A suspect, Nehemiah Adejoh, who drove the car that ran over the female helicopter pilot, Tolulope Arotile, has said he killed her by mistake, Daily Trust has reported.

Narrating his story at a Kaduna Magistrate Court on Thursday, the suspect explained that he mistakenly ran over the deceased.

Adejoh was reported to be the one behind the steering of the vehicle that knocked down Arotile on July 11 before she was pronounced dead at the Nigerian Air Force hospital in Kaduna.

Appearing before a Kaduna magistrate court on Thursday, Adejoh noted that he never intended to kill Arotile.

He also denied having any premeditated plan to kill her in his cautionary statement.

He explained that on sighting the deceased walking along the roadside at the Air Force base, he started reversing the car in order to exchange pleasantries with her, but mistakenly ran over her.

The police have charged the suspect with culpable homicide.

The Chief Magistrate, Danjuma Hassan, has ordered the suspect to be remanded in prison pending further hearing.

The judge has, however, fixed October 3 as the day for further hearing.

Idowu Sowunmi

A former governor of Imo State, Ikedi Ohakim, is involved in a dirty fight with a Nigerian woman he had a romantic relationship with, and at some point told the police the woman assaulted him inside a hotel room in Abuja.

The woman, whose name is Chinyere Amuchienwa, is from Imo State. She lives in Lagos where she deals in luxury items.

Mr Ohakim, 63, was governor from 2007 to 2011. He lost the election in 2019 when he contested again for the seat in Nigeria’s South-East.

He has been married for 39 years to Chioma Ohakim, a lawyer. They have five children and grandchildren.

In a petition dated January 20, which he sent to the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, Mr Ohakim said, “On Saturday, January 18, 2020, Miss Chinyere physically assaulted me. She deceived me and lured me with a meeting request. I subsequently invited her to my hotel room at BON Hotel, Asokoro and she arrived at about 20:15 p.m.

“Directly I opened the door quite innocently, pandemonium took over, she bounced on me grabbing me by my shirt with all her strength and gave me a violent push.”

Mr Ohakim continued, “As I staggered to recover, she rushed for my phone on the table and a struggle ensured (sic). Directly I retrieved the phones from her she immediately rushed to grab something from her bag which I strongly suspected to be a gun.”

Mr Ohakim said he ran outside his room, shouting for help.

The incident, he said to the police, could be confirmed from the hotel’s CCTV.

He said he “immediately” filed a complaint at a police station in Asokoro against his estranged mistress.

The former governor told the police that Ms Amuchienwa is a 56-year-old divorcee.

He said Ms Amuchienwa has been his friend whom he “lavishly extended a lot of favour to” and that she was even involved in his failed 2019 governorship election campaign, but that the relationship went sour and since then she has been threatening to “blackmail” and “destroy” him.

He said he was “completely terrified” and wanted the police chief, Mr Adamu, to intervene in the case.

He promised in his petition to provide specific evidence to the police to back up his allegations against Ms Amuchienwa.

Mr Ohakim described himself to the police as one who holds the traditional titles of “Ogbujingidi of Igbo land and the Otumba Tomitope of Yoruba land”, including “other 51 chieftaincy titles across Nigeria,” besides being a former governor of Imo state, a businessman and a “defence and security contractor.”

The police responded to Mr Ohakim’s petition and asked him to report at the force CID for an interview on June 1. They requested him to bring along specific evidence he said he had, including any other useful information that could help in the police investigation.

The police letter was signed by Abdulkadir Jimoh, a commissioner of police.

The former governor and his estranged mistress reported at the force headquarters and were both interviewed by the assistant inspector-general of police in-charge of the Force Intelligence Bureau.

Ms Amuchienwa told PREMIUM TIMES, Saturday, that Mr Ohakim did not tender any supporting evidence or call any witness during the police interview, an assertion this newspaper could not verify.

Mr Ohakim’s phone number returned “cannot receive call at the moment” when this newspaper tried repeatedly to reach the former governor over the weekend.

A text message sent to his phone line was also not delivered at the time of filing this report.

PREMIUM TIMES, Saturday, contacted Emmanuel Ohakim, a brother to the former governor, but the call was switched off immediately our reporter finished introducing himself. He did not call back or pick subsequent calls from the reporter.

Ms Amuchienwa, on her part, tendered some documents to the police to counter Mr Ohakim’s claims.

Mr Ohakim, through his lawyers, J. N. Egwuonwu & Co., wrote to the inspector-general of police on July 20 requesting copies of the documents tendered by Ms Amuchienwa, including her account statement with Access Bank, which the lawyers said she claimed she used to transfer some money to Mr Ohakim.

Patrick Agu, a lawyer in the chambers, promised to get back to PREMIUM TIMES on the status of the case and to also let the paper know if the documents tendered by Ms Amuchienwa were released to them. But he did not call back. He did not also pick subsequent calls from the reporter.

Ms Amuchienwa, in her response to PREMIUM TIMES’ questions, admitted she was in a relationship with the former governor.

“I am an adult and I am entitled to date anybody I choose to,” she said.

Ms Amuchienwa, however, said the quarrel between her and Mr Ohakim was about some money she said the former governor took from her and was yet to pay back.

She also said Mr Ohakim visited her shop in Lagos and carted away designer’s suitcase, bags, shoes, and other luxury goods, which he has allegedly refused to pay for.

Mr Ohakim, in his petition, addressed this claim by Ms Amuchienwa. He said he got the items as gifts from her.

“Two or three times she travelled out, she bought some gift items for me purely unsolicited and in reciprocal to mine. Items such as coffee, perfume, bag and shirt,” he said.

Those were not gifts, but things Mr Ohakim picked on credit, Ms Amuchienwa said.

Ms Amuchienwa, during her interview with PREMIUM TIMES, called Mr Ohakim a “scammer”.

“I kept asking (Ohakim) every day, ‘What do you do for a living?’ The day I knew he was a scammer was the day he made a voice note and mentioned that he took my $200,000.”

Ms Amuchienwa sent the voice note to PREMIUM TIMES via WhatsApp, but this newspaper has not been able to verify if the voice is that of Mr Ohakim.

On the incident at BON Hotel, Abuja, Ms Amuchienwa disputed the claims by Mr Ohakim.

She said she was invited to the hotel by the former governor and that she accepted the invitation because she thought it was about the money he was allegedly owing her.

“I was invited to the hotel, the appointment was made (since) last year when I said I would not see him anymore…. And it’s still based on the money Ohakim is owing me. We don’t have any reason to meet anymore, we don’t even have any communication anymore.”

Ms Amuchienwa said Mr Ohakim snatched her phone, ran out of the hotel room with it when she declined to sit down with him.

She said she walked down the stairs to the hotel reception and reported the incident to the hotel officials.

Shortly after, police officers from the Asokoro police station visited BON Hotel on Mr Ohakim’s prompting.

All the items in her handbag, she said, were poured out at the reception and no gun was found as alleged by Mr Ohakim.

Both Mr Ohakim and Ms Amuchienwa were subsequently interviewed at the Asokoro police station over the incident.

Ms Amuchienwa said she declined a ride from the former governor when both of them were done and were about leaving the station.

Mr Ohakim in his petition to the police chief, Mr Adamu, said Ms Amuchienwa, accompanied by people he suspected to be hired thugs, used a vehicle to barricade the entrance to his residence in Abuja in May last year.

Ms Amuchienwa told PREMIUM TIMES the allegation was false.

She said she went only with a driver to Mr Ohakim’s residence, met with his orderly and peacefully asked if he (Ohakim) had left her money with him.

Ms Amuchienwa also responded to Mr Ohakim’s allegation that she could not account for over N100 million she received from him for the prosecution of the 2019 governorship election campaign in Ideato North Local Government Area, Imo state, where she was the co-ordinator.

She said the former governor could not provide any evidence or witness to substantiate the allegation when the police at the force headquarters requested him to do so.

“They asked him (Ohakim), ‘you said you gave her N100 million, how did you give it to her?’ He said he was the one who carried it (in cash) to her. Nobody was there? No signature?” Ms Amuchienwa told PREMIUM TIMES.

“I have never asked him for N700 million (as he is claiming in his petition),” she said. “I don’t blackmail. All I want is for Ikedi Ohakim to give me back my money.”

She, however, declined to mention the total money Mr Ohakim was owing her.

“Ikedi (Ohakim) brought land document and showed to me, he said the land belonged to him. The land is on the airport road in Lagos, he even took us there. He said he was waiting for payment from the buyer of the land and that when they pay him he would be able to pay (me my money).

“It was when this trouble started that we discovered the land didn’t belong to Ikedi Ohakim. It is this land he has been using to scam me.

“The witnesses who are aware that I gave him money have volunteered their statement to the police,” Ms Amuchienwa said.

PREMIUM TIMES asked Ms Amuchienwa if she did not consider that Mr Ohakim’s wife could have been at home when she went to meet Mr Ohakim’s orderly.

“Is he married? Why do you people want me to get into that point? Is Ikedi Ohakim married?” she responded.

Ms Amuchienwa said Mr Ohakim gave her a “fake diamond ring” as an engagement ring.

The former governor, in his petition to the police, confirmed he bought a “very expensive diamond ring” for Ms Amuchienwa. He, however, said the ring was just a gift to her and that he bought it in response to a request from her.

Source: PREMIUM TIMES

Prof Ogundipe and Prof Soyombo

Contrary to widespread rumours of an atmosphere of unease at the University of Lagos, Akoka, one week after the removal of the erstwhile Substantive Vice–Chancellor, Prof Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, indications have emerged of a gradual shift of the hitherto hard-line posture by the overwhelming majority of academic staff of the Institution.

The softening of minds by many of the lecturers who are influential elders and members of the University Senate is a fallout of mediatory roles spearheaded by former branch Chairman of Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU), Prof Ayo Olowe.

Although, the ASUU leadership chaired by Dr Dele Ashiru continues to insist on its call for the reinstatement of the former VC, there is a newfound reality that the only path to avert a prolonged crisis in the University is to cooperate with the Acting Vice–Chancellor, Prof Omololu Soyombo.

Prof Ayo Olowe

Said a Professor at the Faculty of Engineering: “We are beginning to have a rethink on this issue. For all we care, Prof Soyombo who is the acting VC is not part of the crisis. He has only a 6-month tenure. It is better to even allow him to settle down quickly so that we can begin to strategize on who becomes the next VC”

Also speaking in the same vein, Prof Olowe, who was Asuu branch Chairman during the period, 2005 to 2010, confirmed that given the unblemished personality of the acting VC, many senior academics in UNILAG Senate are closing ranks and are gradually backing off from their previous stance.

The former Head of Finance Department disclosed that many Professors are now better enlightened that the key issues involved bothered on alleged corruption and not any power tussle in the Council.

Wale Babalakin, Pro-Chancellor

Olowe said: “What is happening now is because corruption allegation is involved, everybody is being careful. If I am in that position of VC, the good option was to have stepped aside and allow the Council to carry out its investigation without using my position to influence their judgement. there’s no way you will not influence the outcome.

“There is no way a sitting VC with all his powerful clout would not affect thorough investigation. And if he is innocent, there is no reason to be afraid. That’s the proper thing to do. He should allow the process to go on and defend his good name.

“Yes, i am a key figure in ASUU. But this is a corruption case we are talking about here. They all know that I am principled. Everybody knows this on campus. A lot of the lecturers have calmed down. They agree with my position. Nobody can dispute my position. 

Jubilant crowd of staff at Senate House on Wednesday

But we need to tell ourselves the truth. I am part of ASUU and I am part of Senate. When it comes to corruption cases, ASUU cannot help anybody.”

He argued that the premises on which ASUU and the Senate predicated their resolutions were fatally wrong as the Union cannot defend any Senate meeting holding during its current strike while no Senate could have met without its principal officers.

“As things stand today, the only person who can call a meeting of Senate is Prof Soyombo. He holds the key to peace in UNILAG. Anything short of this is illegality”, he stressed.

Acting VC, Prof Omololu Soyombo

Prof Olowe also justified the decision of the Governing Council on all fronts, insisting that the Babalakin-led Council followed due process.

He stated: “The Babalakin Council has done the right thing. Their decisions are 100% correct. Very correct. That man Babalakin was very intelligent in handling the situation. No matter what people say about him.

“He has given them queries since 2018 and patiently waited for their responses. He has read the University Act.

“The man knows what he is doing. He followed due process. He is a lawyer. He is a SAN. The man followed a process that I like. In this university they have never followed that process. He started the investigation in 2019. He set up a Panel of Inquiry and instituted a Council committee to investigate finances. 

“And he made them face a Council Disciplinary Committee.They responded to the query. It’s been a long process. They followed the due process, the truth is just that the decision didn’t favour us in ASUU. We must protect the interest of the University. We cannot allow the ship of UNILAG to sink.”

Also yesterday, more and many more unions and concerned interest groups have continued to demonstrate support for the acting Vice–Chancellor, whom they tasked to courageously trudge on with his leadership.

Among these groups are the Senior Staff Association of Universities(SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union NASU), both of which dissociated their unions from collaborating with ASUU. They instead pledged to cooperate with Prof Soyombo to effectively steer the ship of the university out of the present crisis.

On campus yesterday, the acting Vice–Chancellor arrived the Senate House to a thunderous ovation when he held a meeting with a crowd of staff.

Prof Soyombo assured that he would hit the ground running to tackle immediate challenges having to do with staff welfare and other matters.

Eniola Akinkuotu, Abuja

The Nigerian Bar Association has withdrawn its invitation to Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, following protests from some lawyers.

The NBA said this in a tweet on Thursday via its Twitter handle @NigBarAssoc.

The tweet read, “The National Executive Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association at its ongoing meeting resolves that the invitation to the Kaduna State Governor, H.E. Nasir El-Rufai, by the 2020 Annual General Conference Planning committee be withdrawn and decision communicated to the Governor.”

A petition to stop the governor from attending the Annual General Conference which was started by a lawyer, Usani Odum, had garnered over 3,150 signatures on Change.Org as of 4 pm on Thursday.

In a separate letter titled, ‘Request to Withdraw the Offer of Platform at the 2020 Annual General Conference of the NBA to Mallam Nasir el-Rufai,’ addressed to the Chairman, Technical Committee on Conference Planning, NBA, Prof. Koyinsola Ajayi, some lawyers said the governor must not be allowed to speak at the conference.

The letter, which was signed by Silas Onu and Auta Nyada, listed 10 allegations against el-Rufai and his son, Bello, who is a Special Adviser to Kaduna Central lawmaker, Senator Uba Sani.

They faulted the NBA for inviting el-Rufai, citing his alleged poor human rights record and his inability to stop the killings, particularly in southern Kaduna.

https://frontend.1worldonline.com/widget/smart3-00df1cb4.html#!/widget/9b0ba25c-5faa-433c-af72-a94897eb2780&type=widget&code=9b0ba25c-5faa-433c-af72-a94897eb2780&mode=smart3&token=9b0ba25c-5faa-433c-af72-a94897eb2780-1&location=https%3A%2F%2Fpunchng.com%2Fbreaking-conference-nba-withdraws-invitation-to-el-rufai%2F

The lawyers also referenced many controversial utterances of the governor, including a threat during the run-up to the general elections in 2019 that any foreigner that interfered in the poll would leave Nigeria in body bags.

The NBA virtual conference, which holds from August 24-26, 2020, is expected to have Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), in attendance.

Others expected to speak at the event include former Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State, Governor Wike of Rivers State and a former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili.

The theme of the conference is: ‘Am I a Nigerian – A Debate on National Identity, the Indigeneship-Citizenship Conundrum.’

The University of Ibadan has said it could not submit its audit report to the Auditor-General of the Federation since 2014 because the external auditor engaged to prepare the report became blind while on the job.

The bursar of the university, Michael Alatise, said this on Thursday in Abuja when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts.

But after the committee also found that the university paid the“blind external auditor” full retainership last year, it ordered a full investigation into the finances of the university.

Speaking on the discovery, Oluwole Oke, chairman of the committee, chided the university’s representative. “That somebody went blind does not mean that the firm will go into extinction. It can’t,” Mr Oke said.

“And, sincerely speaking, it is not palatable that from 2014 to date, the University of Ibadan does not have an account with the Auditor-General. No, you won’t get money in the next budgetary allocation.”

In defence, Mr Alatise said the tenure of the auditor in question expired in 2010. He said a new external auditor who the school employed had it rough “because there were some static figures that needed to be cleared” by the former auditor.

“Actually, they (UI) are on their last account, which is 2015. We are about to engage another audit firm next week, the 13th of this month.”

While ordering an investigation into the university’s finances, Mr Oke said in matters of auditing, the University of Ibadan ought to be dealing with an auditing firm and not an individual.

“If you have an audited account signed and ratified in place, why did you need a blind man to take over from there? Besides, you are not dealing with him as a person, you are dealing with a firm. So, he has a partner, he has workers,” Mr Oke said.

“And for UI to engage such a firm. Let us conduct a KYC (know your customer). Let us know who the firm is. Let us investigate the firm. Let us know the partners and workers in that firm.”

premiumtimesng

The leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, has condemned the Companies and Allied Matters Act, CAMA, 2020 that was assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari recently calling for its immediate suspension.

In a statement on Thursday, CAN President, Pastor Adebayo Oladeji, maintained that by implications, Buhari has repealed the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 1990.

According to Oladeji, “The law, to say the least, is unacceptable, ungodly, reprehensible and an ill-wind that blows no one any good. It is a time bomb waiting to explode.”

CAN recalled that during the First Term of the President, there was a Public Hearing conducted by the National Assembly on the Non-Governmental Organisations Bill tagged: ‘Bill for an Act To Provide For The Establishment Of The Non-Governmental Organizations, NGOs, Regulatory Commission For The Supervision, Co-ordination And Monitoring of Non-Governmental Organizations’ which CAN attended by and many NGOs.

Oladejo stated, “At the Public Hearing, the Bill that sought to bring the religious organizations and NGOs under the control and influence of the government was totally rejected because it would snuff life out of the church and rank the church as a secular institution under secular control.

“We thought it was all over until we heard of the CAMA that was assented to by the President, making the rejected bill a law.

“The satanic section of the controversial and ungodly law is Section 839 (1) and (2) which empowers the Commission to suspend trustees of an association (in this case, the church) and appoint the interim managers to manage the affairs of the association for some given reasons.

“While we are not against the government fighting corruption wherever it may be found, yet we completely reject the idea of bringing the Church, which is technically grouped among the NGOs, under control of the government.

“The church cannot be controlled by the government because of its spiritual responsibilities and obligations.

“This is why we are calling on the Federal government to stop the implementation of the obnoxious and ungodly law until the religious institutions are exempted from it.

“We call on President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently return the law to the National Assembly for immediate amendment. Nigeria should not be compared with any other nation when it comes to the relationship between religious institutions and the government. In Nigeria, people’s religions are tied to their humanity and of course, their life.

“How can the government sack the trustee of a church which it contributed no dime to establish? How can a secular and political minister be the final authority on the affairs and management of another institution which is not political? For example, how can a non-Christian head of Government Ministry be the one to determine the running of the church? It is an invitation to trouble that the government does not have power to manage.”

CAN, therefore, urged government to face the business of providing infrastructure for the people, focus on better health provision, food, education, adequate security employment, among others.

Oladejo continued: “The government should not be a busy body in a matter that does not belong to it. The government does not have the technical expertise to run the church of God because of its spiritual nature.

“If the government is bent on imposing a law on us which the entire Church in Nigeria is against, then, they have declared war on Christianity and the agenda to destroy the Church which we have spoken against before now is coming to the open more clearly.

“If you cannot give us good amenities of life, we would not allow you to take away our liberty to worship our Maker.

“What good thing again will you not take away from the people in the name of being in power? Are we not running a democracy which is a government of the people by the people and for the people? Is this not gradually becoming a dictatorship or what was the essence of the Public Hearing you called us to when you had made up your mind not to consider the position of Christians at all which we presented during the Public Hearing?

“We call on all well-meaning Nigerians to ask the Federal Government to suspend the law because we do not need it in this nation.”

The Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Adamu, has said that the lingering banditry in the North-West and North-Central Nigeria has an international dimension.

Adamu said this during a town-hall meeting on peace and security held on Wednesday in Zuru, Kebbi State.

“We have realised that most of the banditry has an international dimension. The bandits come from outside the country. We arrested Sudanese, Nigeriens and Malians, among other nationals.

“Also we believe that because of what is happening in the North-East and the fact that the military troops are doing a great job in the fight against insurgency there, most of the bandits are running toward the North-West of the country and we have evidence.

“When we operated in Kaduna, Birnin Gwari, where we attacked a group of bandits, we realised that most of them came from Islamic State of West Africa, who are terrorists, kidnapping for ransom.

“So, the issue is not at the level you are looking at it, it is a big issue and we must work together to address it.

“This is why President Muhammadu Buhari does not rest because of these complaints coming from the North-West

and North-Central on banditry,” the IGP said.

Adamu urged every Nigerian to see the fight against insecurity as a collective responsibility.

NAN