$1.69m Scam: Ajudua Loses Bail Bid

Justice Kudirat Jose of Lagos High Court, Ikeja on Monday, March 31, 2014 declined to grant bail to Fred Ajudua, who is being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for a $1.69million fraud.
According to her:  Ajudua's bail application lacked merit as the medical report he brought before the court did not show that he cannot be treated while in prison. Justice Jose also said that  Ajudua's counsel, Charles Edosomwan, SAN, did not convince her that the accused person would not abscond the second time, if admitted to bail.

I sell guns to vandals, not Boko Haram – Gunrunner

Amao and Tunbosun

A suspected gunrunner, Abdulazeez Amao, has told police in Lagos that he sells guns to pipeline vandals and not Boko Haram members or robbers. The 47-year-old suspect was arrested for being in possession of 10 AK47 rifles.
Amao, until his arrest, used to go to Burkina Faso to buy guns and smuggle them into Nigeria by concealing them in yam flour. The suspect said that he used to go to a market in Burkina Faso to meet one Zakari Watara, who sells the guns to him. According to him, Watara buys the guns in Mali and brings them to the market in Burkina Faso.
He said: “I buy the guns for N240,000 each and sell in Nigeria for N350,000. Watara is from Wayalga area in Ouagadougou, Capital of Burkina Faso. He gets his supply from Mali from where he transports the rifles to Wayalga market in Burkina Faso, there I buy from him.
“To bring them into Nigeria, I package them into large containers of condensed milk. On getting between the border of Nigeria and Benin Republic, I will remove them from the condensed milk and conceal them in yam flour. It is from there I would travel to Ibadan.

Police dismiss rapist cop

Damudu Bzibu

The Plateau State Police Command has dismissed a police corporal, Damudu Bzibu, who allegedly raped a four-year-old girl, Helen.

Bzibu, with force number, 378612, was attached to the Special Task Force on security in Jos, when he, on March 26, 2014, around 9am at Kassa, Barakin Ladi Local Government Area, lured Helen and raped her.

Plateau State Police Commissioner, Mr. Chris Olakpe, who paraded the suspect along with other criminals at the state police headquarters in Jos on Tuesday, said Helen’s father discovered that blood was gushing from the private part of his daughter and after inquiry, the girl told him that she was raped by Bzibu.

37 defected lawmakers: We almost took judgment for April fool —APC

•Tambuwal, others head for court
THE opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), on Tuesday, said it almost took the court judgment against the 37 federal  lawmakers that defected to its fold from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for April Fool’s joke, save for same coming a day before.

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In a statement issued in Lagos by its spokesperson, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Tuesday, the party called Justice Adeniyi Ademola’s quitting directive to the affected members of the House of Representatives as an exercise in judicial rascality.
It added that the judge could not have asked the lawmakers to vacate their seats, because he was not competent to issue such a ruling, as the issue before him was not whether they could defect or not.

Community tackles customs over killing of okada rider

Ezekiel

The Idiroko Command of the Nigeria Customs Service has been accused by the residents of Koko Town in Ogun State of killing a commercial motorcyclist (okada rider) during a raid on the community.

In a petition to the Ogun State Commissioner of Police, the community said the okada rider, Timothy Ezekiel, was murdered on Feburary 26, 2014 when a team of customs officials raided the town.

The petition, signed by Chief Shina Ogunyale, counsel for the community, said customs officials were guilty of several extrajudicial killings in Ilashe, Ajegunle, Ihunbo, Ogosa, Ajilete and all other communities along the Idiroko Road.

SSS arrests Catholic priest, monarch for child theft

The suspects

The State Security Service, Akwa Ibom State Command, has arrested a Catholic priest with St. Peters Parish, Anambra State, Joseph Okon, a traditional ruler, Chief Uchenna Onyekaozuru, and 18 others for alleged child theft.

Deputy Director, Operations, Mr. Fubara Duke, told PUNCH Metro during a parade in Uyo that eight children had been rescued from the suspects.

He said the service was working on reuniting the children with their families.

Plot to bomb NNPC depot: 4 suicide bombers killed

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FOUR terrorists suspected to be suicide bombers, apparently heading for an NNPC facility along Maiduguri-Damboa road were killed when their Improvised Explosive Device (IED)-laden vehicles exploded on Tuesday.
Director, Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade, who disclosed this yesterday while briefing on the update on counter terrorism campaign, said that the explosions took place at Mule on the outskirts of Maiduguri.
According to him, three of the four explosive-laden vehicles were demobilized by shots fired at them by soldiers at the check point shortly before the explosions that rocked the area.