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Buhari’s Death Rumour: Presidency Seeks Prosecution of Bishop

Published

5 years ago

November 21, 2018

Eric

The Special Assistant to the President on Prosecution, Mr. Okoi Obono-Obla, has written to the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Police seeking the probe of an alleged peddler of false claim of the death of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Acknowledgment copies of the separate letters addressed to the Director General of the DSS, Mr. Yusuf Bichi, and the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, were obtained by The Punch on Tuesday.

Copies of the letters dated November 14, 2018 were received at both the DSS and Police Force Headquarters in Abuja on November 6.

Obono-Obla, whose office is domiciled in the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, specifically informed the heads of the security agencies in his petitions that one Bishop Eze Orieke made the false claim with purported documents from the London Bridge Hospital (Regional Medical Laboratory) to back it on the wall of a Facebook group called Ohafia Political Forum.

The letters read in part, “The said documents are attached herewith for your attention and consideration.

“It is a notorious fact and incontrovertible proof that his excellency, Muhammadu Buhari is not dead but very much alive and kicking.”

He added that the post on Facebook and the documents attached to it by the said Orieke “are fake and calculated to cause panic, disaffection and undermine national security.”

Copies of the documents, which were allegedly attached to the Facebook post and which Obono-Obla forwarded with his petitions to the security agencies, included a purported death certificate issued by the National Population Commission indicating that Buhari died of cardiac arrest in Abuja on September 19, 2017.

“It is ill-motivated, distasteful and made in extreme bad faith,” Obono-Obla said of the documents in his petitions.

According to him, the act violated the provisions of section 24(1)(a),(b) and (2)(a),(b),(c)(i),(ii) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition & Prevention etc) Act, 2015.

Offences under the said provision carry between three to 10 years imprisonment with or without fines ranging between N7m and N15m.

“In the light of the above, I respectfully urge you to investigate this matter,” Obono-Obla stated.

Our correspondent’s search of the Facebook accounts of both Bishop Eze Orieke and the Ohafia Political Forum did not yield a positive result.

Also, repeated attempts to contact the said Orieke through a phone number supplied in the petitions as his were also futile.

The repeated calls made to the telephone line indicated that the contact could not be reached.

The legal provisions which the suspect allegedly flouted according to Obono-Obla include, “(1) 24. (1) Any person who knowingly or intentionally sends a message or other matter by means of computer systems or network that-

“(a) is grossly offensive, pornographic or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character or causes any such message or matter to be so sent; or

“(b) he knows to be false, for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, ill will or needless anxiety to another or causes such a message to be sent: commits an offence under this Act and shall be liable on conviction to a fine of not more than N7m or imprisonment for a term of not more than three years or to both such fine and imprisonment.”

“(2) Any person who knowingly or intentionally transmits or causes the transmission of any communication through a computer system or network –

“(a) to bully, threaten or harass another person, where such communication places another person in fear of death, violence or bodily harm or to another person.”

“(b) containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to harm the person of another, any demand or request for a ransom for the release of any kidnapped person, to extort from any person, firm, association or corporation, any money or other thing of value; or

“(c) containing any threat to harm the property or reputation of the addressee or of another or the reputation of a deceased person or any threat to accuse the addressee or any other person of a crime, to extort from any person, firm, association, or corporation, any money or other thing of value: commits an offence under this Act and shall be liable on conviction-

“(i) in the case of paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection to imprisonment for a term of 10 years and/or a minimum fine of N25,000,000.00; and

“(ii) in the case of paragraph (c) and

“(d) of this subsection, to imprisonment for a term of five years and/or a minimum fine of N15m.”

The Punch

Featured

Stay Away from CBT Centres, JAMB Warns Parents, Threatens Arrest

Published

2 days ago

April 18, 2024

Eric

As this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) begins on Friday, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has vowed to arrest parents found near any Computer-Based Test (CBT) centre during the 2024 UTME exercise.

The directive was issued at the final briefing of the CBT centre owners, which was held virtually on Wednesday, 17th April, 2024.

The spokesman for JAMB, Fabian Benjamin, said this directive became necessary following the intrusive disposition of some parents during the Board’s previous exercises.

Benjamin, who quoted JAMB Registrar Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, said any parent, who disobeys the order would not only be arrested but his ward would also be disqualified from sitting for the examination.

Oloyede explained that this measure became necessary as it has been discovered over time that many of these intruding parents are facilitators of examination infractions while others have, by their actions, disrupted the Board’s examinations in the past.

He added that some miscreants also disguise as parents to infiltrate the centres to perpetrate all forms of infractions.

“The Board’s helmsman noted that going by the extant national policy on education, a candidate for the examination must have attained the age of 17 years.

“Therefore, it is evident that these parents had not allowed their wards to pass through the classes as defined in the document, hence the desperation to follow their wards to the examination venue with the aim of compromising examination officials.

“At any rate, it is clear to any discerning observer that these parents deserve to be sanctioned as they had obviously ‘smuggled’ underage children into the ranks of those scheduled to sit the examination,” the Board note through a statement.

Furthermore, the Registrar said all arrangements have been concluded for the conduct of the 2024 UTME, which will be held in over 700 CBT centres across the nation.

He disclosed that the Board expects a seamless exercise but it has nevertheless made adequate provision to tackle any technical glitch that might occur in the course of the examination.

He, however, warned that if a session experienced any technical challenge, candidates in subsequent sessions would be allowed to sit their examination as scheduled while the candidates in the challenged session would be rescheduled for the last session for the day or the following day or even further depending on the centre schedules.

Featured

Oyo Govt Demolishes Operational Base of Yoruba Nation Agitators

Published

2 days ago

April 18, 2024

Eric

The Oyo State government, on Wednesday, demolished a building serving as the operational base of the Yoruba Nation agitators led by Modupe Onitiri-Abiola, in Ibadan.

Onitiri-Abiola, one of the widows of late Bashorun M.KO Abiola, had declared the creation of the so-called Yoruba Nation in a video posted online, which has been widely condemned.

Last Saturday, some armed men in military uniforms invaded the Oyo State Secretariat, with the motive to forcefully take over the State House of Assembly, before they were dislodged by the combined efforts of police and troops for the Nigeria Army 2 Division..

Mr. Fatai Owoseni, Special Adviser on Security Matters to Governor Seyi Makinde, confirmed the demolition of the house located at Toye Oyesola Street in Ibadan South West Local Government Area.

Already, no fewer than 29 suspects – including a lecturer – arrested in connection with the foiled armed invasion were on Wednesday arraigned by the police before a Chief Magistrates’ Court in Ibadan.

In a case with charge number Mi/520c/2024 between the Commissioner of Police and the 29 suspects, they were accused of a seven-count charge of treasonable felony, unlawful society, illegal possession of firearms, and conduct likely to cause breach of peace.

Inspector Bakare Rasaq, the Investigative Police Officer (IPO) at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Iyaganku, Ibadan, said the offence contravenes, and is punishable under Section 516 of the Criminal Code, Cap 38, Vol. II, Laws of Oyo State of Nigeria, 2000.

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PDP BoT Queries Damagum, Anyanwu’s Continued Stay in Office

Published

2 days ago

April 18, 2024

Eric

The Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party has queried the continued stay in office of the party’s acting National Chairman, Umar Damagum, and National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu.

Recently, many party members have raised concerns about the ongoing tenure of Damagum and Anywanwu in their respective positions.

Previously serving as the PDP National Deputy Chairman (North), Damagum assumed the role of acting National Chairman following the court’s suspension of the party’s National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, in March of the preceding year.

With the National Secretary being selected as the PDP candidate for the Imo State 2023 governorship election, the South zone has been grappling with nominating a replacement. Despite this, he, along with other party leaders, contested and retained the position of party secretary after losing to Governor Hope Uzodinnma.

The Punch