Aliko Dangote is now 43rd richest man in the world

Cement mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, moved up 33 places from the 76th position, which he occupied on the list of richest men and women in the world compiled by US-based Forbes Magazine last year, to emerge the 43rd richest man on earth in 2013.

According to the magazine, Dangote was valued at $16.1 billion in 2013 and retained his position as Africa's richest man for the third year in a row.

The second Nigerian on the list is Michael Adenuga Jnr, with a net worth of $4.7 billion. Adenuga occupied the 267th position on the Forbes list and is the fifth richest man in Africa.

Speaking exclusively to THISDAY last night, Dangote said his target is to enter the exclusive league of top five richest men in the world in the next four years.

Currently, the top five positions are occupied by Mexico's Carlos Slim with a net worth of $73 billion, followed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who is valued at $67 billion.

Following closely on their heels are Spanish billionaire and owner of Zara clothing chain Amanco Ortega with a net worth of $57 billion; US investment guru, Warren Buffet - $53.5 billion; and Oracle's Larry Ellison - $43 billion.

Dangote, who has massive investments in the cement, sugar and real estate sector, had an eventful year in 2012.

In October, he sold off controlling interest in his Dangote Flour Plc to Tiger Brands of South Africa and pocketed $190 million in cash. In February, his Dangote Sugar Refineries acquired a 95-per-cent stake in Nigerian sugar producer Savannah Sugar in a bid to maintain its dominant position in the local sugar industry.

He also did the ground breaking for the 2.8-million-ton fertiliser plant in Edo State at a cost of $1.7 billion and when finished, will be the largest in the world. The plant is scheduled for completion in three years' time.

Dangote said he intends to ramp up cement production at his plants in the next four years from the current 16-17 million tonnes in Nigeria and Ghana to 100 million tonnes from new output coming from sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.

Last year, the business man stepped up his philanthropy, giving over $100 million to causes ranging from education to health, flood relief, poverty alleviation and the arts. He also acquired a yacht, which he named after his mother, Amiya.

Adenuga owns Globacom - Nigeria's second largest telecommunications firm, Conoil and some stake in Sterling Bank Nigeria. He founded Globacom in 2003.

It has 24 million customers in Nigeria, operates in the Republic of Benin, Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire.

His Conoil Producing is one of Nigeria's largest independent exploration companies, with a production of some 100,000 barrels of crude oil per day.

Other famous people on the Forbe's list include, Google co-founder and CEO, Larry Page, with $23 billion, is 20th on the list. Fellow Co-founder, Sergey Brin, is 21st with $22.8 billion.

Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, is 66th on the list with $13.3 billion, while Oprah Winfrey is the 503rd person, with $2.8 billion. Many of the billionaires give millions in philanthropy every year.

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Mystery bodies found in river were dumped by police

Dozens of bodies found floating in Ezu River, at the border between Anambra and Enugu states, were men seized and extra-judicially executed by a deadly police special anti-robbery squad, a civil society network has said in a report.

The International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law said its findings showed the bodies were those of illegally arrested members of the public, robbery and kidnapping suspects, and members of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB.

The victims were executed without investigation, prosecution, and sentencing, the non-governmental organization, which has carried out several reports and evaluation of police abuses, said.

The unidentified bodies were first found on January 19 as villagers of Amansea, the community near the river, went early morning to fetch water from the community's only drinking source.

The horror has shocked the nation and the world, but surprisingly the federal government has yet to make a pronouncement on the case.

While the villagers said the bodies numbered more than 30, police insists they were less than 20.

MASSOB had earlier claimed the bodies were those of its members who went missing months after police took them into custody. Police has denied the claim.

The International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law said it spoke with several relatives of missing family members, and community sources which pointed at the SARS, a deadly unit of the police often accused of abuses.

"What are the whereabouts of the nine MASSOB activists transferred to SARS from the Onitsha Area Command since 8th day of December, 2012? Were they granted interim bail? If yes, who were their sureties and where are the records with which they were granted bail," the group asked in a report signed by its chairman, Emeka Umeagbalasi.

"Were the detainees arraigned in either courts of inferior records or in courts of superior records? If yes, which divisions of the courts in Anambra State and at what dates?

"What was their fate after the courts' charges or arraignments? Were they granted bails or remanded in prisons' custodies? If yes who were their sureties or which prisons or police stations were they remanded and by which courts and dates? Are they still being detained by SARS without being charged to, or arraigned in courts? If yes, which of the SARS units are they being detained?"

The group called on the federal government to make a categorical statement on the case, and order investigation while ensuring payment of compensation to the families involved.

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Henry Okah's sentence postponed to March 18

Judge Neels Claassen of Johannesburg High Court in South Africa has postponed the sentencing of a terror suspect, Henry Okah again to the March 18, 19 and 20, Channels Television reports.

Although the judge had said he would not allow any other postponement, he said he had to do this in order to give Okah's new legal team time to get used to the notes left by the old legal team.

The new team led by Gerrit Miller requested for the time, following the withdrawal of the former team led by Lucky Multulanla.

But the prosecution had described the request as a ploy to delay the delivery of justice while Judge Claassen went ahead to grant the plea because, as he said, he didn't want to force the new team.

If the hearing was held yesterday, witnesses from Nigeria and the United States would have testified in a bid to mitigate the sentencing of Okah following the request of his former attorney, Mr. Multulanla at his last appearance on February 1 to give witnesses time to get to South Africa to testify.

Okah intended calling at least five people to testify. He was found guilty in January of 13 counts of terrorism, including engaging in terrorist activities, conspiracy to engage in terrorist activities, and delivering, placing, and detonating an explosive device.

The charges related to two car bombs in Abuja, Nigeria, in which 12 people were killed and 36 injured on October 1, 2010, the anniversary of the Nigeria's independence, and another two explosions in the southern Nigerian city of Warri, earlier in March 2010.

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Seven suspects released in lynching case of university students

A Port Harcourt Chief Magistrate, Mr. Emma Woke, Rivers State, has discharged seven out of the 18 suspects, arrested in connection with the killing of four students of the University of Port Harcourt on October 5, last year at Omuokiri- Aluu, Rivers State.

Magistrate Woke, who discharged them after reading an advice from the Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, yesterday, said the seven suspects were arrested by the police on grounds of mere suspicion. According to the DPP, no case of murder was established against them.

The court said the seven were released based on the advice of the DPP. He read out the advice before discharging the seven. According to the advice, the seven suspects were charged to court based on mere suspicion.

The seven are Cynthia Chinwo, George Nwadei, Ekpe Daniel, Gabriel Ochie, Endurance Edet, Lucky Agwurum and Finebone Jeffrey, aka Soso

The DPP, in the advice, said: "It is a trite law that suspicion, no matter how strong, cannot take the place of legal proof without concrete evidence to substantiate it, and as such, they were victims of circumstance and, therefore, charging and prosecuting them will be an exercise in futility."

The DPP also advised that charges against seven others, who were not charged to court but arrested by the Police, be dropped because no charge of murder was established against them, adding that the police should arrest five others on the run.

The advice further read: "The charge against them should equally be dropped and they should be released forthwith from custody."

Meantime, the Paramount Ruler of Omuokiri-Aluu community, Alhaji Hassan Walewa and 10 others, are to face a fresh charge for failing to prevent a felony. According to the DPP, no charge of murder was established against them.

"Your original case file will be retained to enable us file information with proof of evidence for the avoidance of doubt, against Lawal Segun, ex-Sergeant Lucky Orji, Ikechukwu Louis Amadi, aka Kapoon, David Chinasa Ogbada, Abiodun Yusuf, Joshua Ekpe, Abang Cyril, Alhaji Hassan Welewa, Okoghiroh Endurance, Ozioma Abajuo and Chigozie Evans Samuel in the state High Court."

It will be recalled that four students of University of Port Harcourt, Tekena Elkanah, Lloyd Toku Mike, Chiadika Biringa and Ugonna Obuzor, were mobbed to death on October 5, last year before a cheering crowd at Omuokiri-Aluu.

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Video - Bill Clinton says Nigeria among 10 most important countries in the world

Former U.S President, Bill Clinton has said that Nigeria is among the 10 most important countries in the world.

Clinton, who was speaking on Tuesday in Abeokuta as part of an awards ceremony put on by ThisDay newspaper and its flamboyant publisher Nduka Obaigbena, who has invited the former president several times to Nigeria, said it would be difficult to imagine how the world be if Nigeria fails.

"I made a list of the 10 important countries in the world for the 21st century and Nigeria is on the list," the former president said.

He listed three big challenges that Nigeria must overcome for it to actualize its potentials.

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