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Appeal Court Jails Yakubu Yusuf Six Years with N22.9bn Fine Over N24bn Fraud

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The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal on Wednesday quashed the sentence of two years imprisonment with option of N750,000 fine imposed by the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, on a former official of the Police Pension Office, Yakubu Yusuf,  for stealing N24bn pension funds.

A three-man panel of the Court of Appeal headed by Justice Abdu Aboki, in a unanimous judgment, described the High Court’s sentence as unreasonable and substituted it with a total of six years’ imprisonment with an addition of N22.9bn fine.

Justice Emmanuel Agim, who delivered the lead judgment of the court, ruled that “the sentences levied” by the High Court “are clearly light and lenient ones.”

The justice ruled that this  allowed “the convict, who had admitted misappropriating or stealing N24bn, the option to pay the sum of N250,000 per count of offence in lieu of serving a prison term of two years for the offence,” to enjoy the huge balance he had in his possession.

He added that the “amount” of the sentences “is paltry, a pittance and unreasonably low.”

Justice Agim noted that it was “disproportionate to the amount stolen and therefore can comfortably and quickly be paid by the convict from the humongous amount stolen.”

He added that with the sentence, the convict would be left with “a huge balance of the stolen funds in his possession and without really causing him any pain of punishment.”

Justice Abubakar Talba of the Federal High Court in Gudu, Abuja, had in his judgment delivered on January 28,  2013 convicted Yusuf and sentenced him to two years imprisonment with an option of N750,000 fine.

Yusufu, had after pleading guilty to three of the counts preferred against him and others, was convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment on each count with an option of paying N250, 000 fine on each of the three counts.

Although, two years imprisonment was the maximum jail term with an option of undisclosed fine prescribed as punishment by Section 309 of the Penal Code Act, under which Yusufu and his co-defendants were charged, Justice Talba ordered that the two years imprisonment imposed on the convict should run concurrently with the option of paying the N750,000 fine.

The convict had promptly paid the fine and walked free shortly after the judgment was delivered.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission had through its private prosecutor, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), appealed against the High Court judgment.

Delivering the Court of Appeal’s lead judgment on the appeal on Wednesday, Justice Agim  held that the considerations of the High Court in imposing the light sentence were contrary to judicially established principles.

He noted that there was no monetary value of the properties already forfeited by the convict to justify the light sentence imposed on him by the High Court.

“I hold that the sentence of fine of N250,000 in lieu of imprisonment for a term of two years for each offence is unreasonable, unjust, unfair, irrational, arbitrary, and contrary to judicially established principles as it is not the result of a judicious and judicial exercise of the trial court’s sentence discretion,” he said.

He held that considering the humungous amount stolen, the nature and gravity of the offence, its destructive effect on the country, and its impact on retired police officers, the trial court ought to have imposed a severe sentence that would deter further commission of such crime and prevent the convict from retaining any part of the proceeds of the crime.

In passing a fresh sentence on Yusufu on Wednesday, Justice Agim imposed two years imprisonment on the convict on each of the three counts and in addition a fine of N20bn on the first count, N1.4bn on the second count and N1.5bn on the third count.

Justice Agim held that while the monetary fines on each of the counts amounting to N2.9bn would “run cumulatively,” the two years jail terms on each of the three counts would run “consecutively,” giving rise to a total of six years imprisonment.

He held, “In reviewing the sentence of imprisonment with option to pay fine, as in this case, this court can vary the sentence to one of both imprisonment and fine or imprisonment without option to pay fine.

“Considering the humongous amount stolen, the nature and gravity of the crime and its destructive effect on the country and its impact on retired police officers and the grave breach of public trust, a severe sentence that would deter the further commission of such a crime and prevent the convict from retaining any part of what he stole to avoid him obtaining financial benefit from his crime should be imposed.

“The sole issue raised for determination in the appellant’s (EFCC) brief is resolved in favour of the appellant.

“On the whole, this appeal succeeds as it has merit.

“I hereby quash the sentences of two years imprisonment or a fine of N250,000 for each of the offences in counts 18, 19 and 20 and substitute them with the following sentences for each count as follows:

“Count 18: The convict is sentenced to two years imprisonment and in addition a fine of N20bn.

“Count 19: The convict is sentenced to two years imprisonment and in addition a fine of N1.4bn.

“Count 20: The convict is sentenced to two years imprisonment and in addition a fine of N1.5bn.

“The prison terms shall run consecutively and the monetary fines cumulatively.”

Expressing concerns over the plight of the retired police officers who must have been at the receiving end of the massive theft of the pension funds, Justice Agim noted, “The offence committed by the respondent, by its nature, involves a grave breach of trust, erodes public confidence in public governance and causes retired police officers hardship and suffering.

“The funds stolen or misappropriated by the convict are police pension funds for the payment of monthly pensions and other retirement benefits of police officers nationwide.

“The theft or misappropriation of over N24bn of that fund would make the prompt payment of monthly pensions to retired police officers very difficult, if not impossible, with attendant hardship and suffering inflicted on such retired officers who rely on their monthly pensions as their only means or source of sustenance in retirement.

“The hopeless, helpless and dehumanising conditions the retired police officers have been put into by this offence that has become habitual and widespread amongst government officials in pensions departments of government whose duties are to be in custody of pension funds and process the payment of gratuities, monthly pensions and other retirement benefits to retired public servants is obvious.”

Justice Abdu Aboki, who led the three-man panel, and another member of the panel, Justice Mohammed Mustapha, agreed with the lead judgment.

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Former Chief of Staff, Oladipo Diya is Dead

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A former Chief of Staff, General Oladipo Diya, has died.

The death of the former General was made by a statement signed by Barrister Prince Oyesinmilola Diya, on behalf of theDiya family.

Read the statement…

On behalf of the entire Diya family home and abroad, we announce the passing on to glory of our dear husband, father, grandfather and brother, Lt- General Donaldson Oladipo Oyeyinka Diya (Rtd) GCON, LLB, BL, PSC, FSS, mni.

Our dear daddy passed onto glory in the early hours of 26th March 2023.
Please keep us in your prayers, as we mourn his demise in this period. Further announcements will be made public in due course.

Barrister Prince Oyesinmilola Diya, on behalf of the family.

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I’ll Never Validate an Illegitimate Outcome of a Flawed Process – Atiku Abubakar

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By Eric Elezuo

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has denied authoring a fake press statement making the rounds in the media, reiterating that he will never validate am Illegitimate outcome of a Flawed process.

The former Vice President made the clarification in a statement he personally signed, stressing that the so called press release did not emanate from him or his office, adding that his lawyers still have his unflinching mandate to challenge the outcome of the February 25 presidential election.

The Waziri Adamawa restated his stand in joining lovers of democracy around the world to condemn the election and completely reject the ‘predetermined outcome’ of the election.

Read the statement below:

I have been notified of a fake press release attributed to me and purportedly giving legitimacy to the widely rigged presidential election of February 25.

The so-called press release did not emanate from me or my office, and it should be treated with repudiation, untrue, and deliberately contrived by those who illegally appropriated the mandate of the Nigerian people.

For the avoidance of any doubt, I wish to state categorically that my lawyers still have my unflinching mandate to challenge the outcome of the February 25 presidential election.

I join other lovers of democracy in Nigeria and friends of our great country in the outright rejection of the predetermined outcome of the February 25 election.

I shall continue to challenge the legality of that election, alongside my party, the Peoples Democratic Party.

The decision to challenge the sham election of February 25, the worst election in our democratic history, is not predicated on my personal interest but for the interest of Nigeria and its people. It is aimed at deepening democracy and ensuring that we do not confer legitimacy to an outcome of illegitimacy.

My commitment to the democratic struggle in Nigeria is beyond an election season.

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Ademola Adeleke Reclaims Governorship Mandate, Dedicates Victory to God, Osun Residents

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By Eric Elezuo

Everyone who followed the tribunal process and judgment that nullified the July 16, 2022 election of Jackson Ademola Nurudeen Adeleke as governor of Osun State, will agree without equivocation that it was one judgment that will not stand the test of time, as the presented a masked review of high school jokes of an idle moment. This is even as one of the judges, who read the text of the judgment used playful and unserious lyrics of club house to describe the judgment.

The Osun tribunal had annulled Adeleke’s victory and affirmed his rival and predecessor, Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress as the authentic winner of the poll after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had returned Adeleke as the winner of the poll.

INEC said Adeleke polled 403,371 votes to defeat then-incumbent Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of the APC, who got 375,027 votes. But Oyetola and the APC rejected the result of the poll and headed for the tribunal.

In its January 27, 2023 majority verdict, the Justice Tertse Kume-led tribunal annulled Adeleke’s victory and declared Oyetola the winner of the poll. However, a minority judgment by Justice B. Ogbuli affirmed Adeleke as the winner of the poll.

Displeased, Adeleke and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) headed for the Court of Appeal.

The much acclaimed irresponsible judgment of the Tribunal brought out the angst of the general public, especially Osun residents and members of the PDP. In one reaction, a former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, described the majority judgement of the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal as highly compromised.

Frank in a statement in reaction to the judgement in Abuja, said the verdict fell short of expectations and does not reflect the will of the majority of the people of Osun, who freely elected Senator Adeleke as Governor.

He called on the National Judicial Council to urgently cause a probe of the verdict with a view to restoring Adeleke’s mandate as well as penalizing any of the tribunal members found to have compromised on integrity.

He also called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to urgently investigate the judges who wrote the majority judgement and prosecute those found to have based their decision on other considerations rather than the true facts canvassed during the hearing of the case.

He also called on the United States of America to place a visa ban on the Osun tribunal judges found to have used their highly exalted position as arbiters to derail and frustrate the growth of democracy in the country.

He commended the judge who wrote the minority judgement for sticking to the truth and siding with the wishes and aspirations of Osun people that elected Adeleke during the last governorship election.

He however urged the people of Osun to remain calm and law abiding with the certainty that the mandate they freely gave to Adeleke would be retrieved at the appellate court.

He also vowed that Nigerians will not fold their arms and watch any attempt to use the judiciary to again steal Adeleke’s mandate through the backdoor.

On March 13, 2023, however, the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, concluded hearing on the appeal, and reserved judgment for March 24. As expected, the appellate court set aside the tribunal judgment that nullified the election of Ademola Adeleke as governor of Osun State on Friday.

In a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of justices, led by Justice Mohammed Lawal, the Appeal court held that the appeal lodged by Adeleke to challenge his sack by the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal was meritorious. The court also held that the sum of N500,000 is awarded as a cost against the APC, and its candidate, Gboyega Oyetola.

During the ruling, the justice resolved that the preponderance of proof that there was over-voting in the elections rested on the petitioner. The court also maintained that “the party alleging non-compliance with the electoral act must prove its case without merely relying on the weakness of the other party.”

The three-man panel thereafter revoked the tribunal’s order which directed that a Certificate of Return be withdrawn from Adeleke and issued to his predecessor and APC candidate, Oyetola.

In his response to the judgment, an elated but highly confident Adeleke dedicated the Appeal Court ruling to God Almighty and the people of Osun State.

He said: “I thank God Almighty and our good people of Osun state. I dedicate this victory to God and my people. This judgement confirmed my earlier position that the judgement of the Tribunal is a miscarriage of Justice. The judiciary has right the wrongs of the lower Court. This has rekindled the confidence of the nation in the integrity of the judiciary as the stabiliser of the judiciary and last hope of the common man.

“I am particularly glad that the Court of Appeal has ruled that BVAS machine and voters register are the primary sources, not the report from the server. This has strengthened our democracy and remove a time bomb which the judgement of the Tribunal had planted for our democracy.

“I appreciate Osun people for standing by me and my party through repeated validation of my governorship mandate at the recent federal and state elections. My party won three straight elections from July 16. 2022 to the March 18, 2023. It was a resounding vote of confidence in my governorship by the people of Osun state. The judiciary has now confirmed the will of the people that I am the validly elected Governor of my state.

“My appreciation goes to the civil servants, artisans, market people, clerics, students, women and youth. Osun people defended the mandate from 2022 to date.

“I commend the judiciary for resisting all pressure. Rule of law is strengthened when judgement affirms the will of the people. On behalf of Osun people and my party, the PDP,, we appreciate the judiciary and the men of conscience on the bar and the bench.

“Let me use this opportunity to extend sincere hands of fellowship to former Governor Oyetola and the APC. Let build the state together. Let unite for the good of our people. The State needs leaders across party lines to join hands for robust and accelerated development of the state.

“As brothers and sisters, we are all requested to start the process of healing. Forget party politics as election is over. All members of the political class in Osun state should join hands with me to take our state to greater height.”

With the validation of his mandate by the Appeal Court, it is obvious that a new dawn has just emerged in the Land of Virtue, formerly known as state of the living spring, Senator Ademola Nurudeen Jackson Adeleke remains one of the prominent sons of the land, the sixth civilian governor of the state, and the 10th leader the state will produce since inception in 1991. His victory against Adegboyega Oyetola at the July 2022 governorship election remains untainted.

He has one of the most jovial personalities, combined with a mien that is down to earth and thoroughly enterprising. Many call him ever smiling senator; some others call him dancing senator while a whole lot of others call him the incoming governor. Today, the declaration has come to fruition. He is the Senator, who represented Osun West Senatorial district in the Nigeria’s upper legislative chamber between 2015 and 2019. He is Ademola Jackson Adeleke, the fresh governor of the state.

Born of the Adeleke family of Ede in Osun State on May 13, 1960, Adeleke commenced his primary education at Methodist Primary School, Surulere Lagos State before he was privileged to relocate to Old Oyo State to continue his education at Nawarudeen Primary School, Ikire.

Adeleke was born Nurudeen Ademola Adeleke to a Muslim father and Nnena Esther Adeleke, an Igbo Christian mother. Like him, Adeleke’s father, Raji Ayoola Adeleke was a Senator and the Balogun of Ede land in Osun State. His father, Raji Ayoola Adeleke was also the leader of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN).

On completion of his primary education, he moved on to The Seventh Day Adventist Secondary School, Ede to begin his post primary schooling. In the later years however, he attended Ede Muslim Grammar School Ede, where he finished his secondary school education and subsequently relocated to the United States of America, joining his two older brothers, who were also studying there.

In the United States, he joined Jacksonville State University, Alabama, and studied Criminal Justice, with minor in Political Science.

To prove doubting Thomases, who wiped up controversies around his educational qualification wrong, he went back to school and got enrolled at Atlanta Metropolitan State College in the United States, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice in 2021.

A businessman and administrator of no mean repute, Adeleke was the humble Group Executive Director at his brother’s company, Pacific Holdings Limited from 2001 to 2016, where his credible performances shot the company to enviable heights; a height it is still enjoying till date. P

It is imperative to note that before he joined Pacific Holdings Limited, Senator Adeleke worked with Quicksilver Courier Company in Atlanta, Georgia, US, as a service contractor from 1985 to 1989. His dexterity to work earned him a progression in career, and he berthed as Vice President at Origin International LLC, Atlanta, Georgia, US, a flavours and fragrance manufacturing company. His meritorious stewardship lasted a period of five years, from 1990 to 1994.

Not a few has described Adeleke as the philanthropic capital of Ede, as his influence in aiding the less privileged and downtrodden remains top notch. He is a voracious believer in community development, and has not spared any expense to see that his community receives global influence.

Politically, Adeleke is a beacon of light and hard but to crack, having remained an albatross to opposing powers and a reference point to ideal administration.

Shortly after he lost his brother, Senator Isiaka Adeleke, who died in April 2017, he contested the Osun West 2017 Senatorial by-election after the death of his brother, emerging as the winner under the Peoples Democratic Party, where he decamped to from the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Having emerged senator, Adeleke’s political influence waxed stronger, an on July 23, 2018, he emerged as the governorship candidate of PDP in Osun State after defeating Akin Ogunbiyi by seven votes. Efforts made to deprive him of the mandate was twated by the courts.

Adeleke’s lawyer in his defense claims his secondary school hasn’t come out to deny his testimonial, and asked the court to dismiss the case. The court dismissed the suit stating that the plaintiff could not prove Adeleke’s forgery.

Adeleke ran for Osun state governorship election under the PDP against top contenders Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola of APC and Iyiola Omisore of SDP on 22 September 2018. The election was declared inconclusive by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) while Adeleke was leading, and a rerun slated on September 27, 2018. The candidate of the APC Oyetola was declared winner after the run-off. Adeleke protested the result describing the election as a “coup”.

Much as on March 22, 2019, the tribunal sitting in Abuja declared Adeleke the winner of the election, the Supreme Court later affirmed Gboyega Oyetola as the authentic winner of the 2018 Osun State governorship election on Friday, July 5, 2019

Popularly known as the Dancing Senator because of his penchant to joyfully react to the sounds of music, Adeleke is uncle to one of Nigeria’s popular musicians, Davido.

Senator Adeleke is married to Mrs. Titilola Adeleke, a successful businesswoman and a self-made boss. They are blessed with three children who are all entertainers. They are B-Red and Shina Rambo and a daughter, Nike Adeleke.

Adeleke is expected to take Osun State to the greatest of heights, as he has already proved if his 100 days stewardship scorecard is anything to go by. Those who knows him agree that he can’t fail.

Congratulations, the Governor of Osun State!

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