An Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court has been informed as to how a class teacher, Igwe Ngozi, allegedly fingered a 12-year-old student in the classroom. The survivor (name withheld) hinted to the court presided over by Justice Rahman Oshodi while providing evidence during a virtual hearing, that the incident took place when she was seven years old and that the Defendant was the primary three teacher of Linsy Nursery and Primary School, Igbo-Efon, Alpha Beach Road, Lekki, Lagos. Led in evidence by the counsel for the Lagos State Government (LASG), Bukola Okeowo, the alleged survivor insisted that Ngozi had, on several occasions, invited her to his table and sexually assaulted her by inserting his fingers in her vagina.

In her words: “The Defendant’s desk is at the back of the class, while the pupils’ seats face the board. “He always calls me to his table, puts his hands under my dress and puts his fingers in my vagina. “I cannot remember the exact number of times, but I know he did that to me, numerous times. “When I told my mother, she took me to the police station, Child Protection Unit and Mirabel Medical Centre where a medical examination was conducted on me.

“The doctor did not tell me anything about the result of the report, but he told my mother.” While being cross-examined by the lawyer for the Defence, Mr Onome Akpeneye, the alleged survivor declared that she did not scream while the Defendant allegedly assaulted her. The alleged survivor further confirmed that there was no demarcation in her classroom, as pupils sat in the front while the Defendant sat at the back. In stating that there was no CCTV camera in the school, the alleged survivor maintained that Ngozi put his fingers in her vagina while the class was in session, but she did not scream. Earlier, the Defence lawyer had urged Justice Oshodi to allow the alleged survivor to appear in court for her to be cross-examined.

In his submission, Akpeneye hinged his reasons for his request on the grounds of the alleged survivor’s demeanour and gesticulation in her evidence-in-chief. The lawyer had said: “My lord, looking at the demeanour of the witness, I cannot cross-examine her virtually. “I humbly urge the court that the witcourt to bear in mind that I am doing this case at no cost.” Akpeneye also added that the offence in which the Defendant was charged, was a capital offence and would not want to take chances.

But in her response, the prosecutor prayed to Justice Oshodi to allow the defence counsel to cross-examine the alleged survivor via virtual hearing. In her submission, Okeowo revealed that the alleged survivor was traumatised to come to court and that her presence in court could not be guaranteed. Okeowo posited: “My lord, we cannot guarantee her presence because she was traumatised. “While I was conducting the pre-trial, she was crying uncontrollably. “Also in the last adjourned date, we had informed the court that the second prosecution witness would be examined virtually, in which the Defence counsel did not object.”

In a short ruling, Justice Oshodi over-ruled the submission of the Defence, just as he declared that the Child Rights Act allowed children to provide evidence behind closed doors. Ngozi is standing trial on a count charge of sexual assault by penetration, contrary to Section 261 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015. The defendant had pleaded not guilty following his arraignment, and trial had commenced on the criminal case.

Operatives of the Niger State Police Command have arrested a suspected car thief, Nathaniel Andrew, in Minna and recovered a stolen Toyota Corolla vehicle.

Spokesperson of the command, DSP Wasiu Abiodun, who disclosed this in a statement on Friday, January 12, 2024, said the suspect was arrested along the Minna-Suleja road while driving the stolen vehicle to Gbaiko to see his parents.


“On 03/01/2024 at about 1700hrs, the Police patrol team attached to Paiko Division arrested one Nathaniel Andrew aged 32yrs of Gbaiko area of Minna, with a Toyota Corolla LE vehicle, red in colour without a registration number suspected to have been stolen,” the statement read.

"The suspect was arrested along Minna-Suleja road, when he was sighted on the highway by the patrol team, driving a vehicle without registration number.

"The vehicle developed a mechanical fault on the way and he attempted to sell the spare tyre in order to repair the vehicle, as he claimed that he had no money in his possession.

"These actions were suspicious and he was arrested. During interrogation, he confessed that he stole the vehicle from the Central Area, Abuja and that he was driving the vehicle to Gbaiko to visit his parents.

"He claimed that he met the vehicle key on the door of the car, and he used the key to drive the vehicle away to Minna. He said he was planning to sell the vehicle soon in Kaduna before his arrest.

“The suspect has been transferred to the Crack Squad unit for further investigation and prosecution.”

…Says Nigerians Frustrated With How Politicians Run Nation

Professor Pat Utomi, a political economist, and management expert alongside like-minded individuals, is actively involved in merger of opposition parties leading up to the 2027 general elections. In an interview monitored by OLADIPUPO AWOJOBI, Utomi shares insights on the essential steps required to rejuvenate Nigeria and bring it in line with developed economies. Excerpts:

A couple of years ago, you theorised about the political space of Nigeria and you brought a lot of people to- gether, and recently you joined others to work with the Labour Party and you didn’t win, you are planning another coalition again, what is the assurance that this will work. Also, what can you say about the government of your friend, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu?

I have not spoken with President Bola Tinubu in five years. What I can say is that what is happening in Nigeria is inevitable, the country was not constructed to suit the Nigerian people, it was constructed to suit the politicians. You have all these corruption everywhere. But I want to say that the Labour Party didn’t lose the election. All what happened is a farce. There is a legitimacy problem in Nigeria. I go around the world and I talk in very important places around, and I know what other people think about Nigeria, this is not a disputable matter at all. I have said it regularly what the EU, FDI and others said about the last general elections. But I don’t want us to go back to the election.

I am just trying to say that the Nigerian people have become so frustrated about the way Nigerian politicians carry on such that when Peter Obi came out, he resonated and around the world, and Nigerians in the Diaspora wanted him. If you look at the resurgence of many of the success stories in the world, they had the Diaspora base; from Japanese to Indian and Chinese Diaspora. So, the Nigerian Diaspora rallied very strongly around Peter Obi and a campaign that Nigerians had not seen in a long time happened. The point remains that how do we go forward from here. The fact is that the majority of Nigerians are young. A significant part of our population is under 25 and they are fed up, they are looking for something new and the generation is trapped in their values. Why is Nigeria not growing, why are the multinationals leaving? Nigerian politicians are cheating every term, they cheat during elections, and they cheat in offices.

United States public office holders are found in economy class, but a Nigerian minister would charter a plane to go somewhere next door. In a very poor country, you see a disconnect between the political actors and the people of Nigeria. When that is what happens what do you expect to hap- pen on moving forward with this population that is the majority? You need to know that they would not be able to hold down the majority anymore and it might be very costly for them. My friend from the United States of America, who would soon come to Lagos, imagined a scenario where there would be increased violence in Nigeria as an expression of frustration and you have seen it happening already. You have Boko Haram in the North, kidnapping in the South East, Niger Delta militancy and others.

A lot of your critics said you are just theoretising that you once supported the emergence of former president Muhammadu Buhari and you were even a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and that you are part of them. They said theory does not solve the problem…

Aren’t you see it happening? Ehat is the point of theory, it leads to action.

They said you are part of the ruling class and that you played a role in the founding of the APC…

How am I a part of them? I played a role in the founding of the APC with the expectation that we could make a difference, but we absorbed a lot of people from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and created a worse PDP and I walked away from the beginning. I was never involved in anything in the APC in any shade, form or anything.

You took part in the governorship primary in Delta State and they showed you politics…

That story going round is not true at all. The correct story was that they called a meeting and Gen. Lawrence Onoja (rtd) was the chairman, but it was a pre-determined scam and I literally walked away. I was going to move to the venue, but they advised me not to go. There was no plan to have an election there, there was no democracy. Nigerian politicians don’t believe in democracy and I needed to prove it, once I proved it, I just walked away and I wrote a book about it. You cannot just sit in one place and be complaining.

Having seen what happened, I am superior to somebody who sits in one corner and complaining. Do something before you die like the late Jerry Rawlings said. But as I wanted to do something I found out that we have people who are inappropriate about where the country is going.

In the event that the merger works, who would lead the party. You know the PDP feels that everybody should rally round Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who would be 81 years old by November 2027, or will they pick a younger person like Mr Peter Obi?

It is too early to be talking about who, let’s talk about how, what do we need to do to make Nigeria one. When the time comes, we will tell you who will lead. I can tell you that in the last few days, I have had significant conversations with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Eng. Rabiu Kwankwaso, Mr Peter Obi and we are very clear on this matter. Let’s build a party that we desire and when we do, the people with the social movement subscribing to so- cial value and how they want the country to be would determine who would lead. This is what our country should be and not one individual claiming to be the best.

When the time is right, let us have those values, strategies that can take us away from these elites that take away the little that we get from oil into a sprawling growing economy the way India is happening and we can make progress. There are so many people who complain and they do nothing. Let’s get people who are thinking, sit down and think of how Nigeria can make progress. Is it not a shame, are we not ashamed to see the way Nigeria is, the poverty in the land, the anger in the land with all endowments that we have? Imagine that a huge percentage of foreign doctors in the USA are from Nigeria, why is this happening to our country?

You were a young man, when you had close contact with the government and some of the things we talk about were there and they are still there and nothing has changed. Why is it that we keep going back in this cycle of thinking, over 40 years the same thing are still there, how will the new party not go the same way?

There is enough evidence to prove this, the Nigerian political class has become anti-intellectual, we need to examine what the problems are and try and do something. In the 1950s, there were massive growth and development, essentially we had competitive communalism in the struggle among the regions, when they competed among themselves and this led to massive development. The jump in the phenome- nal growth in Nigeria is what you study and study again. But what happened between 1957 and early 1965 was the growth of manufacturing in Nigeria, after that what happened? A number of things, we had a convergence of soldiers and oil and this led to what my friend called bureaucratic prebendalism.

You see a big man at the top handing out stipends, the turning upside down of the Nigerian constitution prevented a federal structure and prevented us from bringing development and progress the way it happened between 1957 and 1965. Someone said it has got to a point that the civil servants own most of the big houses in Abuja. If we can sit down and talk to one another and recognise where things went wrong, if we can have a constitution that goes back to where we were in terms of sensitivities and sensibility of the ground norm, then it will be better. It’s not true that when things go wrong they cannot get better.

Look at the Malaysian story, when we had the civil war in Nigeria, Malaysians too were killing each other in 1969, but look at what happened when someone criticised the prime minister and he was expelled from the party, and he wrote a book. What he wrote in the book led to the resignation of the prime minister and he went back into the party and became the prime minister and pulled the Malaysian elites together. He then said to them; “look, I want everybody to sit down in this room and see where we are going because it is better for everybody to be inside the house pissing outside than be outside and pissing inside.”

That was how they were able to turn around the economy of Malaysia. It is possible to do it if we have people who are determined. There are Nigerians who are making sacrifice continually and we can find those Nigerians to make sacrifice to make this country work.

Billionaire investor Femi Otedola is currently ranked as the fourth richest individual in Nigeria with a valuation of $1.1 billion.

According to the Forbes Billionaire Index seen on Thursday, Jan. 11, Otedola, who fell below the billion-dollar mark in 2017, returned to the list this year to occupy the fourth position,

The surge in his wealth is attributed to his ownership of over 70% of Geregu Power, a power generation business. Otedola strategically sold down his Geregu stake from over 95% during 2022 and 2023, bringing in institutional investors such as the Afrexim Fund for Export Development in Africa, the State Grid Corporation of China, as well as some pension funds and other institutional investors.

Apart from his energy ventures, Otedola holds significant real estate assets in Lagos, Dubai, London, and Monaco. He also owns shares in Zenith Bank and FBN Holdings.

He follows Aliko Dangote, the CEO of Dangote, whose current net worth is $14.6 billion, as well as the telecom giant Mike Adenuga with $7.4 billion, and BUA Group founder Abdulsamad Rabiu with a net worth of $6.3 billion.

In Africa, Otedola is ranked the 17th richest individual and he is ranked 2,353 globally.

The Forbes ranking comes after Otedola gave back to his community by donating N1 billion to the Lagos State Security Trust Fund.