An Ikeja Special Offences and Domestic Violence Court has sentenced Kolawole Muyiwa, a former part-time lecturer at Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education (now Lagos State University of Education), to life imprisonment over rape. 

Justice Rahman Oshodi ruled that the prosecution had proven the case of defilement beyond a reasonable doubt.

The crime was committed on October 11, 2021, within the premises of the college in Oto-Ijanikin, Lagos State. 

Kolawole was arraigned on October 6, 2023, and pleaded not guilty. However, in delivering the judgment, Justice Oshodi found him guilty, citing the survivor’s detailed testimony and the defendant’s admission of requesting a relationship with her, which he claimed was platonic.

“Kolawole Muyiwa I have found you guilty of rape contrary to section 260 of the criminal law chapter 17 volume laws of Lagos state 2015

“I note that you are a first-time offender with no criminal record, and you are married with three children. You also served as a part time lecturer

However, the gravity of the offense committed cannot be overlooked: “As a part-time lecturer, you occupied the position of trust and authority which you abused.

The victim was a student at the institution where you taught.

“Section 260 of the criminal law describes life imprisonment punishment for your crime, and that is what I shall sentence you to. You shall also be registered as a sex offender.”

During the trial, the survivor told the court that “on October 11, 2021, she arrived early for a departmental meeting scheduled for 10 am. while waiting outside her classroom, the defendant approached and requested her to go get him food.  She declined due to her pending meeting.

The court noted that the survivor followed the defendant to get a flask for the food purchase, and he led her to the office.

“When they got inside, the defendant said he no longer wanted food but needed help marking some examination scripts. She added that the defendant went outside, returned, and locked the passage gate and office door.”

She said that the defendant asked if she had a boyfriend, to which she said no.

He suddenly pushed me down the plastic chair I was sitting on, overpowered me and forcefully removed my trousers. I was menstruating at the time, and he removed my sanitary pad and had forceful sexual intercourse with me.

The survivor said that after they had sex with her, the defendant said: “What you refused to give me willingly, I have taken by force.”

The defendant, in his account, told the court that on October 11, 2021, he came to the college to record and submit a script and that he met the survivor on reaching the gate, who offered to help him carry his bag.

He asked her if she could help record scores, to which she agreed. She informed him that she had a meeting.

The defendant told the court that he asked the survivor for a relationship while inside his office, and she accepted. He explained that the relationship meant was,

“To be together, to talk, relate with one another, but not for sexual relationship. He denied rapping the survivor.

His counsel, Dr G.O. Erenta, told the court to discharge and acquit the defendant as the evidence of the survivor was fictitious and no corroborating evidence was established.

But the judge held that the testimonies of the survivor corroborated with that of the legal practitioner and that of the IPO.

[TheNation]

Former Director General of the Voice of Nigeria, Osita Okechukwu, on Thursday claimed the All Progressives Congress, APC, has no money at the moment.

Okechukwu disclosed this while addressing why the APC accumulated N8.9 billion debt.

Recall that the APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje, on Wednesday said he inherited N8.9 billion debt from his predecessor when he took over office.

Ganduje disclosed this in Abuja while speaking at the APC National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting.

He noted that the expenses were incurred during pre-election legal battles, election cases, and appeals for legislative, governorship, and presidential elections.

Ganduje said, “The current NWC inherited debts and legal liabilities to the total tune of N8,987,874,663, arising from various legal engagements.”

The meeting was attended by President Bola Tinubu; Vice President Kashim Shettima; Senate President Godswill Akpabio; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas; state governors; NWC members; and other party chieftains.

However, Okechukwu said the huge debt was accrued from legal battles over the years.

Featuring on Arise Television’s programme, Morning Show, Okechukwu said: “On why we accumulated debts, that’s very simple, from day one – this same president Tinubu established a biometric registration quartered in Lagos.

“We were only able to do Anambra in 2013 with that machine, when this information got to the then president Jonathan, he instructed the Department of State Services to close it down.

“Since that close down ruptured our plans to have a biometric membership seamlessly and that could have met with one of the conditions in our constitution that members should have some tokens to contribute.

“If those tokens were done, we could not have been owing because we are now bedeviled in a situation.

“The debt came from outstanding legal fees, we didn’t do what PDP used to do while in the presidency, they were taxing ministers. We don’t have money.”

[DailyPost]

The Enugu Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arraigned one Barrister Ifeanyichukwu Okonkwo before Justice E. N. Oluedo of the Enugu State High Court sitting in Independence Layout, Enugu for fraud.

The EFCC disclosed this in a statement on X.com on Thursday.

The statement partly read, “He is facing prosecution on a one-count charge, bordering on stealing by conversion to the tune of N41million. The offence is contrary to Section 342 of CAP 30, Criminal Code Law of Enugu State and punishable under Section 353 (L) of the same Law.

“The charge reads: ‘That you, Ifeanyichukwu Okonkwo on or about the 23rd day of November 2015 in Enugu within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, fraudulently converted to your own use, the sum of Forty-one Million Naira (N41, 000, 000. 00) being money received by you from one Onyishi Maduka Samuel for the family of late Ifemelunma Okoye, in your capacity as the liquidator of Ifemelunma and Company Enterprises Limited and thereby committed an offence.'”

Okonkwo reportedly pleaded “not guilty” when the charge was read to him, following which prosecution counsel, Ajobiewe Enitan asked the court for a trial date and for the defendant to be remanded in a correctional facility, while the defendant, who appeared for himself, applied that he be allowed to continue enjoying an earlier bail granted to him by Justice H. O. Eya of the same court, on the same matter.

The statement continued, “After listening to both sides, Justice Oluedo granted the defendant’s application and adjourned the matter to May 13, 14 and 15, 2025 for trial.

“The defendant was initially arraigned before Justice Eya of the same court on June 23, 2022. He pleaded “not guilty” and was granted bail.”

Similarly, PUNCH reported in January that the EFCC arraigned a lawyer, Benjamin Nwobodo before Justice F. O. Giwa-Ogunbanjo of the Federal High Court sitting in Enugu State.

He was reportedly brought before the judge on five charges bordering on forgery and obtaining by false pretence to the tune of N12 million.

[Punch]

South Africa wants to find agreement with the new US government on diplomatic, trade and other issues, President Cyril Ramaphosa said Thursday, after harsh criticism of the country by Donald Trump.

Pretoria plans to send a delegation to Washington to settle a host of issues, Ramaphosa said at an event on the sidelines of G20 meetings in South Africa that were snubbed by the US foreign and finance ministers.

“We would like to go to the United States to do a deal,” he said in a discussion with Goldman Sachs vice chairman Richard Gnodde.

“We don’t want to go and explain ourselves, we want to go and do a meaningful deal with the United States on a whole range of issues,” he said.

Trump tore into the South Africa government early this month, accusing it of “confiscating” land from white farmers and announcing he would cut off funding.

He was referring to a bill that Ramaphosa signed into law last month that stipulates the government may, in certain circumstances, offer “nil compensation” for property it decides to expropriate in the public interest.

The new law is intended to go some way in addressing historic inequalities in land ownership, with the minority white population still owning most farmland three decades after the end of apartheid.

Ramaphosa said he had a “wonderful” call with Trump soon after the US leader took office in January. But relations later “seemed to go a little bit off the rails”, he said.

The US secretaries of state and finance later said they would not attend this month’s G20 ministerial meetings in South Africa.

The United States is South Africa’s second-biggest trading partner and will take over the rotating G20 presidency next year.

“We have got to make a deal of one sort or another on trade issues, on diplomatic issues, on political issues, a whole span of issues,” the South African leader said.

“It’s inevitable that we will get together and do a deal.”

Vanguard News