A 30-year-old mother, Yidiat Bakare, has been sentenced to five years in prison by an Osogbo Magistrate’s Court for throwing her three-month-old baby into a river in Ifon-Osun community, Osun State.
Yidiat was said to have thrown the baby into the river to express her grievance following a disagreement with her husband, Amodu Bakare.
According to the charge sheet obtained on Friday by our correspondent, the offence was committed on January 10, 2013 at about 4pm.
The woman, who pleaded guilty to the offence when the charge was read to her, urged the court to temper justice with mercy.
Police prosecutor, Mr. Oladoye Joshua, said her behaviour resulted in the death of the baby, stressing that the offence was punishable under Section 325 of the Criminal Code, Cap 34, Volume II, Laws of Osun State of Nigeria 2003.
Yidiat’s lawyer, Mr. Jimoh Daramola, urged the court to be lenient in its judgement, describing the incident as a personal tragedy to the mother.
After listening to the positions of the prosecution and defence counsel, Magistrate Olusola Aluko found Yidiat guilty.
The magistrate described the crime as unacceptable and heinous.
Aluko said, “People should exhibit restraint during disputes. It is always good to seek amicable resolution of conflicts at all times.
“The baby sent to the grave does not know whether the parents were quarrelling or not. This crime is unacceptable and heinous.”
He thus sentenced Yidiat to five years in prison with hard labour without an option of fine.
PUNCH
Related stories: Video - Man arrested for killing his 4 month old son for ritual
Monday, January 21, 2013
President Goodluck Jonathan shocked at decrepit state of police college in Lagos
A Presidency official, who spoke to one our correspondents in confidence, on Sunday, said, “The picture being painted is that of total neglect of the police training colleges, including the one in Ikeja.
“But the fact is that some money was budgeted for those colleges. How has the money been spent? There will be a probe and anybody found wanting will be sacked.”
Already, sources said top officials at the Ministry of Police Affairs, the Police Service Commission, and the office of the Inspector-General of Police have been put under scrutiny over the condition of the PCI.
It was also gathered that the DIG ‘E’ Department, Mr. Marvel Akpoyibo, who oversees training in the Nigeria Police, might be called upon to give explanations on the “unacceptable magnitude” of rot in the police training schools.
Jonathan, who could not hide his anger during the visit to the PCI en route Cote d’Ivoire for the ECOWAS Summit on Mali, said that the rot , being televised as a documentary on a Lagos-based privately-owned Channels Television, was meant to tarnish the image of his administration.
The documentary was said to have informed his unscheduled visit to the college.
“This is a calculated attempt to damage the image of this government. The Police College, Ikeja, is not the only training institution in Nigeria,” he had said.
His questions on who got Channels to film the depreciation in facilities caused by years of sustained decay were not answered by the embattled commandant of the college.
A confidant of the President said that Jonathan was of the view that those appointed to occupy sensitive positions had failed to do their jobs.
The President’s visit coincided with a wedding reception being held at the Police College.
There were fears that the police college had long deviated from the standard norms associated with a police formation .
It was learnt that the field of the Police College was being rented out to the public for ceremonies ranging from weddings, funerals and sundry social activities. The proceeds from such rentals hardly appear in the college’s books nor do they reflect in the maintenance of facilities in the school.
Also, those in charge of the PCI were alleged to place priority on such rentals at the expense of serious training programmes in the school.
The Police Public Relations Officer of the PCI, Mr. Agu Genny, however, said he did not know if money was paid to the college for renting the field as it was not under his responsibility.
“I don’t know how much or if money is paid for using the field because it is not my responsibility. That question should be directed to the officer in charge of finance or the commandant of the college”, he said.
Like the proceeds from the rentals, monies realised from billboards, including spectacular boards that are rented by advertising agencies, are not accounted for.
An officer, who declined to give his name because of the sensitivity of the scandal, said, “Look, for many years outdoor advertising agencies have always erected their spectacular billbords in our premises.
Video - 30 human bodies found in river
Over 30 dead bodies, all male, were (yesterday) found floating on Ezu, a river at the boundary between Anambra and Enugu states.
The decomposing bodies without any noticeable body mutilations or injuries could not be identified by the people of Amansea community who live in the area on Anambra state side of the divide.
Eyewitnesses told Channels Television that the bodies were discovered in the early hours of the morning when they went to fetch water.
Anambra and Enugu states Commissioners of Police who visited the area said investigation will commence to unravel the mysterious incident.
The river is the only source of water for the five communities of Amansea, Ebenebe, Ugbenu, Ugbene and Oba-Ofemili and the development had caused a lot of discomfort to the people.
Anambra State Commissioner of Police, Bala Nasarawa, who shuddered at such inhuman and ugly incident, said investigation in to the matter will commence immediately while his Enugu counterpart, Musa Daura, maintained that Enugu and Anambra enjoy relative peace and so could not decipher where the corpses were coming from.
Daura wondered how the avalanche of dead bodies got there because he had not heard of any communal clash whether in Enugu or Anambra where many people were killed".
Anambra State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Lawrence Ikeafor, also wondered where the dead bodies could be coming from as there are no communal clashes within the state or even in neighboring Enugu state. He however advised the villagers not to fetch water from the river until the bodies are cleared and buried.
Nigerians in UK prisons to be sent home
Nigerians serving in various prisons in the United Kingdom will soon be sent back home to serve their jail terms following a bill to that effect now waiting for President Goodluck Jonathan's assent.
The Clerk of the National Assembly Salisu Maikasuwa forwarded the bill passed by the lawmakers to the President in December last year.
Under the new bill, Nigerians serving in UK jails will be repatriated home without their consent.
THISDAY on Sunday had exclusively reported in August last year that the prisoners' exchange programme entered into between Nigeria and UK was suffering a hitch because of the domestic laws in Nigeria, which oppose forceful repatriation.
Of the 571 Nigerians serving in UK prisons as at August 2012, only 40 of them were said to have agreed to return home to serve out the remainder of their sentences.
One prisoner was repatriated to Nigeria in May last year from the UK and is serving out his term at an undisclosed prison in the country.
However, according to THISDAY investigations, the larger majority were stalling the transfer as they know their repatriation home to serve out their jail term could not be effected without their consent.
The newspaper had reported that the 1963 Prisons Act would have to be amended to pave way for the transfer by removing the issue of consent.
If President Jonathan signs the amendment bill into law, at least 350 of the Nigerian prisoners in UK would be eligible for without consent return to Nigeria.
Eligibility is determined by the seriousness of the offence for which a person has been jailed and the amount of time he has left on his sentence.
The Head of Political Section of the British High Commission in Abuja Paul Edwards told THISDAY at the weekend that the Senate and House of Representatives passed the amendment bill after they were convinced the bill does not seek to return prisoners convicted for minor offences such as failure to pay parking fines.
Earlier at a press briefing in Abuja on Friday, British High Commissioner to Nigeria Dr. Andrew Pocock had said the legislation was in an advanced stage.
Presently the agreement between the two countries is that a prisoner must consent to being returned to his country, a condition, which Nigerian prisoners in the UK have exploited to refuse to be sent back to serve out their sentences.
The major reason for the refusal stems from the fact that most prisons in Nigeria are in deplorable conditions and are not fit for human habitation.
Britain therefore demanded that prisoners be transferred to prisons that meet human rights standards where the rights of the prisoners would be respected.
To reduce the unnecessary burden on its taxpayers and ensure that the prisoners are put in prisons that meet minimum standards, Britain reportedly committed £500,000 to train prison guards and to fund an ongoing prison officer exchange programme.
It also built an extra wing at the Kirikiri Prisons in Lagos and provided the funds for the construction of a guard tower for the extra wing after officials discovered that the building was not being used.
An additional £1 million was also allegedly earmarked for ensuring the smooth implementation of the agreement.
At an earlier interview with THISDAY, Edwards had said it makes more sense for a prisoner to serve out his sentence in his home country where he has a family support structure.
"Some of the works we have been doing is to ensure that there are prisons where their human rights would be respected," he had said.
The Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro, had also said earlier the prisoners' exchange programme was not effective because of some factors, which included the domestic laws in the country opposing forceful repatriation, the issue of prisoners' consent, unwillingness of Nigerian prisoners abroad to serve in prisons at home and the obsolete 1963 Prisons Act.
He said the act was inimical to any meaningful reform of the prison system.
The Clerk of the National Assembly Salisu Maikasuwa forwarded the bill passed by the lawmakers to the President in December last year.
Under the new bill, Nigerians serving in UK jails will be repatriated home without their consent.
THISDAY on Sunday had exclusively reported in August last year that the prisoners' exchange programme entered into between Nigeria and UK was suffering a hitch because of the domestic laws in Nigeria, which oppose forceful repatriation.
Of the 571 Nigerians serving in UK prisons as at August 2012, only 40 of them were said to have agreed to return home to serve out the remainder of their sentences.
One prisoner was repatriated to Nigeria in May last year from the UK and is serving out his term at an undisclosed prison in the country.
However, according to THISDAY investigations, the larger majority were stalling the transfer as they know their repatriation home to serve out their jail term could not be effected without their consent.
The newspaper had reported that the 1963 Prisons Act would have to be amended to pave way for the transfer by removing the issue of consent.
If President Jonathan signs the amendment bill into law, at least 350 of the Nigerian prisoners in UK would be eligible for without consent return to Nigeria.
Eligibility is determined by the seriousness of the offence for which a person has been jailed and the amount of time he has left on his sentence.
The Head of Political Section of the British High Commission in Abuja Paul Edwards told THISDAY at the weekend that the Senate and House of Representatives passed the amendment bill after they were convinced the bill does not seek to return prisoners convicted for minor offences such as failure to pay parking fines.
Earlier at a press briefing in Abuja on Friday, British High Commissioner to Nigeria Dr. Andrew Pocock had said the legislation was in an advanced stage.
Presently the agreement between the two countries is that a prisoner must consent to being returned to his country, a condition, which Nigerian prisoners in the UK have exploited to refuse to be sent back to serve out their sentences.
The major reason for the refusal stems from the fact that most prisons in Nigeria are in deplorable conditions and are not fit for human habitation.
Britain therefore demanded that prisoners be transferred to prisons that meet human rights standards where the rights of the prisoners would be respected.
To reduce the unnecessary burden on its taxpayers and ensure that the prisoners are put in prisons that meet minimum standards, Britain reportedly committed £500,000 to train prison guards and to fund an ongoing prison officer exchange programme.
It also built an extra wing at the Kirikiri Prisons in Lagos and provided the funds for the construction of a guard tower for the extra wing after officials discovered that the building was not being used.
An additional £1 million was also allegedly earmarked for ensuring the smooth implementation of the agreement.
At an earlier interview with THISDAY, Edwards had said it makes more sense for a prisoner to serve out his sentence in his home country where he has a family support structure.
"Some of the works we have been doing is to ensure that there are prisons where their human rights would be respected," he had said.
The Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro, had also said earlier the prisoners' exchange programme was not effective because of some factors, which included the domestic laws in the country opposing forceful repatriation, the issue of prisoners' consent, unwillingness of Nigerian prisoners abroad to serve in prisons at home and the obsolete 1963 Prisons Act.
He said the act was inimical to any meaningful reform of the prison system.
Related stories: Nigeria and UK to swap prisoners
Henry Okah found guilty of terrorism
Handing down judgment, Judge Neels Claassen said the State had proved Okah's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Claassen said Okah's failure to testify meant evidence against him remained uncontested.
Twelve people were killed and 36 injured in the car bombs on October 1, 2010, the anniversary of Nigeria's independence.
Okah was arrested in Johannesburg the next day.
He apparently leads the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which claimed responsibility for the blasts.
He was found guilty on Monday of engaging in terrorist activities, conspiracy to engage in terrorist activity, and delivering, placing, and detonating an explosive device.
Okah also faces terrorism charges relating to two explosions in March 2010 in the southern Nigerian city of Warri.
South Africa has tried him as part of its international obligation, as the Nigerian authorities had not applied for his extradition, according to the prosecution.
After the guilty finding, Okah was taken to the court holding cells under heavy police guard.
When his wife became emotional a friend comforted her, before they left the courtroom.
About 10 police officers were in the court, with another four outside while the case was being heard. The main road in front of the court was also closed.
Sentencing is expected on January 31.
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