The Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission (ICPC) yesterday said it was set to resume prosecution of the former Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Sunday Ehindero, over an alleged N16 billion fraud. Spokesperson for the commission, Mrs Rasheedat Okoduwa, who disclosed this in a statement in Abuja, said the case against Ehindero, who was IG between 2005 and 2007, would continue at the FCT High Court in Abuja. The former police boss is facing trial for alleged criminal conversion of money belonging to the Ministry of Police Affairs to personal use while in office, according to the ICPC spokesperson.

“This development followed a Supreme Court ruling dismissing the appeal filed by the former police chief, challenging the jurisdiction of the commission and the FCT high court to try him. “Ehindero and an accomplice had in 2012 been arraigned on a six-count charge of conspiracy to criminally convert public funds totaling N16,412,315.00.

“The allegedly diverted funds were the interests generated from the sum of N557,995,065 police money he had placed in two fixed deposit accounts at Wema Bank Plc and Intercontinental Bank Plc. “He said the money was donated by Bayelsa State Government to the force at the time to enable it to purchase equipment for proper policing of the state,” she said. Okoduwa alleged that the principal sum donated was transferred to the Ministry of Police Affairs from the accounts without the interests earned.

This, according to her, formed the crux of the allegations against the accused. She recalled that on June 6, 2012, Ehindero filed a preliminary objection asking the trial court to strike out the amended charges for want of jurisdiction and competence. He also prayed the court for an order restraining any official of the ICPC from prosecuting him, for not having constitutional power to do so among others.

“In the reserved ruling delivered on Sept. 21, 2012, the trial judge dismissed the application in its entirety. Thereafter, the former IGP proceeded to the Court of Appeal and again his appeal was dismissed. “Ehindero took the matter to the Supreme Court where he has been asked to face his trial. The matter ought to have come up on Wednesday, April 11, 2018, for further mention, but the court did not sit,” Okoduwa said.

•No official complaint yet, three days after committee was set up –Source

After all the hues and cries, especially on the social media, against the purported conduct of a Professor of Management and Accounting at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife- Richard Akindele, who was accused of demanding sex to help an unnamed female student pass his course, strong indications have emerged that the embattled lecturer and a senior pastor with an Anglican church may escape trial.

A top management official at the university, who spoke with Saturday Telegraph on condition of anonymity, said apart from the damage the social media account may do to the lecturer’s image, there is yet to be any case established against the accused. The source, who confirmed that the university had on Wednesday set up a committee to look into the matter and give its report in one week, said only four top officials of the institution know the membership composition of the committee to avoid unnecessary influence. Meanwhile, further investigations have revealed that as at Friday night, just about four days to the expiration of the oneweek tenure of the committee, the female student, whose voice was heard in the recording that has gone viral on social media, has refused to either meet or forward any relevant document or information to the committee members for prosecution.

This was as the Vice-Chancellor of Lagos State University, LASU, Ojo, Prof. Olanrewaju Fagbohun, has advocated the institution of whistleblowing policy on campuses to address the rising cases of corruption in tertiary institutions, especially the cases of sexual harassment among both the students and staff. Investigations conducted by Saturday Telegraph revealed that similar cases in the past could not be legally tried because the victims were afraid of coming out. Meanwhile, the highly-placed source has confirmed to Saturday Telegraph that information at the university’s disposal linked the embattled lecturer to similar cases of harassment, threats and bullying in the past, but there is yet to be any official complaint.

The source said: “I can confirm to you that information at our disposal even shows that the said lecturer had helped some female students under similar circumstances but where is the evidence? The lady is yet to come out and like we have experienced in the past, I can say authoritatively that she would not come in the open.

“Even when some people are suggesting that we could trace the call logs of telephone numbers for confirmation, the argument is that even if we do, except the victim comes out, we can’t fight her case for her. You can only forcefully take a horse to the stream, you cannot force the same horse to drink water. “So the import of my message is that all that we are witnessing by the cries in the social media is just a social trial but the legal trial is different from all these. If you go to court without concrete evidence, the matter may be thrown out and the accused may even win claims against the institution or whoever goes to court.

So we need to appeal to the victim to come in the open first.” The source said the university has at many times in the past advised victims to share their experience with some gender activists among lecturers on the campus “but just like a rape case, they always keep quiet and suffer in the corners of their room.”

“But I can confirm to you that the Prof. Eyitope Ogunbodede-led management of the university is committed to prosecuting anyone found guilty because within the last few days that the whole matter had trended on social media, the image of our university has been at stake.

Yet, we must rise above mere sentiments and deal with issues and not hearsay,” the source added. However, the LASU VC has insisted that the whistleblowing policy introduced by his administration has helped in no small measure to address similar cases on his campus, noting that without promise of adequate protection and some benefits for informants, no one would be ready to risk his or her life to give such difficult information. Fagbohun, who had conducted journalists round the university campus recently in appreciation of the many ongoing infrastructural facilities facilitated by the administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode in the state, said the peace currently being enjoyed on the campus cannot be entirely dissociated from the policy. It would be recalled that in the audio recording, which has gone viral, a female student had called the Professor to inquire about his earlier sex demand to pass her in the lecturer’s course that she supposedly failed. He told the student that she would repeat the exam in the next academic session since she had refused to “take the opportunity” he offered her to have sex with him. “I gave you an opportunity and you missed it. Forget about it. You will do it next year,” the professor had threatened.

he student said she was calling to confirm whether he was serious about having sex with her. He responded: “Me that agreed to do something. I know what I meant. If you don’t trust me forget about it. If I wouldn’t do it, why should I give you audience in the first place. If I am not interested in doing it, I won’t give you audience.

“The other person has come and I told her straight away because there is nothing I can do to bail that person out and her mark is even better than your own. The person scored 39 while your own is 33.” The lecturer then asked her why she told him that she was having her menstruation the day they met and he demanded sex. “I was really seeing my period Professor Akindele,” the girl responded but the man told her to stop mentioning his name.

“And now nko?” he asked, to which she replied that the period had ended. “Your boyfriend has done it yesterday?” he asked. “Is it every time that someone will be doing with the boyfriend?,” she responded. “Is it every time you do it with your wife?” “Yes,” he answered. “It’s a lie,” the girl exclaimed. “Not possible.”

When the girl asked him about the plan for the arrangement for her to have the sex so that she could avoid repeating the course, he told her that they would have the first sex the next day and on four subsequent occasions. “Is not five we agreed? Our agreement is five,” he said. “Is it B that you want to give me or C?” the girl asked. “Why would it be five times you will knack me?” She then told him she would not have sex with him five times. “Prof, you know what? Let me fail it. I can’t do it five times. For what nah? No worry. Thank you, sir,” she said, then ended the call.

The world was in shock after over 200 schoolgirls were abducted at Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State by Boko Haram militants in 2014. More shocking was photos of the girls released months after they were taken—Boko Haram spread images of its sombre-looking captives, covered from head to toe in long, dark gowns. “We are the Chibok girls. We are the ones you are crying about for us to come back, said the girls in the video. By the grace of Allah, we are never coming back,” said one of the girls, whose face was covered by a white niqab with only her eyes barely visible.

Hauwa Ntakai, was one the schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram in Chibok, Borno State. She was No. 169 on the list. Months after being released by the calamitous terrorist group, she is now a student at the American University, Yola, Adamawa State. Ntakai and over 100 other Chibok schoolgirls have been incorporated into a programme designed to help them catch up on their studies, reunite them with their former classmates and prepare them for university life. “I’m happy,” said Ms. Ntakai, while speaking to NY Post. The 20-year-old student rises at dawn for Saturday yoga class and argues about the benefits and dangers of social media during debate night at the university.

“But Iam thinking about my sisters who are still in the back,” in Boko Haram’s clutches, she said. The girls are being counselled by a United States therapist who daily helps the girls to get back to normal life. All but one of the newly freed students agreed to attend the program. She had already been married at the time she was kidnapped, so she went back to live on her farm near Chibok with her husband.

“I could tell they were not feeling comfortable,” said Reginald Braggs, a former United States Navy R.O.T.C. instructor who is in charge of the program for the Chibok students. Rather than force integration, administrators decided to let the new arrivals eat most meals in their dorm. All in their 20s now, the women are housed at the university, but in a program that sometimes seems designed for elementary students. Classrooms are decorated with pictures of Spider-Man and basic multiplication tables.

“Remember to flush the toilet and wash your hands,” reads a poster on the bulletin board. For months, their tablets, all donated, were ordered turned off at night. Messages of positive thinking are plastered on every wall: Never give up. Believe in yourself. Shine like stars.

When some of the women were upset at messing up during spelling bees, administrators gave them the words to study ahead of time. Even their church service, during which the women seemed relaxed and joyful as they sang and danced on a recent Sunday morning, is watered down. Raymond Obindu, a charismatic speaker who bounces beside the pulpit and uses an equally ebullient interpreter, keeps his sermons for the women more uplifting than the ones he delivers to his local congregation, according to a special report by the NY paper.

“The Bible says you are fearfully and wonderfully made,” Mr. Obindu said during the service. “Everyone say, ‘I’m beautiful.’ ” “I’m beautiful,” the room of women chanted. He asked if anyone wanted to give thanks. “I thank God for leaving me alive,” said Magret Yama, who was released by Boko Haram last May, said.

The women told their parents that they had endured periods of hunger while with Boko Haram. They were made to cook and clean for fighters. Some were raped. Some have shrapnel lodged under their skin. One is missing part of a leg from injuries suffered with Boko Haram. Ntakai Keki, 60, said his daughter Hauwa had told him that the militants beat girls who disagreed with them or refused to follow orders. She was once lashed 30 times with a cane, he said. Hauwa had told him that she saw the dead bodies of children who were being held hostage and witnessed fighters die of wounds from aerial bombings by the military.

“That has all ended now,” Mr. Keki said. Psychologically, Mr. Braggs said more than half of the women were in what he called the red zone. “They’re just sad or down,” he said. University officials do not let journalists ask the women about their experiences with the militants, arguing that it could traumatise them further. “They’re grown women,” Mr. Braggs said. “Even physically they are grown women. But look at their social development. They’re still very vulnerable.” “I’m very, very cautious about people thinking I’m overprotective,” he added. “I don’t think they’re children. But there’s a certain responsibility I have been given.”

*Culled from NY Post