Stringent bail conditions keep accused persons perpetually in jail.

A rather bizarre scenario is playing out in the Ogun State Judiciary that calls for serious concern and intervention. 

An investigation conducted by SKYTYMS has it that at about 2:00pm on the 18th day of June, 2015,  men of the Ogun State Parking Control Unit (P.C.U) accosted the duo of SEUNFUNMI AFUAPE and MUYIWA SAMUEL somewhere around Post Office Junction in the Abeaokuta metropolis for an allege offence of parking wrongly.

While the accosted men were trying to explain, the Parking Control officials entered their vehicle and ordered that the duo must follow them to the Parking Control Head office in Abeokuta.

Without further explanation and with no objection or delay, the accosted men agreed to be taken to the P.C.U office.

On their way going, Seunfunmi Afuape who drove the car begged the officials to allow them take the route he considered shorter and to also use the opportunity to inform their fellow workers of their present predicament  and their whereabout should their Manager enquire about them.

The officials of the Parking Control Unit refused to obliged the request.

Afuape however, diverted the vehicle to the route he initially suggested they should follow. This infuriated the men of the P.C.U and one of them thereafter attempted to stop the car by dragging the steering wheel with the driver. This resulted in a brawl in the process and the vehicle was brought to a halt. The Parking Controllers quickly invited the Police and Seunfunmi, Muyiwa Samuel and one other Obadimu Olufunso were subsequently arrested and taken into police custody at the Ibara Police Station in Abeokuta, Ogun state.

They contacted a Lawyer and they were granted police bail on the 19th day of June, 2015.  

On Monday, the 21st of June, 2015, they were arraigned before Chief Magistrate E.A Adekunte of Court 2 in the Abeokuta Magisterial District for a Charge of Assault. The accused persons all pleaded not guilty. Their Lawyer, Barr. E.O Omoijiade, then applied for their bail and they were granted bail but not without very stringent bail conditions. 

The bail conditions include a N100,000 for each person. Two sureties for each of the accused persons and the sureties MUST have a well developed property within the jurisdiction of the Magistrate court.

The sureties must also have Ogun state tax clearance.

Upon realizing that the bail conditions  were excessive and onerous, lawyer to the three accused persons brought a letter for a passionate appeal to vary the conditions. The letter was however rejected by the Magistrate E.A Adekunte. The Magistrate insisted that the bail conditions must be fulfilled. 

Frustrated, the Lawyer advised families of the accused persons to attempt to meet up with the bail conditions, but curiously the court refused to even look at the bail bond, rather the families of the accused were advised by the Magistrate to offer apologies to the officials of Parking Control Unit.
 ( The apology became another bail condition)

Left with no choice but the desirableness of having  their loved ones  urgently released, the families of the accused persons all dejectedly  filed out and headed for the Head Quarter of the Ogun State Parking Control Unit.

However, on getting there, they were once again given another condition. This time, the most senior official among the Parking Controllers demanded that each of the accused person must pay to them the sum of N45,000 (bringing the sum total to N135,000) before they can listen to their apologies.

Since the families could not readily cough out such huge amount of cash, they left for their various homes frustrated and disenchanted leaving the accused persons behind bars.

The accused persons' lawyer and families returned to the Magistrate court the next day after attempts to meet up and perfect the  bail conditions were made. Unknown to them, the case had been transferred to Magistrate A.O Araba in Court 1 who is also the Chief Magistrate. Reason for such transfer was neither disclosed to the accused persons nor their families.  

The Lawyer to the accused persons and their families became somewhat suspicious of a possible grand plan to leave the accused persons perpetually in jail for unknown reasons. Their suspicion was confirmed when one of the Parking Controllers boasted that the Ogun state Chief Judge, Honourable Justice O.O Olopade has been mandated by the 'Government House' to ensure that the accused persons were not released for daring to challenge the authority of the State Governor. And that whoever challenges the Parking Controllers is challenging Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State. He further stated that the Secretary to the Ogun State Government, Mr.Taiwo Adeoluwa who is also a lawyer has directed the State Chief Judge to ensure that the bail conditions are not perfected and that the accused persons must remain in Prison to 'teach others a lesson'. 

Armed with this 'revelation' the families of the accused persons ran home in desperation to raise the demanded N135,000 so that the Parking Controllers can listen to their apologies and be pacified.

SKYTYMS gathered that after the sum of N135,000 was paid by the families of the accused persons to the Parking Controllers, the matter was then transferred back to Magistrate Adekunte in Court 2 who then perfected the bail with the same bail bond which was hitherto rejected by the court and the accused persons regained their freedom. 

When SKYTYMS contacted Barr. Omoijiade, the Lawyer handling the matter, he confirmed the information above, but refused to comment on the allegation that the Ogun State Chief Judge was taking instruction from the State Government with regards to the case.

 "I am a lawyer, lawyers don't speculate, we work with facts and not speculation. Hence, I don't know anything about such allegation" Barr. E.O Omoijiade firmly stated.

All attempts to speak with the S.S.G Barr. Taiwo Adeoluwa were futile as he could not be reached.  

 Human Right Activists and lovers of justice and fairness should take this matter up and ensure the just and fair adjudication of this matter involving  Seunfunmi Afuape, Muyiwa Samuel and Obadimu Olunfunso and to ensure that further breach of  fundamental rights are put to an end in Ogun State.

Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere. 

www.skytyms.blogspot.com

30 days in office: PDP urges prayers for Buhari to deliver, says It’s been all motion, no movement

30 days in office: PDP urges prayers for Buhari to deliver, says It’s been all motion, no movement

Press statement from PDP below...

After a careful evaluation of the first 30 days of President Muhammadu Buhari and All Progressives Congress (APC)'s administration, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) notes that it has become obvious that Nigerians need to join hands in prayers to save the government from further inaction and dithering. The party said the call for prayers has become necessary given the fact that the administration is finding it difficult to locate its bearing and even take off and face the challenges of governance at the center resulting in 30 days of all motion and no movement, a scenario that does not augur well for the polity

 PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh in a statement on Sunday said that the enormity of the confusion surrounding the government and party in the last one month makes it imperative for Nigerians to join hands in prayers as the success or failure of the Buhari administration will not only affect the President and his party but also the entire nation.

“We urge Nigerians to join hands in prayers and offer useful suggestions to President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC because with what we have seen in the last 30 days, the present administration is finding it very difficult to get its bearings right while showing no inclination towards implementing its numerous campaign promises for which they were voted into office at the center.

“We are deeply worried that the President who promised to unveil his cabinet two weeks after his inauguration, has not been able to decide on key appointments such as ministers, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), a Chief of Staff and advisers in key sectors of the economy. “This is more so as the delay has brought government business in ministries, departments and agencies to a dangerous standstill with coordination of important policies vested on ministers and the SGF now in tatters while the system drifts.

This situation also creates loopholes through which overzealous persons around that President can connive with unscrupulous elements in the bureaucracy to syphon public resources in addition to possibly misleading the President to violate due process by spending beyond and outside his statutory limits. “The situation is taking its toll on the economy sector, which has in the 30 days witnessed unprecedented decline with a terrifying crippling of foreign and domestic investments including activities in the money and capital market sectors. Under President Buhari, the stock market has lost over N238 billion while the All-Share Index fell by 849.87 basis points as at June 19.

“In security, apart from the directive to relocate the counter terrorism command center to Borno state and seeking assistance from foreigners, no other concrete step has been taken in the fight against insurgency which the President in his April 22, 2015 CNN interview promised to end within his two months in office. “Instead, the anti-terrorism effort has completely lost steam in the last 30 days, with insurgents, who had already been pushed to the verge of surrender in the Sambisa forest by the Goodluck Jonathan administration, now surging back and spreading into the country.

“In this regard, we urge the President to confront insurgency and issues of national security with all the vigour they deserve while calling for restrain from actions capable of destroying the fabrics of security intelligence. We also urge for adequate respect for all organs of internal security such as the Directorate of State Security (DSS), which is answerable to the Nigerian state and as such should not be publicly ridiculed by an aide of the President. “In the same vein, we are disturbed by the ominous signals emanating from the atrocious attempt by the APC to undermine and appropriate the federal legislature resulting in the disruption of lawful proceedings and forced closure of the National Assembly, the symbol of our collective national identity as a democratic state.

In this direction, we urge the Presidency and the APC to imbibe democratic tenets and respect the independence of that arm of government. “Finally, while we remind the President and the APC that their campaign promises are bonds which must be fulfilled, we urge him to use the next ten days to set up his government by naming his ministers, the SGF and advisers in critical sectors as Nigerians did not vote for a sole administrator but for a democratic government”.

Signed: Chief Olisa Metuh
National Publicity Secretary

 www.skytyms.blogspot.com

Six CBN top officials, 16 others to appear in court for N8bn ‘fraud’

Six CBN top officials, 16 others to appear in court for N8bn ‘fraud’

Six top officials of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and 16 others from some commercial banks are to appear before an Ibadan Federal High court tomorrow June 2nd over their alleged involvement in a N8 billion fraud. According to a statement by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the CBN officials and their accomplices who are all currently in the custody of the EFCC, stole and recirculated defaced and mutilated naira notes to the tune of N8 billion.

The notes according to the CBN was to be destroyed due to their bad state. However instead of destroying the notes, the CBN officials decided to replace the mutilated notes with newspaper cutouts in naira sizes and burnt them, pretending they had destroyed the mutilated note. They then returned the mutilated naira notes into circulation. The statement from the EFCC after the cut ..

“The suspects drawn from various business units of the apex bank are to be arraigned by the anti-graft agency before a Federal High Court sitting in Ibadan, Oyo State, from Tuesday June 2, 2015 to Thursday June 4, 2015. They include Patience Okoro Eye (Abuja), Afolabi Olufemi (Lagos), Kolawole Babalola (Ibadan), Olaniran Muniru Adeola (Ibadan), Fatai Yusuf, Adekunle (Head, Security, CBN, (Ibadan) and Ilori Adekunle Sunday (Akure). The remaining 16 suspects are drawn from various commercial banks who were found to have conspired with the CBN executives to swing the heist. All the suspects who are currently in the custody of the EFCC are now ruing the day they literally allowed greed and craze for materialism to becloud their sense of judgment and responsibility, when they elected to help themselves to tons of defaced Naira notes. Instead of carrying out the statutory instruction to destroy the currency, they substituted it with newspapers neatly cut to Naira sizes and proceeded to recycle the defaced and mutilated currency. The fraud is partly to blame for the failure of government monetary policy over the years as currency mop-up exercises by the apex bank failed to check the inflationary pressure on the economy. The lid on the scam, which is widely suspected to have gone on unchecked for years, was blown on November 3, 2014 via a petition to the EFCC alleging that over N6, 575, 549, 370.00 was cornered and discreetly recycled by light fingered top executives of the CBN at the Ibadan branch. The suspects, who were members of the Briquetting Panel, plotted their way to infamy on September 8, 2014 while carrying out a Briquetting exercise at the CBN Branch, Ibadan. In banking parlance, Briquetting is disintegration and destruction of counted and audited dirty notes. By this practice, depositor banks usually take mutilated notes to the CBN in exchange for fresh notes equivalent of the amount deposited. The depositor banks, in this instance, are Zenith Bank, FCMB, Wema Bank, Access Bank, First Bank, Skye Bank, Ecobank and Sterling Bank. But while carrying out the assignment, the team was alleged to have found one of the currency boxes filled only with old newspapers rather than 20 bundles of N1000 notes. A similar case, according to investigation, had been discovered on September 22, 2014 when a box that was supposed to contain N500 notes to the tune of N5billion was filled with old newspapers. Unlike in the past, this fraud could not be swept under the carpet, as a member of the Briquetting Panel from the Osogbo branch blew the lid on the illicit deal. In a statement, the informant stated that the exercise was designed to last between August 4 and 8, 2014. The 35-year-old, however, stated that she discovered a strange ‘sight’ while opening the third box on the second day of the exercise. It was a discovery that beat her ken. She added that she confronted the other members of the panel, including Eye, Head, Briquetting Panel; Treasury Assistant; Coordinator and Head, Security, CBN, Ibadan, who all assured her that they would look into it. But she later found out that it was all a ruse. She said she later found out that Eye not only maintained sealed lips over the matter but omitted it from her report. A five-count charge awaits the suspects.

www.skytyms.blogspot.com