leading investment banking firms, FSDH Securities Limited, Meristem Securities Limited (MSL) and FBN Capital Limited, projected a growth of below 15 per cent for the year.
For instance, analysts at FSDH Securities Limited projected that the market would close at 13.3 per cent. Those at MSL envisaged 13.5 per cent while FBN Capital Limited projected a growth of 14 per cent. In projecting the robust outlook for 2012, analyst at MSL said their bullish sentiments were driven by expected performance of the financial service (majorly banks) sector of the market among others. Meanwhile, as at last week, the quantum leap in the performance of the market was beyond their expectation.
Most investors and other stakeholders are of the view that the business acumen, good leadership qualities and international contacts of the Exchange President combined have impacted positively on the stock market which grew by 77 per cent in capitalization within one year of his return to NSE.
In the last one year, capitalization of the NSE has soared by N5.202 trillion, while the Exchange,  All-Share Index rose by 76 per cent. Specifically, the market capitalization rose from N6.712 trillion to N11.914 trillion by the close of trading on Monday. In the same vein, the ASI grew from 21,028.39 to close at 37,085.11
Market analysts and operators said the leadership of Dangote has created harmony in the Council and good atmosphere for the management of the Exchange to implement strategies which have taken the market to the new levels.
Dangote had last year, promised to support the management and work with all council members to ensure restoration of investors confidence.
He, pledged that during his tenure as NSE president, he would be guided by five key elements: Transparency and improved governance of the market; improving the liquidity, turn-over and size of the market; enhancing market efficiency by ensuring clearer and updated rules, processes and procedures; provision of world-class infrastructure and technology for our market and massive capacity building and rapid skill enhancement of the staff of the stock exchange and investor education.
He promised not only to turn around the market but also to ensure it becomes the leading light in Africa.
The NSE President said: “We are one of the best in the sub-Sahara Africa. In fact we are number three in Africa but we are targeting to be number one and we will soon get there.”
Analysts said the NSE has made progress in achieving some of these milestones. The Exchange has improved disclosure and governance level in the market, introduced market making, retail bond trading and raised the level of investor education.
Commenting on the performance of the market under Dangote, the Chief Executive Officer of Lambert Trust and Investment Company Limited, Mr. David Adonri, said the NSE has undergone transformation from a mono-product capital market to that with multiple products offering.
“Dangote has successfully restored a firm order to affairs of the NSE within the past one year. The Board room crisis that he inherited from the previous Council has become a thing of the past. The NSE is once more poised to taking its rightful position in the process of capital formation for the Nigerian economy,” Adonri said.
Another broker and Chief Executive Officer of Investment Centre Limited, Mr. Ifeanyi Odunwa, said the market has done exceedingly well in terms of restoration of investor confidence, quantum positive leap in market indices and return of local investors back to the market in the past one year under.
“The market that defiled various corrective policies put in place since the meltdown years suddenly started responding positively on a sustained basis since his return as the NSE President. Dangote’s personifies investment, hardwork, integrity, resilience, humility, the Nigerian can-do spirit, goodwill, transparency, trust and confidence which are necessary ingredients that positively drive a stock market”, Odunwa said.
“It is not a surprise that his experience, charisma and global contacts were brought to bear on the market coupled with the professionalism and hard work of the NSE management led by Oscar Onyema that ensured the implementation of world-class policies and best practices which finally turned the market around”.
Chairman of Lagos State Pension Commission, Tunde Dabiri said he was not surprised at the exploits of Dangote’s leadership at the Exchange because of his ability, doggedness and antecedent. “I am not surprised at the extent of his success in the last one year at the Exchange.
He is a well-focused business man and he knows what he wants at any particular time”, Dabiri stated.“His presidency is beneficial and don’t forget that he has a stake and he has to make sure the system works and improves. I wish him all the best as he continues to be a major driver of manufacturing in Nigeria. We can only encourage him to do more.”

US hacks Chinese mobile phone messages: Snowden

HONG KONG  – The United States government hacks Chinese mobile phone companies to gather millions of text messages, former CIA agent Edward Snowden said in a report published in the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on Saturday.

The former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor has been hiding in Hong Kong since revealing a massive electronic spying programme by the US and was charged with espionage on Friday.

The latest claim comes after Snowden told the SCMP that network backbones in China and Hong Kong were targeted hundreds of times by the NSA.

“The NSA does all kinds of things like hack Chinese cell phone companies to steal all of your SMS data,” the former CIA technician said in the latest report published on the SCMP’s website late Saturday, which quoted the 30-year-old in an interview conducted on June 12.

Snowden “claims he has the evidence to prove it” the paper said, without elaborating or citing supporting documents.

Government data cited by the paper show that the Chinese exchanged almost 900 billion text messages in 2012, up 2.1 per cent from the year before.

The report did not spell out how the alleged hacking took place, but said Chinese cybersecurity experts have long been concerned about “backdoor” attacks using foreign-made components.

The report came shortly after the the ex-intelligence technician claimed Britain’s electronic eavesdropping agency had gained secret access to fibre-optic cables carrying global Internet traffic and telephone calls.

The Guardian said that Government Communications Headqaurters (GCHQ) had started processing vast amounts of personal information – including Facebook posts, emails, Internet histories and phonecalls — and is sharing it with its US partner the NSA.

The SCMP said that its Sunday edition would contain further revelations relating to hacking of a premier Chinese university and the hacking of the Hong Kong headquarters of Pacnet, which owns fibre optic submarine cables in the region.

Hong Kong officials remained tight-lipped on Saturday as to whether they will hold Snowden after Washington charged the former CIA contractor with espionage, theft and “conversion of government property”.

The SCMP also said that Snowden remained “safe” in Hong Kong and had not been detained by local police.

The city of 7 million people has maintained a degree of autonomy since its handover to Chinese control in 1997 and operates a different legal system.

The former British colony has a long-standing extradition treaty with the US, but Beijing, which has control over the city’s defence and foreign affairs, can veto any ruling. Legal experts have said that any attempt to extradite Snowden could last several years.

$32 BILLION JAPANESE GRANT Nigerian mining sector can benefit – Ekosin

That Nigeria is highly endowed with a large volume of solid minerals is no news.  However, the sector has not made significant contribution to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product owing to a variety of factors.  In this interview, Mr. Sunday Ekosin, who has been in the mining business for over 20 years, explains what is wrong with the sector; how to remedy the problems; and how Nigeria can benefit from the $32 billion Japanese African Development Fund

Excerpts:

You have been advocating for a Presidential Standing Committee on Mining to be set up. What does this mean to the Nigerian economy?

Like we have been advocating, mining is central to national development. When you talk about industrialization, economic growth, mining is central. It is a catalyst that affects other sectors of the economy. It is like a spiral that spreads to agriculture, telecommunication and to industrialization.

All sectors of the economy one way or the other is affected by mining.  But the unfortunate thing is that after decades of mining operations in Nigeria, the Nigerian mining industry is still at the scratching level, without mechanised operations.

The reason for this is not far-fetched. A country that is standing on one- legged economy basically, standing on mono- economy of oil and gas, there is no way it can survive under such situation. We must look at other sectors of the economy, if we must have a sustainable growth.

Unfortunately, the situation in Nigeria is such that attention is so much focused on oil and gas to the detriment of other sectors of the economy. But thank God that this government recently started to come up with good policies and advocacy for the sector. To a great extent, they seem to be making some impact.

Like we all know, before the discovery of oil, it has always been agriculture and mining.  And so, if you are taking agriculture, it must go together with mining. But without political will to pay attention and focus on the development of mining, the sector, for a long time to come, will be in the doldrums.

When you say mining is central, how do you mean?

Organic fertilizer, for example, is got from limestone, which is industrial mineral. So, you produce this from mining. If you talk about metallic minerals, the raw materials used in cell phones and televisions and other electronic gadgets are got from ore and niobium.

It is so central and you can’t talk about industrialization without looking at iron ore for road construction, fabrication of machines and machineries.  As it now, Nigeria is more or less a dumping ground, where all manners of imports come in, whereas, from mineral products, we could produce most of these things imported for consumption by industries in Nigeria.

You just returned from a summit in Japan for development of Africa. How can the Nigerian mining sector benefit from the Japanese grant?

I was in at theTokyo International Conference on African Development, TICAD. It is a programme that started in 1993 by the Japanese government. It was an initiative to forge a collaborative partnership between Japan and the people of the African continent.

It is a programme that comes up once every five years and this is the fifth edition and the twentieth year. The conference was well attended. We had about 51 governments from African nations represented and Presidents from Africa were about 10 physically present. The Vice President represented the Nigerian President and led the team that attended the TICAD conference.

The Japanese government is very interested in minerals from the Africa continent. They are looking at the continent as the nucleus that will sustain the world in terms of natural resources.  From their findings, they believe that Africa holds the key to raw material in the world, and, as such, two major countries were very prominent in their discussion with the Japanese government: South Africa because of the zirconium product they have and then the Congo because of cobalt.

The unfortunate part of it is that the Nigerian mineral products are not well known to the Japanese. And because they are not well known, the information available to them as investors is so skeletal.   Statistics by the Japanese government showed they identified that Africa accounts for 89 percent of the world total reserves of platinum, 60 percent of diamond, 53 percent of cobalt, 37 percent of zirconium and 35 percent of chrome.

When we look at the enthusiasm of the Japanese government, we found out that these people are not interested
in container- load or shipment of any raw material from Africa. About two of the companies that had discussions with us were more interested in large volumes that the capital outlay will be in the region of at least two million dollars.

I can tell you that among all the indigenous miners in Nigeria, none has that capacity. Even when we have the natural resources available, we do not have the financial capacity and infrastructural capacity, including the equipment to meet that demand.

We now see a very great gap between us, the Nigerian miners and the Japanese end-users. By and large, I came to a summation that that if we must move from the current level of scratching the earth to beat poverty, which we are currently doing, we must go to the next level of small scale and medium scale operation. We need a special intervention and this is where the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, NEPC, comes in. The collaboration with the private sector is invaluable.

Since you have the raw materials buried in the ground and you have the market, why don’t you collaborate with Japanese investors by way of equity investment, so that you can make these raw materials available to them?

That is where the missing link comes in. The way you lay your bed, that is the way you will lie on it. Charity they say begins at home. When somebody has got resources and is unable to harness the resources and to produce a meaningful quantity that is visible to whoever the investor would be, nobody would believe him.

We must do something that will boost the confidence of foreign investors to bring in their money and technological knowhow to be able to add value and produce the quantity that will meet their requirement. That is why I said the NEPC must come in.

The NEPC is so critical. The Export Promotion Council of Ghana went to TICAD with 40 of their people, I mean the private sector and non-governmental agencies, took them there, paid everything on their behalf because they understand that the private sector is the driver of everything.

The government’s duty is to create a conducive environment, formulate the policy while the private sector drives the economy. In our own case, we (miners) were 10 percent of the people that went from Ghana, not minding that we are the largest population on the African continent.

We were four private operators that went from Nigeria with God knows how many that represented the Nigerian government in the TICAD. And this is where the missing link is and I ask some of the officials of the NEPC, why is it that you were not able to carry your exporters to this programme? They said the problem is that they are poorly funded.

NEPC should be properly funded to be able to promote and carry out its mandate of promoting exportable products of Nigerian origin to the international world.

Don’t the exporters have the capacity to attend such important summits on their own bill?

These are functions of information. These are also functions of  a conducive environment. Where these two are missing, there is nothing anybody can do. The information must be available to you and the agency to promote the exporters. They are mandated by law establishing NEPC to add value and fund the exporters.  If mining is to be properly developed in Nigeria for local consumption and for export, then the Federal Government must properly fund the NEPC.

What would you say made the Ghanaian delegation to TICAD different from that of Nigeria?

The issue of patriotism and nationality has been at the public domain over a period of years. When you say you are representing your country and you go to such an event and you are representing yourself instead of your country, to me, that is lack of patriotism and nationality.

The whole issue to me is very painful. But, I think that whoever it is, no matter how highly placed you are, for the fact that you come from a nation called Nigeria,  and you go out there with tax payers money, the number one thing in your mind should be the nation that brought you to that place.

You said that Nigerian mining products are not known to Japanese investors. Why?

The fact is that the products leave Nigeria without value added. Most of the time, they end up in China or India, where they will now do some upgrade. But Japanese, because of the advanced nature of the country, they want value added products.

They are so concerned about environmental factors and other effects that result from mining, which developing countries can condone, which they can’t condone. And because of their land mass, all they require is value- added products and the interesting thing in dealing with the Japanese is that, they are very straightforward and have human face unlike the Chinese and the Indians.

I have always made my position known that they – Chinese and Indians – are not investors. They are more like ravenous wolves. They are just ravaging our landscape. What they do is to cart away as much as possible the resources until the sector becomes sanitised.

That is why we are advocating to the President that he must of urgency and necessity set up a Presidential Standing Committee to drive and to harness the enormous wealth that we have in mining. The earlier this is done, the better. The eyes of the developed nations are on African nations for their raw materials requirement.  And if we miss it now, we have missed it forever. Our children will be the ones to pay for it and at the end of the day they will curse every one of us for not setting the standards that would enable them develop the God- given wealth in years to come.

There is a ministry of solid minerals. Why can’t the ministry make sure that those who are in the mining sector play according to internationally acceptable standards?

A situation whereby there is no synergy between the public and the private sector, what do you expect? A situation where major stakeholders are excluded from the scheme of things because they are vocal, because they are talking about things that need to be put right in order for the sector to be developed..

This why we say, possibly, the ministry that has been in existence since 1995 might have run out ideas and, if that is the case, the President needs to step in. And that is why he is the Commander-in-Chief. He has to step in as a commander and straighten out whatever is wrong in the sector and ensure that the sector contributes generously to the economic development of Nigeria.

The intervention of the President in the sports sector is very interesting because he passionately intervened and we are now seeing the dividends coming out.  In fact, we are not saying that the standing committee should be for the boys. It should be men and women, who are patriots; there should be no salary paid to them.

He should make the committee act decisively and correct the things that need to be corrected in the sector. What is needed is just the platform, forget about the money. With time, from the operations of the committee, money will come. $32 billion from Japan as a grant to African, 10 percent of that will take us far. If we have $3.1 billion in Nigeria and you give $1 billion to mining sector, I can tell you that Nigeria will be on the world map of mining. We will turn the entire economy of the nation around for the better.

N710,000 Fraud: Choir Director At Chris Oyakhilome’s Church To Face Charges

An Ogudu Magistrates’ Court in Lagos on Friday struck out an application for the withdrawal of a N710, 000 fraud charge against a Choir Director of the Christ Embassy Church, Lagos.

The police had on May 15 arraigned the director, Sunday Eboh, who allegedly defrauded another member of the church, David Egaifa, under false pretences of helping him to purchase a Toyota bus.
Chief Magistrate Omolade Awope struck out the application when Egaifa exhibited ignorance of implications of the withdrawal.
The complainant, who had earlier agreed with the accused to withdraw the suit, told court on Friday that he was not properly enlightened on the implications of withdrawing the case.
Mr. Egaife made this known after the prosecutor, Corporal Adekemi Adeniran, told him that he would not be able to bring back the case once withdrawn.
“Madam, it is during this section that I learnt I can’t come back for the same case after withdrawal, but I was told that l can re-arrest Eboh if he refuses to pay my money.
“My Lord, I don’t want withdrawal again. I withdraw my application,” Mr. Egaifa said.
The choir director, who lives at No. 11, Church St., Ketu, Lagos, is facing a two-count charge of false pretence and stealing.
He had pleaded not guilty on arraignment, and was granted bail in the sum of N200, 000 with two sureties in like sum.
The prosecutor said that he committed the offences in February, 2012 at 12:30 p.m., at the Christ Embassy Church, Ketu, Lagos.
“The accused told the complainant that his relatives are living in United Kingdom and that they frequently sent cars home for sale.
“The complainant was not totally convinced, so he asked the accused to deposit his B.Sc certificate and his NYSC discharge certificate, to be turned to him when he brings the bus. After collecting the money, the accused ran away until last week when he turned up to demand for the certificates,” Ms. Adeniran said.
She said that the offences contravened Sections 285 and 312 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.
Section 285 prescribes three years imprisonment for stealing while Section 312 provides for 15 years imprisonment for obtaining by false pretences.

Shocking: Female lautech student killed; eyes, brains, private parts removed

Reports reaching DailyPost from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, LAUTECH, has it that a female student of the institution, identified as Seun was found dead around 10 pm on Friday with her brain, eyes and breasts removed. The hair on her private part was equally shaved too.
DailyPost gathered that the deceased’s mutilated body was found along Under-G Student Area of Ogbomosho, behind Jastok Guest house.

It was gathered that, the late 100 level student of Transport Management Department was declared missing by her friends and room mates after she was last seen four days ago.
However, following the discovery of her body, some of her close friends were forced to disclose that she left the hostel days ago for a party and hadn’t returned since then, leaving many to suggest that perhaps she was raped to death and eventually used for some rituals.
The deceased’s boyfriend has been arrested and handed over to the police as the prime suspect.
More details later.

Nigeria’s 4x100m men blow last chance

The 2013 Cross River/All Nigeria championships ended yesterday with the Nigerian men’s  4x100m falling short of the required performance that will launch them into the World Championships billed for August in Moscow, Russia.
It was one of the last opportunities they had to make the difference as they chased the 39.00 seconds cut off mark. The team struggled to find their rhythm and coupled with strong winds blowing from the direction of the finish line, it was always going to be a herculean task for the team to rise to the occasion. They finished at 39. 61 seconds, a far cry from the 39. 16 seconds they did at the Warri Relays.
In the other closing events of the day, Blessing Okabgare completed a treble when she took the women long jump and 200m. Okagbare who is the world leader in the 200m, finished 22.61 seconds. She was followed by Miriam Bassey of Cross River State who clocked 23. 17 seconds while Ghana’s Janet Amposah was third with 23.79.
In the men’s 200m, Elvis Ukale ran 21.16 seconds to clinch his first championships title. He denied Noah Akwu the opportunity to complete a 400m and 200m double. Akwu finished 21. 34 seconds, while Tamunotonye Briggs was third with 21.34 seconds.
Okagbare, who earlier in the month jumped a wind assisted 7.14m, raked up 6.68m while junior athlete Ese Brume jumped 6.42 just as Doris Chinazom Amadi came third with 6.31m
“It has been an exciting trial and hopefully we should be able to present a good team for the world championships in August. Our major concern now is how to raise funds so that we can have a training camp to prepare, most especially our relay teams,” said AFN president, Solomon Ogba.