Nigerians get life in prison for murdering UK soldier

Two Nigerian-born British citizens, Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, who were found guilty of the murder of UK soldier, Fusilier Lee Rigby, were yesterday sentenced to whole-life and 45-year jail terms respectively.

Adebolajo, 29, and Adebowale, 22, drove into Fusilier Rigby with a car before hacking him to death in Woolwich, South-East London, in May last year.

The judge, Mr Justice Sweeney, said Adebolajo's case was one of those "rare cases" warranting a whole-life term.

According to reports, the two men were absent during sentencing after a scuffle in the dock because as soon as the judge began to sentence them, they started shouting and scuffling with court security guards.

They had to be forced to the ground and were removed from court.

Sentencing the killers in their absence, the judge said they had been convicted on "overwhelming" evidence of the "barbaric" murder of Fusilier Rigby.

Adebolajo was the leader of the "joint enterprise", the judge said, but Adebowale played his part "enthusiastically."

The judge said the pair carried out the murder "in a way that would generate maximum media coverage. He had done absolutely nothing to deserve what you did to him", the judge said.

Leadership

Suspended central bank governor Lamido Sanusi takes president Goodluck Jonathan to court

Embattled Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, yesterday, went before a Federal High Court siting in Abuja to challenge the powers of President Goodluck Jonathan to suspend him from office.

In the suit he filed through a consortium of lawyers led by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Chief Kola Awodein, Sanusi, told the high court that his purported suspension was as a result of some discrepancies he discovered in respect of amounts repatriated to the federation account from the proceed of crude oil sales between the period of January, 2012 and July, 2013.

He maintained that his sin was that upon discovering the financial anomalies, he had cause to inform the National Assembly considering the fact that the revenue of the federation and the national economy was directly affected.

He further insisted before the court that his purported suspension by President Jonathan was aimed at punishing him for the disclosures he made with regards to how revenue that accrued to the federation was being mismanaged.

Sanusi contended that the President did not approach or obtained the support of the Senate, saying his discussions with several lawmakers including Senator Bukola Saraki, confirmed that the decision to oust him from office was unilaterally taken by the Presidency.

Consequently, he urged the court to restrain President Jonathan, the Attorney General of the Federation and the Inspector General of Police, from giving effect to his purported suspension from office as the CBN Governor, pending the determination of his suit.

Besides, he begged the court to make an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the defendants from obstructing,disturbing, stopping or preventing him from in any manner whatsoever from performing the functions of his office as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and enjoying in full, the statutory powers and privileges attached to the office of the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria.

In an affidavit he deposed in support of the suit, Sanusi averred: “I have been informed, and I verily believe the information given to me by senator Bukola Saraki to be true and correct that the senate did not give the President any support for my purported suspension and removal from office as the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria”

Sanusi told the court that his interlocutory application was necessary considering the issues raised in the suit, saying delay would entail irreparable and serious damage and mischief on him in the exercise of his statutory duties as the CBN Governor.

He urged the court to exercise its discretion in his favour by granting the interlocutory injunctions as the President’s continued unlawful interference with the management and administration of the apex bank, unless arrested, poses grave danger for Nigerian economy.

It was his prayer that the court should order the maintenance of status quo ante bellum, which he said should be that he should return to his office as the Governor of the CBN.

Sanusi further averred that the actions of the President in suspending him from office was contrary to provisions of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act relating to the appointment and removal of the CBN Governor.

He said his purported suspension, “amounts to unlawful interference in the administration and management of the apex bank and is therefore illegal, null and void.”

He said it would be in the interest of Justice for the court to grant all his prayers.
Meanwhile, the suit, dated February 24, is yet to be assigned to any judge for hearing.


Vanguard

Video - Finance minister Okonjo-Iweala talks about alleged missing $20 million dollars

Nigeria's President, Goodluck Jonathan has ordered an investigation into allegations that 20 billion dollars in public money has gone missing.

The allegations were made by Central Bank Governor, Lamido Sanusi, who discovered the money had disappeared from the accounts of the state run oil company, known as the NNPC, last week.

Video - Nigeria battles infatn mortality

One million babies die each year on the day they are born globally, according to new research by Lancet and Save the Children.

Forty million women are estimated to give birth every year without medical support.

A large number of these women live in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Nigeria is trying to improve its high rate of infant mortality.

Boko Haram school raid leaves dozens dead

Suspected Islamist militants from the Boko Haram group in north-eastern Nigeria have attacked a school and shot some students, the military has said.

Dozens of pupils are reported to have been killed. Police told Reuters that all the dead were boys and that some of the bodies "were burned to ashes".

The attack took place in troubled Yobe state, the military said.

Residents of the town of Buni Yadi said the attackers struck at night, slitting the throats of some students.

They said that others were shot.

Teachers at the remote Federal Government College boarding school in Buni Yadi told the AP news agency that as many as 40 students had been killed in the assault which began early on Tuesday morning.

Hospital sources in Yobe told the BBC 29 corpses had been brought in following the attack.

'Pursuit of the killers'
The military has confirmed that an attack took place on "student hostels" but says it cannot yet give further details.

"Details are still sketchy due to lack of telephone access, and it is still not clear how many students were affected in the attack," Yobe military spokesman Lazarus Eli told the AFP news agency.

"Our men are down there in pursuit of the killers," he said.

Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sinful" in the northern Hausa language, has frequently attacked schools in the past.

Scores of people were killed in two attacks last week. In one incident, militants destroyed a whole village and shot terrified residents as they tried to escape.

The failure of the army to destroy the militants has fuelled anger in the north-east, correspondents say.

Thousands of people have been killed since 2009, when Boko Haram launched its campaign to install Islamic law.

Tuesday's attack in Yobe is close to where suspected Boko Haram fighters killed more than 40 students last September.

The latest offensive ordered by President Goodluck Jonathan in May has been blamed for triggering reprisals by militants against civilians.

Addressing a news conference on Monday, the president defended the army's record, saying it had achieved some successes against Boko Haram and that the militants had been contained to a small area of north-east Nigeria close to the border with Cameroon.

He said that Nigeria was working with Cameroon to stop the militants from staging attacks in Nigeria and then escaping over the border.

The BBC's Will Ross in Nigeria says that Yobe has been relatively peaceful this year unlike neighbouring Borno state where at least 250 people have been killed in a series of large scale attacks by the militants.

Our correspondent says that the latest killings show the scale of the task the military still faces.



BBC