Gist of The Hour Blog

An Abuja Federal High Court  ordered the interim forfeiture of 11 houses and 22 bank accounts linked to Delta-North Senator, Peter Nwaoboshi. Justice Taiwo Taiwo made the order on July 2 but a certified true copy of the order was only issued on July 5 (Friday). The judge issued the order following an ex parte application by the Special Presidential Investigative Panel for the Recovery of Public Property. The ex parte application was moved by the panel’s lawyer, Celsus Ukpong, who described the assets as suspicious or suspected to be far beyond the legitimate income of Nwaoboshi. Although, Ukpong had applied for interim forfeiture of 14 landed assets, the judge only granted the request in respect of 11, as he exempted three of them that were without addresses from the order. The affected properties include, Suiming Electrical Company (RC 1090069) located along Asaba Airport Road, Asaba, Delta State; PON Filling Station, along Asaba Airport Road, Asaba, Delta State and a multi-billion

The Federal government of Nigeria has withdrawn the corruption charges it filed against Senator Danjuma Goje, over an alleged mismanagement of funds when he was the Governor of Gombe State. The application to withdraw the corruption charges against Goje which was granted by a Federal High Court in Jos, came weeks after he agreed to step down for Ahmed Lawan as Senate President. Daily Trust reported that an official from the office of the Attorney General of the Federation, Pius Akutah, filed the application to withdraw the charges against Mr Goje before the court on Friday. “My Lord, we have an application having taken over the case and reviewed the 21 count charges of no submission and by the ruling of this court quashed 19 leaving only two count charges in which they are to enter defence. “As it is, the Federal Ministry of Justice wishes to withdraw those two charges against the accused persons This action is in line with the power vested on the AGF by virtue of section 128 of t

Captain of the Super Eagles, John Obi Mikel would miss the remainder of the country’s campaign at the on-going 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. Mikel strained his knee in the Super Eagles’ 2-0 loss to Madagascar and was replaced by Alex Iwobi in the 59th minute. After several checks by the medical staff, it has confirmed that he will be out of their Round of 16 clash, and the 32-year-old could miss the rest of the championship. While coach, Gernot Rohr remained vague as to the extent of the injury, it was understood that the problem is not a severe one, but the German will not risk exacerbating the injury.Therefore, the new Trabzonspor signing may not feature again in Egypt. This setback will come as a blow to the former Chelsea man, who earlier revealed Egypt 2019 could be his last AFCON.

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos State has ordered the forfeiture of 2,149 pieces of jewellery and a customised gold iPhone, all valued at $40m, belonging to a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke. The presiding judge, Justice Nicholas Oweibo, ordered that the items should be temporarily forfeited to the Federal Government following an ex parte application moved today Friday July 5th by a lawyer for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Rotimi Oyedepo. The EFCC in its application before the court, said that it found and recovered the jewellery and the customised gold iPhone which it believes was acquired with “proceeds of unlawful activities.”

President Muhammadu  Buhari has congratulated the Governor of Osun State, Gboyega Oyetola, for his victory at the Supreme court this morning Friday July 5th. The apex court had upheld his election while dismissing the petition filed by Ademola Adeleke, the PDP candidate in the state governorship election which held in September last year. Read the President's statement below

Senator Dino Melaye of the peoples democratic party  has purchased the nomination form for Kogi State Governorship election in November  The lawmaker who currently represents Kogi West in the Senate, declared his intention to stand for the November 16 poll at a Peoples Democratic Party meeting a few weeks ago and according to him, 'in God we trust. We shall overcome'. Dino Melaye will go head to head against his very bitter rival and incumbent governor, Yahaya Bello.

There was jubilation at Supreme Court today following the judgement which affirmed the victory of Osun Governor-elect Gboyega Oyetola at the September 2018 election held in the state. The All Progressives Congress (APC) party faithfuls who could not hide their excitement at the Supreme Court Premises burst into jubilation. They also displayed a big portrait of the governor-elect as they celebrated the victory. The Supreme Court on Friday, affirmed Oyetola’s victory by a majority judgment of five to two members of the Supreme Court panel. The apex court therefore dismissed the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Ademola Adeleke, challenging the election of Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress.

The All Progressives Congress, Osun State chapter has reacted to the judgement delivered by the Supreme Court on the Osun state governorship election today July 5th. According to the party, their progressive God has heard their prayers. The Apex court this morning dismissed the appeal of PDP candidate, Ademola Adeleke, and affirmed the election of APC's Gboyega Oyetola. A statement signed by the the spokesperson of the Osun state chapter of the APC, Barrister Kunle Oyatomi, reads “God has used the highest legal authority of the land to proclaim the truth that Oyetola lawfully won. And that is historic. Our fears for the calamity that might have befallen the state of Osun, if the PDP had been declared winner, have now been assuaged.”

Former vice president, Atiku Abubakar has reacted to the latest supreme court ruling in the Osun State governorship tussle. The Supreme court this morning declared Gboyega Oyetola as the rightful winner of the disputed election thus putting an end to the legal battle. Atiku in his reaction said, 'I join with people of goodwill all over Nigeria to say to Senator Ademola Adeleke, and the people of the great state of Osun, that we stand with them in good times and in difficult days. The Supreme Court has ruled and because of its judicial finality, the legal case is over'. However, the love, acceptance and endorsement that the people of Osun bestowed on both Senator Adeleke and the PDP is not over and cannot be overlooked. Those who think this is the end of the road for Senator Adeleke and the PDP in Osun, are greatly mistaken. This is not the end. Not even the beginning of the end. No. Today marks the continued ascendancy of Senator Adeleke and his part

The Supreme Court has upheld the election of Gboyega Adetola as the governor elect of Osun state. PDP candidate in the election, Ademola Adeleke, an Uncle of singer Davido, was dissatisfied with the result announced by INEC after the election which held in September 2018 and filed a petition at the tribunal. The tribunal in a ruling delivered in March, declared Adeleke winner of the election in March. Gboyega appealed the verdict at the Court of Appeal In May, the appeal court gave judgement in favour of the APC candidate.  Adeleke then filed an appeal at the Supreme court. Delivering judgement this morning, five of the seven judges on the panel were in favour of Oyetola, leaving Adeleke with just two.

A Federal High Court in Abeokuta, Ogun State on yesterday, Thursday sentenced a man, Ahmed Oladimeji, to four months imprisonment for sending pornographic and indecent pictures via a computer.  Oladimeji was found guilty of a one-count amended charge that bordered on sending pornographic and indecent pictures through a computer system. The offence is contrary to Section 24 (1)(a) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention Etc) Act, 2015, and punishable under Section 24(1)(b) of the Act. He pleaded guilty to the charge. His plea was sequel to the plea bargain arrangement he reached with the Commission through his lawyer, which informed the amended charge he was convicted of on Thursday. Apart from the four months jail term, he is to serve on account of his conviction, he was also ordered to refund sums in foreign currency to victims of his fraudulent acts. The court equally ordered the forfeiture of all items recover

Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex and friend to American professional tennis player female tennis pro Serena Williams, made a surprise appearance at day four of Wimbledon to watch Williams play in her second round match.  This is Markle’s second time at Wimbledon as a royal; she attended last summer as well with Kate Middleton. Williams who is ranked the number 10 tennis player in the world, played against Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan, ranked number 133, on Thursday. Williams won the second round match in the third set, 2-6 6-2 6-4. Mrs. Markle attended the game with two friends Genevieve Hills and Lindsay Roth. See more photos below....

Senator Elisha Abbo spent the night in police custody, after he surrendered himself to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command on Thursday for questioning, following the viral video of him assaulting a nursing mother.  The FCT Police Commissioner, Mr Bala Ciroma who spoke to Channels Television, said Senator Elisha Abbo was detained by the police to enable detectives complete investigation on the alleged assault. The Senator who represents Adamawa North Senatorial District, sparked an outrage on social media which led to a protest, after he was spotted in a viral video hitting a nursing mother at a sex toy shop in Abuja.

The Nigeria Police Force has reacted to a viral photo of embattled Senator Elisha Abbo purportedly having a conversation with the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Adamu. Abbo. Some Nigerians dug the photo out and released it online even as the senator is currently being investigated for assaulting a nursing mother in an Abuja sex toy. The release of the picture fuelled suspicion that the lawmaker was an associate of the IGP whose officer was in the shop while Abbo assaulted the woman. However in a statement released on Thursday July 4th, the Nigeria Police Force said the picture was taken in Governor Nasir El-Rufai’s office when the IGP paid the governor a courtesy visit during a security meeting with northern traditional rulers in Kaduna on April 30. “Whatever may be the motive behind the display of the picture at the time when the senator is under investigation, be it known that the IGP, a public servant, interacts with every Nigerian

The operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, have arrested 5 internet fraudsters following a raid at their hideout on July 3, 2019.  The suspects however, claimed to be bloggers and experts in bitcoin business at the point of their arrest at Barnawa, Kaduna State. They have been identified as Ibrahim Idris, Sadiq Idris, Martins Abeku, Blessing Nicolas and Esther Micheal. They were accused of creating fake FaceBook pages, and also using display pictures and names belonging to mostly foreigners to deceive unsuspecting victims mostly females of white nationality. The statement from the EFCC reads;  The Kaduna Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on July 3, 2019 made yet another arrest of five suspected cyber criminals known as yahoo-yahoo at Barnawa Kaduna State. Their modus operandi was to pose as United States Soldiers on peace keeping mission in Afghanistan, particularly on FaceBook platform. At th

Justice J.K Omotosho of the Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on Tuesday, July 2, 2019 convicted and sentenced two fraudsters to two years imprisonment each, over impersonation and fraudulent online businesses, through which they defrauded two foreigners the sum of $3800 (Three Thousand Eight Hundred United States Dollars) A statement from the antigraft agency says the convicts are Obrien Nwabueze Odiaka (alias Steven Mark Anthony) and Ndume David Baridol (alias Aubrey Writes). They were both arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Port Harcourt's Zonal Office, on one count charge each bordering on impersonation. Odiaka was arraigned on one- count charge bordering on impersonation contrary to Section 22(3) (a) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015 and punishable under Section 22(4) of the same Act. Baridol, on the other hand, was arraigned on one count charge bordering on possession

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu, has ordered the arrest of Senator Elisha Abbo and his orderly. The senator was caught on camera assaulting a lady inside a sex shop in Abuja sometime in May with his orderly watching without protecting the lady. The police boss gave the order following the public outcry after the assault video surfaced online. Senator Abbo has reacted to the backlash he has so far received. In a chat with Channels TV today, Abbo accused his political enemies of trying to tarnish his image by using a doctored video from an event that happened before he was sworn into office. He claimed the owners of the sex toy shop showed an abridged version of what transpired. Read his account of what happened here .

Nigeria's Clergyman and founder of Omega Fire Ministries, Apostle Johnson Suleman, has joined other Nigerians to reject the Federal government's plan to establish RUGA settlements for Herdsmen across the 36 states in the Federation. He shared his opinion via his Twitter handle.

Embattled Senator Elisha Abbo has reacted to the backlash he has received since CCTV clips of him assaulting a woman in a sex toy shop in Abuja went viral yesterday July 2nd. The Senator, who represents Adamawa North Senatorial district, has claimed that he was also beaten at the sex toy shop. While it was reported that the incident occurred on May 11 after the lawmaker walked into the sex toy shop with three young women, the lawmaker said he was at the shop because his sister had been assaulted there. The 41-year-old Adamawa Senator who claimed that the 10-minute video was incomplete, added that it is an old video and occurred before he became a senator.  He also said that his team will release a 'robust' statement on all that transpired in the viral video to the public. He told Channels Television; “We will soon release an official statement to the viral video which happened before I became a senator where my younger sister was beaten t

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has warned the Federal Government against the proposed establishment of Ruga settlements across the country for herdsmen. Speaking at the launch of United Nations’ Solutions 17 SDG programme in Lagos on Tuesday July 2nd, Soyinka said the creation of RUGA settlements for herdsmen if not checked, will cause Nigeria to explode. “RUGA is going to be an explosion if not handled with care. But why do we not take our policies from good models? This is not the way people and countries deal with issues of cattle. “I travel everywhere. It has to be handled in a way that is logical, comprehensible to the environment. When a cattle walks up to the window of my house in Abeokuta, a house which is located in a residential area, then there’s a problem. When cattle go to Ijebu Ode and eat up their plant seedlings and so on and you expect people to be quiet?” He added that the manner in which President Buhari handled reports of the herdsme

The Government of Rivers State has stated that it will not participate in the planned settlements for herdsmen. In a statement released and signed by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information, Paulinus Nsiri, the government said the state has no land for the implementation of such a policy. It noted that in his second term as Governor, Nyesom Wike has prioritised commercial agriculture, hence all available arable land in the state would be needed to drive commercial agriculture across the state to create employment for Rivers youths. The State Government emphasised that it has not given any approval for the siting of Ruga settlements anywhere in Rivers State and no such approval will ever come from the Rivers State Government. The statement reiterated that the Governor would continue to defend the interest of Rivers people, who have overwhelmingly rejected Cattle Colonies, Ruga Settlements and any such policy. “Rivers indigenes are hereb

Tottenham Hotspur have announced the signing of Tanguy Ndombele from Lyon for a club record fee of £65million.  The 22-year-old French midfielder completed his medical on Tuesday after agreeing to terms on a six-year contract with the option to extend it by a further 12 months with the Premier League club.  According to Daily Mail, Spurs will pay an initial £56.5m for Ndombele, although the future fee could rise to around £65m due to the add-ons included in the package. Ndombele who has drawn comparisons in style to former Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien, has six caps for France and has made 96 appearances for Lyon and registered 16 assists. Lyon thanked the player for his time at the club, praising his "professionalism and his performances".

The Lagos state police command have arrested a man simply identified as Bidemi, for stabbing to death a prostitute he brought to his house in Corporation Estate, Mile 2 Lagos state to have sex with but ended up killing her. According to reports, Bidemi who lives alone, came home last night with the lady at about 11pm. His neighbors saw them enter his house and moments later, they heard the lady crying for help. The neighbors alerted the estate security of the call for help that was heard coming from his apartment. Shortly after, Bidemi walked out and was about leaving the estate when security men asked him for the whereabout of the lady he came in with earlier and he told them she was inside his house. They informed him that they heard her cry for help and that they will like to see her. Bidemi initially hesitated, saying all was well between them. Seeing that the security men and his neighbors were not buying his explanation, Bidemi was forced to

As tweeted by Abike Dabiri, Chairman of the Nigerian Diaspora Commission in reaction to the viral video of Senator Elisha Abbo assaulting the staff of an adult shop in Abuja .

Fixtures for the round of 16 of the African Cup of Nations holding in Egypt have been confirmed. Nigeria will face defending champions Cameroon on Saturday at 6pm, while hosts nation, Egypt will also take on South Africa later that night.  See full fixtures below. Friday, July 5 Morocco vs. Benin, 6 p.m.  Uganda vs. Senegal, 9 p.m.  Saturday, July 6 Nigeria vs. Cameroon, 6 p.m.  Egypt vs. South Africa, 9 p.m. Sunday, July 7 Madagascar vs. DR Congo, 6 p.m. Algeria vs. Guinea, 9 p.m.  Monday, July 8 Mali vs. Ivory Coast, 6 p.m.  Ghana vs. Tunisia 9 p.m.