Headlines
Stop Making Comments on Sylvester, Falana Tells Odumosu, Says Report Not Issued by DPP
Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has berated Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, for saying deceased Dowen College student, Sylvester Oromoni, died of natural causes when the facts had not been established by the coroner’s inquest.
Falana also rejected the report purportedly issued by the Director of Public Prosecutions, adding that the person who signed the report had no power to do so.
The senior advocate, who is a lawyer to the Oromoni family, said this during a chat with The Punch correspondent on Saturday.
The Police had released all the suspects connected to Omoroni’s death based on a legal advice sent to the police and the Lagos State Government by the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecution, Adetutu Osinusi, dated January 4, 2021.
But Falana said there was no DPP as of the time Osinusi signed the statement. He, therefore, argued that the report was unacceptable.
He said, “Under the Coroner Systems Law of Lagos State, only the coroner appointed by the chief coroner is competent to speak authoritatively on the cause of death of any person whose death arose from suspicious circumstances. So, the statement credited to an official in the Office of the DPP and the CP is deliberately meant to subvert the inquest being conducted by the coroner.
“An inquest is a judicial inquiry into the cause of death of any person whose death is unnatural in Lagos State. One Adetutu Osinusi, who wrote the legal advice purportedly clearing the suspects was not and is not the Director of Public Prosecutions in Lagos State.
“On January 4, when she allegedly wrote that illegal advice, there was no acting or substantive DPP in Lagos State. We therefore advise the CP to stop making comments on the unfortunate death of Sylvester Oromoni since he has said the matter is pending before the coroner.”
The first hostages freed from Gaza under a long-awaited ceasefire agreement are back in Israel. The news sparked jubilant scenes in Tel Aviv where large crowds gathered ahead of their release.
The three freed Israeli hostages – the first of 33 to be released over the next six weeks – are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. They are said to be in good health and are receiving treatment at a medical center in Tel Aviv.
In exchange, 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are set to be released by Israel from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military withdrew from several locations in southern and northern Gaza after the truce began earlier on Sunday, an Israeli military official told CNN.
Displaced Gazans have started returning to their homes, while the aid trucks laden with much-needed supplies have crossed into Gaza. Here’s what we know about how the ceasefire deal will work.
Hamas, despite suffering devastating losses, is framing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for itself, and a failure for Israel.
One of Hamas’ main goals for taking some 250 people during its brazen October 7, 2023, attack on Israel was to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. As Israel pounded Gaza in response, Hamas vowed not to return the hostages until Israel withdrew its forces from the enclave, permanently ended the war, and allowed for rebuilding.
Source: CNN
The leader of UK’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said she doesn’t want Britain to be like Nigeria that is plagued by “terrible governments.”
Speaking on Thursday at an event organised by Onward, a British think tank producing research on economic and social issues, Badenoch expressed fears that Britain may become like Nigeria if the system is not reformed.
“And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,” Badenoch told the audience.
“I don’t want Britain to lose what it has.
“I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life.
“So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”
Badenoch has been in the news of late after she dissociated herself from Nigeria, saying she has nothing to do with the Islamic northern region.
She also accused the Nigeria Police of robbing citizens instead of protecting them.
She said: “My experience with the Nigeria Police was very negative. Coming to the UK, my experience with the British Police was very positive.
“The police in Nigeria will rob us (laughter). When people say I have this bad experience with the police because I’m black, I say well…I remember the police stole my brother’s shoe and his watch.”
