04/03/18

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Latest Reality Blog is a legal blog where you are updated on online latest news, gist, entertainment, events, motivational text, and genue articles.


Former Media Director for ex-President Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation, on Monday, reacted to the Federal Government’s list of alleged looters saying he returns the ‘label’ back to the sender.

Femi Fani-Kayode, in the list of alleged looters released by the Federal Government on Sunday, is alleged to have looted the sum of N866 million but in his reaction,  he said described this as a false claim.


“I wish to make it clear that this is nonsensical and utterly shameful, and I hereby reiterate the fact that I am totally innocent of any wrongdoing. I reject the false label of “looter” and I hereby return it to the sender.

“The Federal Government claims that I “looted” N800m from government coffers. This is false. I did not receive, and neither was I ever given one kobo by any government official, government agency or government parastatal during President Goodluck Jonathan’s tenure,” he said.

Fani-Kayode, who is also a former Minister, explained that the money given to him was by Director of Finance of the Jonathan Campaign Organisation, Esther Nenadi Usman was solely for the conduct of presidential elections campaign.

“Mrs Usman, who was Minister of Finance during the Obasanjo’s government,  was neither a member of Jonathan’s government and neither did she manage, handle or touch any government funds in her capacity as Director of Finance of the Jonathan campaign.

“The money she made available to me came from a private company account which was used to house contributions made to the Jonathan campaign by party supporters after series of fundraising event.

“These were private funds and not public funds and neither can anyone expect us to have run an election in 2015 without any money. You do not run election campaigns with sand but with money,” Fani-Kayode explained.

The prominent lawyer alleged that the Buhari administration’s war against corruption is selective and politically-motivated witch hunt adding that the released list is a violation of Nigeria’s constitution.

“Not only is this a violation of the constitutional provision that says that an accused person is deemed innocent until they are proved guilty by a duly constituted court of law but it is also highly prejudicial to the criminal cases that they are or may be facing.


“This is a crude and sordid attempt to intimidate the judges and influence the outcome of the cases which are before them and also to compel them to give the judgement that the government wants,” he claimed.

Fani-Kayode said it is the trite law that only a court of law can declare a man guilty or declare him a thief or a looter and not Buhari and his government. He questioned if anyone can get a fair trial in a country when the government has already pronounced them guilty before the world?
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Latest Reality Blog is a legal blog where you are updated on online latest news, gist, entertainment, events, motivational text, and genue articles.

A Myanmar pilot died on Tuesday after a “technical failure” caused his military jet fighter to plummet into a paddy field in the centre of the country, the army said.

A live video on Facebook showed flames billowing up from the crash site near Kyunkone village about an hour away from the capital Naypyidaw.

Local people found the unconscious body of the pilot attached to his parachute nearby and tried to drag him away from the scattered debris for medical help.

The army chief’s office later confirmed on its Facebook page that the crash was due to a “technical failure” and that the pilot died of his injuries on the way to a military hospital in nearby Taungoo town.

“An investigation is ongoing,” the post added.

Police told AFP that the single-seater F-7 jet fighter went down around 10am on Tuesday morning while a military source said the pilot, Major Arkar Win, was in his mid-30s.

The F-7 is a Cold War era fighter jet — a Chinese made variant of the Soviet Union’s MiG-21.

Myanmar has seen a spate of aviation accidents in recent years, including a devastating military plane crash in June last year in which 122 people were killed.

Bad weather caused the Chinese-built Shaanxi Y8, which was carrying dozens of soldiers and more than 70 relatives of servicemen, including 15 children, to plummet into the Andaman Sea.

It took days for rescue workers to pull bodies and parts of the aircraft, including the black box, from the sea. LR News
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Latest Reality Blog is a legal blog where you are updated on online latest news, gist, entertainment, events, motivational text, and genue articles.



Policemen attached to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Imo State Police Command, have been accused of collecting a N10,000 bribe from some journalists.

The operatives, led by one Inspector Uche, reportedly collected the money under duress, threatening to frame the journalists if they failed to give the bribe.

A photo of the alleged bribe, which had gone viral on the social media, revealed a policeman at the back seat of a vehicle collecting what appeared like wads of N1,000 notes from one of the victims.

PUNCH Metro gathered that the victims were members of the Online Media Practitioners Association of Nigeria and had attended the association’s convention at the Trade and Investment Centre, Owerri, between March 30 and 31.

It was gathered that one of them, George Williams, was driving three other participants in the convention to a motor park from where they would board a vehicle to Lagos State, when the policemen accosted them.

Williams said, “They were heavily armed. The inscription, Anti-Cultist Unit, was written on the black shirts they wore. They requested my driving licence and other vehicle particulars, which I gave them. They asked us to enter the vehicle and follow them to their office at the SCIID claiming that we were still under investigation. I asked them investigation for what, but they did not respond.

“When we got to their office, they searched us and my vehicle. Nothing incriminating was found. They left us for about 15 minutes. I met with one of them and told him I was a journalist and that my colleagues were returning to Lagos.

“Their team leader, Inspector Uche, said I should let the police do their job. He said my number plate’s papers were not original and I told him that the documents were issued by the government. He then said, ‘When you come to the police, you bring kola; when the police come to you, you give kola.’

“Eventually, they said if we did not want to go to jail, we should bring N10,000. They said they can level any criminal allegation against us. I told them that I didn’t have cash. They said I should use an Automated Teller Machine or transfer the money to their account. I said I did not do transfers.”

Williams stated that the policemen asked one of them to stay behind while he went with other colleagues to withdraw the money from the ATM, adding that it was while the money was being given to one of them that the viral photo was taken.

“This morning (Monday), I got a call from a man who claimed to be calling from a police station in Aba, Abia State. He asked me if I was okay with what my colleague did. I told him I didn’t understand what he meant. He said I should be expecting more calls from him and his colleagues. I was trying to ask him what he meant by that when he cut the call,” he added.

One of Williams’ colleagues, Juachi Ochu, corroborated the story in an interview with PUNCH Metro.

“We pleaded with them to let us go as we are law-abiding citizens, but all our pleas fell on deaf ears. The inspector threatened to put us in detention and indict us for a criminal offence if we didn’t give them the money. I was held at the station while my colleagues went to the ATM to make a withdrawal,” he said.

OMPAN President, James Anyenakwa, said the association would take up the matter to ensure that the bribe-taking policemen were brought to book.

He said a petition would be sent to the Imo State Commissioner of Police and other relevant authorities, adding that the money was deliberately given to nail the policemen.

He said, “It is unacceptable that security agents would harass any of our members in the course of their legitimate duty as journalists for any reason. They were searched, their papers were presented and nothing incriminating was found on them.

“However, security operatives, who are supposed to protect them, decided to harass and extort money from them. They threatened to detain them throughout the Easter period if they refused to part with some money. Because they (the victims) needed credible evidence of what happened, they decided to play along and paid the money.

“We have all the evidence. We insist that those law enforcement officers be brought to book. We need to know that this government is fighting corruption.”

Calls made to the line of the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, SP Andrew Enwerem, rang out.

He had also yet to reply to a text message sent to him as of press time. LR News
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