Headlines
Why We Killed NBA Chairman – Suspect
Thirty-nine-year-old Kenechukwu Eze, a native of Amoli Edem in the Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State, on Wednesday, said his gang members killed one Emmanuel Agundu because he withheld the N18m they realised from Internet fraud. The money was reportedly paid into his Nigerian bank account.
Agundu, who was the Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Udenu branch, was shot on August 15, 2018, at Obollo-Afor in the Udenu Local Government Area of the state by unidentified gunmen around 7pm, but he survived the attack.
However, on September 2, 2018, he was trailed to Uru-Uwani Edem in the Nsukka Local Government Area around 2pm and shot dead.
Although one of the gunmen was arrested and remanded in prison custody, Eze, a member of the five-man gang of Internet fraudsters based in Morocco, was apprehended on Wednesday, July 10, 2019, by the personnel of the Enugu State Police Command.
Parading the suspect at the state police headquarters alongside 18 were arrested across the state for various offences ranging from armed robbery, kidnapping, car snatching, vandalism, cultisim, unlawful possession of firearms and murder, the state Commissioner of Police, Suleiman Balarabe, said Eze was arrested with the help of credible intelligence, adding that the police had been tracking him since Agundu’s death.
Balarabe said his arrest was part of the command’s efforts to rid the state of criminals.
“We are also striving towards reducing crime to its barest minimum through proactive measures without losing sight of the respect for human rights and the rule of law,” the CP stated.
Speaking to PUNCH Metro during the parade, Eze confessed that his group killed the legal practitioner, adding that the person who shot Agundu had been arrested and remanded in prison.
He said, “I didn’t know the lawyer in person, but one of our members brought him to join us in the business. His job was to supply a bank account to pay the money we realised into.
“So, we paid a total of N18m into the account he supplied and when we asked him to provide the money, he rebuffed us. Instead of making the money available for us to share according to our agreed formula, he started threatening to report the matter to security agents. That was why we decided to end it once and for all.
“I was arrested because of the death of that lawyer that we did a fraudulent transaction together. He spent N18m and was killed because of that. The person, who shot him, is already in prison. We were five in number; Emmanuel Ebonyi, one Valentine and his younger brother, Agundu and I.
“It was an online business, but the barrister supplied the account that we paid into. We paid a total of N18m into his account and he kept all the money.”
The Punch
The Presidency has dismissed claims that Vice President Kashim Shettima’s recent comments were directed at the political situation in Rivers State or President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s constitutional decisions on the matter.
In a statement on Friday by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications (Office of the Vice President), Stanley Nkwocha, the Presidency described the reports as a “gross misrepresentation.”
The statement clarified that Vice President Shettima’s remarks at the public presentation of a book by former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN), were misconstrued by some online platforms and individuals.
“These reports have distorted the Vice President’s comments in pursuit of a mischievous agenda,” it stated.
“They twisted his account of how the administration of former President Jonathan considered removing him as Borno Governor during the insurgency to falsely link it with current events in Rivers State.”
The Vice President, who spoke at the launch of OPL 245: The Inside Story of the $1.3 Billion Oil Block in Abuja on Thursday, was said to have referenced the past solely to commend Adoke’s professionalism while in office, and to reflect on Nigeria’s constitutional evolution regarding federal and state relations.
“For the avoidance of doubt, President Tinubu did not remove Governor Fubara from office. The constitutional measure implemented was a suspension, not an outright removal.
“This action was taken in response to the grave political crisis in Rivers State at the time, with the governor facing a looming impeachment and the State Assembly complex under demolition,” Nkwocha clarified.
The Presidency insisted that the action taken by President Tinubu in declaring a state of emergency and suspending the Governor was fully in line with Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which authorises such measures when there is a breakdown of public order requiring extraordinary intervention.
According to the statement, the President’s proclamation invoking Section 305(2) was subsequently ratified by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the National Assembly, confirming the legitimacy and constitutional propriety of the decision.
“The action of President Tinubu in suspending Mr. Fubara and others from exercising the functions of office averted the governor’s outright removal. To conflate suspension with removal is misleading,” the statement further noted.
Nkwocha also stressed that Vice President Shettima’s comments were delivered extemporaneously and intended to underline the importance of public accountability and historical documentation.
He referenced the Vice President’s mention of past public servants, including Adoke and former Speaker Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, to illustrate principled leadership.
“His remarks were not in any way a criticism of President Tinubu’s actions, which the Vice President and the entire administration fully support and stand by without reservation,” the spokesman stated.
The Vice President, the statement added, remains in “loyal concert” with President Tinubu and is committed to implementing all constitutional measures necessary to safeguard democracy and uphold order across the country.
Concluding, the Presidency called on media organisations and political actors to desist from misrepresenting public remarks for sensational or partisan purposes.
“We urge media organisations and political actors to desist from the destructive practice of wrenching statements from context in order to fabricate nonexistent conflicts,” Nkwocha said.
Headlines
Akpabio Relieves Natasha of Committee Chairmanship Position, Appoints Akwa Ibom Senator As Replacement
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has replaced suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Diaspora/Non-Governmental Organisations.
In her place, Akpabio named Senator Bassey Aniekun Etim (Akwa Ibom -East).
The Senate President, who made the announcement on the floor in Abuja on Thursday, did not give any reasons.
The committee position had remained vacant since March when the Senate suspended the Kogi-Central Senatorial District lawmaker for six months for flouting the Senate’s rule on the seating arrangement and seat allocation.
The suspended lawmaker, at a point, chaired the Senate Committee on Local Content before Akpabio reassigned her to the Committee on Diaspora/NGO, shortly before she ran into trouble with the Senate over her conduct on seat allocation.
The Supreme Court has affirmed the 2024 governorship election victory of Governor Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC), dismissing the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Asuerinme Ighodalo.
In a unanimous decision by a five-member panel led by Justice Mohammed Garba, the apex court ruled that the appeal lacked merit. It upheld the earlier judgments of the Court of Appeal and the Edo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which had both declared Okpebholo the validly elected governor.
