Julius Berger to temporarily close Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Obanikoro returns N100 million to FG and other major headlines you missed today!

The National Judicial Council, NJC, has suspended seven senior judges arrested on October 7th by the State Security Service over allegations of corrupt practices. The judicial body had initially refused to suspend the accused judges but resolved to suspend them after the council’s meeting which took place between yesterday November 2nd and today November 3rd.

The suspension of the affected judges is contained ‎ in a communique issued at the end of the meeting, and signed by NJC’s Director of Information, Soji Oye.

Kim and Kanye have fired longtime bodyguard Pascal Duvier one month after Paris robbery

Just one month after Kim K was robbed in her Paris hotel by a group of men who made off with $11million worth of jewels, the bodyguard who was tasked to take care of her, Pascal Duvier, has been sacked. Pascal, who has been with the Kardashian family since 2012, was reportedly sacked this week by Kim and her husband, Kanye.

According to Entertainment Tonight, Pascal wasn’t the only one who was let go. “Pascal, along with a couple other security members of their team, were recently let go by Kim and Kanye. It’s a pretty tough situation overall and they love Pascal, but they couldn’t take any more chances.’ a source told ET. Kim now moves around with off-duty police officers.

Court frees all suspects accused of killing Christian woman, Bridget Agbahime, over blasphemy in Kano

The five suspected killers of 74 year old Mrs. Bridget Agbahime, the Christian woman who was murdered for allegedly making a blasphemous statement at Kofar Wambai Market in Kano state on June 2nd, have been released.

The Chief Magistrate of the Kano Magistrate Court, today discharged all the five suspects namely Dauda Ahmed, Abdulmumeen Mustafa, Zubairu Abubakar, Abdullahi Abubakar and Musa Abdullahi.

The police had at the time of the incident arrested the suspects in connection with the murder and had immediately slammed a four-count charge of allegedly inciting disturbance, culpable homicide, joint act and mischief on them.

At the hearing of the case today, the Chief Magistrate, Muhammad Jibril, discharged the five suspects and terminated the case as advised by the attorney-general of Kano State.‎

The Principal State Counsel, Rabiu Yusuf, who represented the attorney-general of Kano State told the court that there is no case to answer as all the suspects were innocent and should be discharged immediately.

Man fails to explain wealth, loses filling station, complex

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has seized a filling station and a shopping complex from a self-acclaimed building engineer, Abdullahi Rilwan, for failing to explain where he got the money to buy the properties.

The EFCC Act Section 71 (B) gives the commission the power to commence investigations into the property of any person if it appears to the EFCC that the person’s lifestyle and extent of properties are not justified by law.

The EFCC said in a statement by its spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, that Rilwan was also arrested for offences bordering on operating a land racketeering syndicate, criminal conspiracy, unlawful possession of classified documents, obtaining by false pretence and money laundering.

According to the commission, the suspect was first accosted in the Kuje Area Council of Abuja during a separate investigation into the $2.1bn arms procurement fraud.

Detectives were said to have visited the area to verify the ownership of several properties suspected to be proceeds of money laundering.

In the course of investigating the ownership of a filling station and a shopping complex both still under construction located along Pegi Road, in the Kuje Area Council, operatives gathered that Rilwan was in charge of the construction work.

The statement added, “Rilwan, who was subsequently engaged, denied ownership of the station, but confirmed he was the engineer in charge of the construction work. He admitted to being the owner of the shopping complex. He also told operatives that he was the owner of two companies, Kaibo Oil and Gas and Kaibo Properties, but could not account for the source of wealth.

I felt like absconding when I took over from Jonathan and met an empty treasury’ – Pres. Buhari

President Buhari today disclosed that he felt like absconding when he assumed office and met an empty treasury. President Buhari said this when he received the annual report from the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, NIPSS, Kuru, Plateau State at the presidential villa, Abuja.

“I felt like absconding from the country due to the economic challenges. We inherited a badly managed economy” he said.

Obanikoro returns N100 million to FG

Embattled Former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, has refunded N100 million to the Federal Government. Spokesperson of the antigraft agency, Wilson Uwujaren, who confirmed the recent development, said Obanikoro agreed to remit N100 million from the $5.37 million he allegedly collected from former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.
EFCC chairman, Ibrahim Magu, had earlier insisted on him returning N600 million as first installment but Obanikoro refused, arguing he does not have the means to raise such amount. He has been in EFCC custody since on Monday October 17th for his alleged role in the misappropriation of $2.1 billion arms procurement fund.

Julius Berger to temporarily close Lagos-Ibadan expressway from Nov 3rd to Nov 12th

Construction company, Julius Berger Plc handling the reconstruction of the Lagos-Shagamu side of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway has announced the plan to temporarily close down a section of the Ibadan – Lagos Expressway from Sagamu Inter change to approximately five kilometer stretch of the Lagos bound traffic to enable the Company effect repairs on the affected section of the corridor.

The period of the closure is from Thursday 03 to Saturday 12 November, 2016. The closure would be effected from 1100 am on Thursday 03 November, 2016. The Federal Road Safety Corps in a statement released today, says it has put in place traffic control measures to manage the traffic situation during the temporary closure.

The Corps will also ensure proper signages are in place to guide all road users. All users of the road during the period of temporary closure are advised to obey the directional signs and comply with the traffic rules and regulations as the FRSC will not hesitate to apply appropriate sanctions for violations. These include prosecution of arrested traffic law offenders whose actions will compound the traffic situations.

Tackle killing of Christians, forced marriages -‎ Northern CAN tells Buhari

Leaders of the Christian Association of Nigeria the from 19 Northern states and Abuja on Thursday met with President Muhammadu Buhari.

The meeting deliberated on some of the challenges facing Christians in the north.

Chairman of the organisation, Rev. Yakubu Pam, after the meeting, told State House correspondents that issues they raised with the President included attacks on Christians, herdsmen and farmers’ incessant clashes, as well as child abduction and forced marriages.
Pam said they urged Buhari to protect Nigerians who had returned to farming as part of the Federal Government’s diversification programme.
He said, “We also talked on the Issue of girl child abduction in the North. In some Northern states, some young girls and children are being abducted at 12 years old and the parents will just hear that the girls have been married to traditional rulers and emirs.

“This is gathering a cloud of crisis already and if that is not taken care of, it will lead to a serious crisis. These are the issues we told the President.”