GOVERNOR ABBA KABIR YUSUF DOES NOT HAVE PLANS TO LEAVE HIS PARTY AND WILL NOT LEAVE THE PARTY – MEDIA DIRECTOR, SANUSI BATURE DAWAKIN TOFA.

Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano state on Friday, January 26, said he has no plans to dump the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) on whose platform he won the governorship polls.

Yusuf was responding to an invite by the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, to join the APC.

Governor Yusuf, whose election was affirmed by the Supreme Court penultimate week, is the only NNPP governor in Nigeria.

However, Ganduje on Thursday, January 25, wooed Yusuf and his godfather Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso as well as Ibrahim Shekarau of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), asking them to join APC, according to him, in the interest of Nigerians and the country.

During the party’s stakeholders’ meeting in Kano, Ganduje said: “I am appealing to Governor Yusuf, along with his members from the NNPP, to defect to the ruling APC at the national level to ensure massive political growth of the state.

“We are working very hard to ensure more members of the National Assembly from Kano State and others from other political parties join hands with the progressives as doors of the party remain opened to all.”

According to Ganduje, the APC would commence e-registration and the target is to get the highest number of membership from the state and also have a one party state.

He added: “We will provide an enabling environment for all defectors for the overall political growth of our party and state,” disclosing that “some opposition governors and National Assembly members will soon join the ruling party.”

In his reaction, Yusuf however, rejected Ganduje’s invitation, telling the APC national chairman he would not exit from NNPP.

The governor spoke in a statement by his media director, Sanusi Bature Dawakin Tofa.

The statement read: “We heard that he (Ganduje) is begging the Governor to join the APC. What is surprising is, that Ganduje as a former governor and former deputy governor, knows better than anyone the right channel to send a message to a sitting governor.

“Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf does not have plans to leave his party and will not leave the party. Changing a political party is like changing a house. You just cannot wake up, pack your bags, and say I have left my party. There are things to be done before you decide to change your house.”

During the meeting held at the APC secretariat in Kano, Ganduje also said the Kano state APC has accepted the Supreme Court judgment in good faith, hailing President Bola Tinubu for his love for the state chapter of the party.

Ganduje said talks have reached an advanced stage such that other smaller parties nationwide, including governors and lawmakers, would soon dump their political parties and join the ruling APC.

Ganduje explained that the coming of the Kano governor (Yusuf) to APC will strengthen the ruling party in Kano and at the national level, driving developments to the state.

FEYI DANIELS, FOUNDER OF “I REIGN CHRISTIAN MINISTRY”, GETS LIFE IMPRISONMENT FOR “RAPING A CHURCH MEMBER.”

An Ikeja sexual offences and domestic violence court has sentenced Feyi Daniels, founder of “I Reign Christian Ministry”, to life imprisonment for “raping a church member.”

The trial judge, Rahman Oshodi, on Friday, January 26, found the cleric guilty of rape and sexual assault of a female worshipper.

Daniels was arraigned by the Lagos state government over rape, attempted rape, and sexual assault of his church members.

He was accused of sexually assaulting three of his church members at his residence in Lekki and on his church premises in Ikeja.

AGAIN, COURT ORDERS REMAND OF SUSPENDED UNICAL PROFESSOR AS ICPC FILES SUBSTITUTED CHARGE

Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja has again ordered that Professor Cyril Ndifon, the suspended Dean of Faculty of Law, University of Calabar (UNICAL), be remanded at the Kuje Centre of the Nigerian Correctional Service again pending the conclusion of his bail application.

This is even as the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) applied to the Court to substitute the earlier charge. This was granted with the addition of one Barrister Sunny Anyanwu as 2nd Defendant.

Barrister Anyanwu, before now was one of the lawyers representing the first defendant in Court but was later joined in the suit over an allegation that he threatened one of the star witnesses ICPC lined up for the trial.

Professor Ndifon was first ordered to be remanded at Kuje Centre of the Nigerian Correctional Service on the 8th of January, 2024 pending the conclusion of his bail application.

He was granted a temporary bail on January 10, 2024to enable him go for a glaucoma surgery scheduled for January 11, 2024.

At the commencement of the main trial on Thursday, Counsel to the ICPC, Dr. Osuobeni Ekoi Akponimisingha, sought the leave of Court to substitute the earlier charge dated and filed 30th October 2023 with an amended charge dated 19th day of January, 2024 and filed on the 22nd day of January, 2024.

Count 4 of the amended charge reads: “That you Professor Cyril Osim Ndifon (M) and Barrister Sunny Anyanwu (M) sometime in the month of November, 2023 or thereabouts, at Abuja within the Jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did conspire among yourselves to call “TKJ” (Not real name) on her mobile telephone number: 070**********, a prosecution witness in charge number FHC/ABJ/CR/511/2023 between Federal Republic of Nigeria and Professor Cyril Osim Ndifon during the pendency of the said criminal charge and threatened her not to honour the invitation of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission in respect of the criminal investigation against Professor Cyril Osim Ndifon which conduct, you both knew was intended to perverse the cause of justice and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 182 of the Penal Code Cap. 532 Laws of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, 2006.”

The two defendants however pleaded not guilty when the amended charges were read to them.

Their plea set the tone for the commencement of trial as Counsel to the ICPC, Dr. Akponimisingha, informed the Court that some of the Commission’s witnesses were in Court and were ready to proceed to trial.

The defendants’ lawyer, Mr. Okon Efut, SAN however differed and prayed that the bail application hearing for the first defendant be concluded before the commencement of the trial and his formal response to the amended charges.

He hinged his argument on a medical report that ‘recommended’ an extension for the planned glaucoma surgery for the first defendant.

The presiding judge however ruled that since the medical report requesting for the extension was not formally filed in Court, the main trial would continue as the Court would not rely on a document that was not before it.

Shortly before the first prosecution witness was called, Justice Omotosho directed that members of the press covering the Court proceeding should not take or publish pictures of any of the witnesses that would appear in Court neither should their real names be mentioned as the Court wish to protect them against any form of persecution.

In her examination, the first prosecution witness, an investigator with the ICPC told the court how the first defendant (Professor Ndifon) was arrested following a petition on sexual harassment, official corruption and abuse of office was submitted against him.

She also told the court that some nude pictures and videos of certain contacts (who were students of the first defendant) were found in his phone when his WhatsApp messaging application was subjected to forensic examination.  

The presiding judge adjourned the hearing of the trial and the ruling on the bail application for Friday, 26th of January, 2024. He also ordered the remand of the two defendants at the Kuje Centre of the Nigerian Correctional Service.

$500,000 BRIBE FROM FEMI OTEDOLA: SUPREME COURT DISMISSES FAROUK LAWAN’S APPEAL

The Supreme Court has upheld the five years sentence of former House of Representatives member, Farouk Lawan, for receiving a bribe of $500,000 from businessman Femi Otedola.

His appeal sought to set aside the February 24, 2022 judgment of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which sentenced him to a five-year jail term and discharged him on two out of the three counts on the corruption charge brought against him by the Federal Government.

In the lead judgment prepared by Justice John Okoro but read by Justice Tijjani Abubakar, the apex court held that Lawan’s appeal was without merit and dismissed it.

The five-member panel unanimously affirmed the 2022 judgment of the Court of Appeal which upheld Lawan’s sentencing to five years in respect of only count three on the three-count charge on which he was tried at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory.

Lawan was convicted and sentenced to prison in 2021 for accepting a $500,000 bribe from businessman, Femi Otedola, Chairman, Zenon Petroleum and Gas Limited.

A three-member Appeal Court panel led by its president, Monica Dongban-Mensem, had unanimously overturned the former lawmaker’s conviction for two of the three offences he was earlier jailed for by the lower trial court in June 2021.

After his appeal against his conviction and sentencing by the lower High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Lawal also got a reduction of his jail term by the appellate court from seven to five years.

This was as a result of his acquittal in respect of two counts which, each attracted seven years jail term at the trial court.

Lawan was left with a conviction for the third offence with five years’ imprisonment as punishment by the Court of Appeal’s overall decision.

During the hearing of the appeal at the Supreme Court, Lawan’s Counsel and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Joseph Daudu, had asked the court to allow his client’s appeal and set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal.

While adumbrating, Daudu noted that the Court of Appeal discharged on counts one and two, which attracted a maximum of seven years.

Daudu argued that if the Court of Appeal could discharge his client on the two counts, which he claimed, have the same ingredients as the third count, the Supreme Court should equally let off the hook about the third count.

Counsel to the Federal Government, Bagudu Sanni, urged the court to affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeal and dismiss the appeal.