Imagine It!!!

#NigeriaDecide: A call to duty as all eligible Nigerians with their permanent voter's card troop to their respective polling stations across the nation to vote for their presidential candidates as well as senatorial and House of Representatives members. God Bless Nigeria!!!

Fair Play Africa: Court Slams $75,000 USD On Pedophile : A Nigerian court has awarded N15 million, about  ($75,000 USD)  against an ex policeman who defiled an 11 year old Junior Secondary School ...

A Nigerian court has awarded N15 million, about  ($75,000 USD)  against an ex policeman who defiled an 11 year old Junior Secondary School boy. The court was told that the ex cop, Corporal John Unegbu, sometimes in September 2013 at Bwari, a satellite town in the Federal Capital Territory,  had unlawful carnal knowledge by defiling the boy whose names are withheld, which led to the boy having serious stomach aches and discharge of whitish fluid from his anus. Determined to bring the pedophile to justice, the ex cop who had been tried and dismissed by his employers- the Nigeria Police Force, was dragged before Justice Folashade Ojo of the Abuja High Court by an Abuja based Human Rights activist, Ms Esther Uzoma,  last year, for the enforcement of the fundamental rights of the  boy. She urged the court to declare that the unlawful carnal knowledge , indecent assault and defilement of the tender and vulnerable 11 year old through the anus by...

Fair Play Africa: Eligibility: Court Shifts Suit Against Buhari To A... : A federal high court siting in Abuja on Wednesday refused applications brought before it by two persons seeking to be joined in the suits i...

A federal high court siting in Abuja on Wednesday refused applications brought before it by two persons seeking to be joined in the suits instituted against the Presidential candidate of the All Progresive Congress, APC, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, challenging his eligibility to contest the forthcoming presidential election on account of his alleged non possession of requisite educational qualification. In refusing the joinder application, the trial judge, Justice Adeniyi Ademola, noted that the duo have no business being parties in the suit, more so as defendants as they had applied. The judge categorically described the duo as meddlesome busy bodies who have no reason whatsoever to being parties. The persons, Mr. Ebun Adegoruwa and Chukwuma Ochu, had approached the court seeking to be joined in the suit as defendants but their application was opposed by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, which insisted through their lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome, that the duo were meddlesome interl...

Fair Play Africa: Court Threatens To Jail YDP Officials : Court Threatens To Jail YDP Officials A federal court in Abuja on Monday threatened to jail officials of the newly registered political...

Court Threatens To Jail YDP Officials A federal court in Abuja on Monday threatened to jail officials of the newly registered political party, Youth Democratic Party, YDP, for misrepresenting a judgment delivered by the court earlier in the month in the suit instituted by the party in pursuit of its registration by the Independent National Election Commission, INEC. The court presided by Justice Ahmed Mohammed had  on 4th March  ordered the electoral umpire to register the party having complied with the requirements for its registration but the party officials at a press conference held in Abuja, informed the media that the court had also ordered that it be allowed to participate in the forthcoming elections. The court issued a 24 hour ultimatum to the officials of the Youth Democratic to address to convoke a press conference to retract their misrepresentation of the judgment or risk being sent to jail. The angry judge further ordered the party officials...

Fair Play Africa: Nyanya Blast: Suspect Arraigned And Remanded : Six persons suspected to have masterminded and executed the April 14th, 2014 bloody bomb blasts at a well populated bus terminal in Nyanya,...

Six persons suspected to have masterminded and executed the April 14th, 2014 bloody bomb blasts at a well populated bus terminal in Nyanya, a suburb within Nigeria's federal capital city, Abuja, have been further remanded at the custody of the Department of State Services, DSS, by a federal court despite stiff opposition by the suspects' lawyers.  The accused persons ; Aminu Sadiq Ogwuche, Akhmad Rufai Abubakar (aka Abu Ibrahim/Maitirare), Mohammed Sani Ishaq, Ya’u Saidu (aka Kofar Rama), Anas Isah, Adamu Yusuf and Nasiru Abubakar, were formally arraigned on an eight count charge before the court on Friday after series of postponements. They all denied any involvement in the dastardly act and pleaded not guilty. They were accused by Nigerian government of conspiracy, engaging in act of terrorism, belonging to Boko Haram, an outlawed group and refusal to disclose to security agencies, information that would have help prevented act of terrorism. The suspect...

Fair Play Africa: 2015: Court of Appeal Clears Jonathan To Contest P... : The Court of Appeal siting in Abuja on Tuesday held that President Goodluck Jonathan is eligible to participate in the forthcoming Presiden...

The Court of Appeal siting in Abuja on Tuesday held that President Goodluck Jonathan is eligible to participate in the forthcoming Presidential election for a chance to secure a second term of office as Nigeria's President. The court dismissed an appeal brought before it by a chieftain of the President's party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, challenging his eligibility to contest the now rescheduled  28 March  Presidential election. In a unanimous judgment this evening, the appellate court held that the President is qualified to seek for another term of office having not participated in the two previous elections for the office as prescribed by law. The presiding Justice Abubakar Yahaya who delivered the lead judgment noted that the oath of office taken by Jonathan on May 6, 2010 to complete the tenure of late President Umaru Musa Yar Adua was not on account of election required by law but by operations of the constitution. In specific terms, the court  held that Jon...

Embattled Senator Ayogu Eze who has been crying foul over his failure to clinch the gubernatorial ticket of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, ahead of the Enugu state Governorship has been floored at a federal high court where he's challenging the emergence of Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as the governorship candidate of the party. Eze had dragged the party, its National Chairman, Mr. Adamu Mu'azu, INEC and Ugwuanyi before the court over the delegates list with which the party's primary was conducted. Both Eze and Ugwuanyi had laid claim to the governorship ticket of the party in having emerged from two parallel primary elections that was held last December. In its decision on Monday, ‎the court presided by Justice Evoh Stephen Chukwu, noted that from the averrments made in the proceedings, that it was only one governorship primary election that was conducted in Enugu state  on December 8  under the watchful eyes of the national officers of the PDP. ...

Four persons suspected to be involved in the murder of a Kaduna based Islamic preacher, Sheik Auwal Adam Albani and his family members, were on Tuesday arraigned before a federal high court in Abuja by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice. The suspects, Yakubu Abdullahi (alias Alhaji Bala), Yasir Salihu (alias Dan Birnin), Bilyaminu Usman (alias Bilya) and Musa Abubakar (alias Mallam), were accused of conspiring to kill the cleric,  his wife and son on 1st of February. In a seven counts charge read to them at their arraignment, they were alleged to have killed the prominent cleric and leader of the Sallafiyya Movement in Zaria, Kaduna State, his wife Umma Abdul-Bari Albani and 18 year old son, Abdullahi Albani with two AK-47 rifles. The offences which the authorities described as terrorist acts, are punishable under sections 17, 5 (1), and 16 of the Terrorism Prevention Act, 2011. They however pleaded not guilty to all the counts of the ch...

Former governor of Adamawa state, Admiral Murtala Nyako, has accused the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, of frustrating his case challenging the legality of his impeachment by the Adamawa state House of Assembly. The impeached former governor alleged that the Chief Judge had withdrawn the case file from the Adamawa division of the federal high court where the case was being heard just a few days to the delivery of judgement by the trial judge, Justice Bilikisu Aliyu. Nyako's lawyer, Mr. Olukoya Ogunbele, at a press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday, appealed to the Chief Judge to immediately release the case file so that the trial judge can deliver judgement in the interest of justice. He stated that the withdrawal of a case file few days to judgement date by any judicial officer, is in bad taste and should not be condoned. The Federal high court has however denied the claims of the former givernor. In its reaction, the Chief Registrar of ...

A Court of Appeal siting in Abuja on Monday, upheld the victory of Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state in the June 21, 2014 governorship election. In a decision delivered by a full panel of the court and headed by Justice Abdul Aboki, the court held that the APC did not prove beyond reasonable doubt that Fayose's certificate issued by the Polytechnic Ibadan, was forged. The court noted that the issuing institution which was the Polytechnic Ibadan had forwaded a letter stating that the certificate in contention was issued by it noting that the party failed to provide any evidence before the court to show that the certificate was forged. The opposition All Progressive Congress, APC, had approached the court challenging the decision of the Ekiti state Governorship Election PetitionTribunal which sat and affirmed the Governor's victory in Abuja last December. The APC had claimed that the Tribunal erred by dismissing the ground of its petition on the alleged certificate ...

Justice Ahmed Mohammed of a federal high court in Abuja on Monday referred a suit seeking constitutional interpretations on the eligibility of President Goodluck Jonathan to contest the next presidential election having inherited the remnant of the tenure of the late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua, to the Court of Appeal for determination. The judge ordered for the referral in a ruling he delivered following an application for referral filed on the 28th of last November by two lawyers, Mr. Adejumo Ajagbe and Mr. Olatoye Wahab. The duo had sued the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, seeking to restrain them from allowing Jonathan to participate in next presidential election on the ground that his second and final term term would end on May 29 this year. They had filed the application for referral to the appallate court while their substantive suit was being heard by the trial court wherein they urged t...

Legal proceedings commenced Monday before Justice Adeniyi Ademola of a  federal high court in Abuja in suits challenging the eligibility of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari rtd., the Presidential candidate of the opposition All Progresive Congress, APC, to participate in the forthcoming presidential election which date has been shifted by the Independent National Election Commission, INEC,   from 14th February to 28th March, 2015 . The main suit which seeks for the disqualification of Buhari and filed by Barr Max Ozoaka had prominent senior advocates of Nigeria, including Chief Wole Olanipekun, Akin Olujinmi, Lateef Fagbemi, Emeka Ngige, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, James Ocholi, Funke Aboyede, Femi Falana, all lined up in defence of Buhari while another set of senior advocates of Nigeria, comprising of Ade Okeaya Ineh, Godwin Obla and Ken Njamanze, appeared for the plaintiff, Barr Ozoaka. Buhari's lead lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun, indicated to the court that in view of the add...

Nigeria's Supreme Court, on Friday in Abuja, nullified and set aside the conviction of Mr. Talal Ahmad Roda, a Lebanese resident in Nigeria's North Central city of Kano who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment over cache of arms allegedly belonging to Lebanese terrorist group,  Hezbollah. Talal Ahmad Roda was arrested in the Kano house where the ammunition was found and was sentenced to life imprisonment having been found guilty of conspiracy by a federal high court in Abuja. The trial court had freed Mr. Mustapha Fawaz, owner of Abuja-based Amigo Supermarket and Wonderland Amusement Park, and Mr. Abdallah Thahini both of whom stood trial alongside Mr. Roda over the arms. A five man panel of the apex court presided by Justice Musa Dattijo Mohammed, held that there was no evidence adduced before the trial court linking Mr. Roda to the cache of arms found at No 3, Gaiya Road , Kano from where he was arrested. Furthermore, the court held that the trial court...

Published by TheNEWS Magazine Nigeria’s President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan undertook a surprise visit to Maiduguri Thursday on the occasion of Nigeria’s Armed Forces Remembrance Day to meet with officers and men of the Armed Forces currently in the frontline of the war against terrorism and insurgency in the country. Accompanied by the Chief of Defence Staff, Service Chiefs, the National Security Adviser and the Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency, President Jonathan visited officers and men of the 7 Division of the Nigerian Army at Maimalari Cantonment in Maiduguri to thank them for their patriotic and courageous service to the nation. The President told officers and soldiers of the Division that the nation was very proud of them and grateful for their dedication and commitment to the defence of the civilian population against terrorists and violent extremists. President Jonathan also assured the troops that the Federal Government will continue to do ...

Nigerian judiciary workers under the auspices of Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, JUSUN, on Monday embarked on an indefinite strike action to press for direct release of  funding for the judiciary. All the courts in the nation's capital, Abuja, had been under locks and keys since early hours of the day while workers who turned up for work were denied access to the courts premises. President of the judiciary workers body, Mr. Marwan Mustapha Adamu, in an interview with newsmen outside  the federal high court complex in Abuja noted that the industrial action will not be called off until the federal and state governments comply with a judgment obtained by the workers' body on the direct release of Judiciary appropriations to the National Judicial Council, NJC, for onward release to the courts. "The Accountant General of the Federation had persistently refused to comply with the judgment of this court directing him to release the funds appropriated for the judi...