COURT SENTENCE RETIRED COLONEL TO SEVEN YEARS IMPRISONMENT FOR DUPING CHURCH OF THE SUM OF N34.5M

Justice M. N. Yunusa of the Federal High Court sitting in Enugu has sentenced Col. Eugene Okpala (retd.) to seven years in prison in a case of conspiracy, and obtaining money under false pretences to the tune of N34.5m.

The convict duped a church, Dominium City Church, of the sum in 2010.

he Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said in a statement by its spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, that the 62-year-old convict was earlier slated for trial on Wednesday but the case took a different turn when the retired colonel decided to change his plea from “not guilty” to “guilty”.

THE FIVE KEY 2016 UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL CLASHES.

Real Madrid face local rivals Atletico Madrid in the Champions League final for the second time in three years at Milan’s San Siro on Saturday. Atletico are aiming to win the competition for the first time after losing out 4-1 to Real after extra-time in the final in Lisbon two years ago. By contrast, Real are already the most successful side in Champions League history as 10-time winners.

Here, We sports look at five key clashes that could decide the outcome.

40 NIGERIANS DEPORTED FROM AUSTRALIA AND UNITED KINGDOM.

For the second time in a month, United Kingdom and Australia, yesterday, jointly deported 40 Nigerians for various immigration offences. The deportees, males and females, arrived the Hajj camp area of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport on chartered aircraft. It will be recalled that last year, more than 40 Nigerians were similarly deported from UK for what the United Kingdom government called immigration offences. Switzerland also deported some Nigerians. 

The latest deportees came on two separate chartered flights. One of the chartered aircraft, with registration number ZTA -4741, arrived Lagos Airport with 36 Nigerians: 29 males and seven females. 

PASSENGERS STRANDED NATIONWIDE AS DANA AIR PILOTS GO ON STRIKE

Dana Air pilots have gone on strike, grounding the airline’s operations and leaving hundreds of passengers stranded nationwide.

“The strike started this morning and passengers that were supposed to travel this morning are stranded,” a source at the airport told our correspondent, adding that the pilots were protesting the non-payment of their salaries.

According to the source, the airline had continued to sell tickets to passengers earlier today in the hope that the dispute would be resolved.

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT APPOINTS DGs FOR NTA, FRCN, VON AND NAN.

The Federal Government on Wednesday named chief executives for six agencies under the Ministry of Information and Culture.

The appointments were announced in Abuja by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed.

The new Director Generals include Ishaq Modibo Kawu – Director-General, Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC); Mansur Liman – Director-General, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN); and Yakubu Mohammed – Director-General, Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).

EFCC DECLARES IYIOLA OMISORE WANTED.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), today, May 24, declared former deputy governor of Osun State, Senator Iyiola Omisore, wanted. The former senator is wanted in connection with a case of receiving and misappropriating the sum of over N700, 000,000.00 from the Office of the National Security Adviser, between June and November, 2014.

According to EFCC, Omisore has been elusive and refused to report to the Commission after invitation was extended to him on April 7, 2016 requesting him “to come and make clarification on the ongoing investigation”.

 Instead of responding to the Commission’s investigation Omosore had approached the Federal Capital Territory High Court for the enforcement of his fundamental human rights.

FAMILY OF ELECTROCUTED UNILAG STUDENT GETS N45M COMPENSATION.

LATE OLUCHI WAS A 1ST CLASS STUDENT

The family of Oluchi Anekwe, a 300-level student of Accounting in the University of Lagos, who was electrocuted by a live wire on the school premises, has been paid N45m as compensation.

A source said that the money was paid after the Eko Electricity Distribution Company reached a non-disclosure agreement with the victim’s family.

It was reported in September 2015 that Oluchi, a first class student of UNILAG, was electrocuted at about 7pm, while returning from an evening mass with her younger sister.

EFCC TO KEEP FANI KAYODE FOR ANOTHER 3 WEEKS.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has transferred a former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, to its Lagos office.

The EFCC also obtained a fresh remand order from a Lagos Magistrate’s Court to hold the ex-minister for another 21 days.

Fani-Kayode, who was the spokesman for the Goodluck Jonathan Campaign Organisation was arrested on May 9, 2016 for allegedly receiving N840m during the build-up to the 2015 presidential election.

NEITI DISCOVERS N1.12TN FRAUD IN NNPC.

The long-awaited Nigeria oil and gas as well as the solid minerals sectors 2013 audit reports by the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, was officially unveiled in Abuja on Monday.

The Minister of Solid Minerals and Chairman, NEITI Board, Kayode Fayemi, who unveiled the report, said the document contained damning revelations about revenues either lost or unremitted by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and its sub-units.

About N1.12 trillion, consisting $3.8billion (about N756.2 billion) and N358.3billion, was outstanding revenues from NNPC as unpaid royalties from the divested oil mining leases, OMLs.

READ HOW EX DEFENCE CHIEF, ALEX BADEH BOUGHT FAYOSE'S LAND FOR N650M.

A witness in the ongoing trial of former Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh, has shed light on how Mr. Badeh bought a land belonging to Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose, for N650 million.

The witness, Mustapha Yerima, managing director of a contracting firm, Right Builders Limited, said he got to know about the said land during a negotiation with a company, Kasamgo Investment, for the purchase of a land, on which his company would construct a mall for Mr. Badeh.

Mr. Yerima explained that it all started in 2013 when he found out about the plan of the Nigerian Air Force to engage the services of contractors for the construction of a mall for the helmsman at the Air Force.

GOVERNOR FAYOSE BANS GRAZING IN EKITI AFTER 2 PEOPLE DIED AS A RESULT OF SUSPECTED HERDSMEN ATTACK.

The Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has banned grazing and rearing of cattle in the state, saying those interested in cattle farming should get their own private cattle ranches.

The governor announced this when he visited Oke Ako in Ikole Local Government Area of the state where some residents of the town were attacked on Friday night by criminals suspected to be Fulani herdsmen.

Two persons died from the attack while three others are receiving treatment in separate private hospitals in Ikole Ekiti and Ado Ekiti.

DOWN AND OUT - MANCHESTER UNITED SACKS LOUIS VAN GAAL, EXPECTED TO NAME JOSE MOURINHO ON TUESDAY.

Louis van Gaal has been sacked as manager of Manchester United, with former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho set to be named as his replacement.

Van Gaal, 64, leaves after two years of a three-year contract and is currently discussing severance terms.

The former Netherlands boss is believed to earn around £6.4m a year.

NLC SUSPENDS INDEFINITE STRIKE, SET TO MEET WITH FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.

The Nigeria Labour Congress has suspended the indefinite strike it called to protest the increase in the pump price of petrol from N86 and N86.50k to N145.

The decision to suspend the strike was taken at an emergency meeting of the NLC National Executive Committee in Abuja on Sunday.

The NEC also resolved to resume negotiation with the government on the issue of the increase in electricity tariff and the 45 per cent increase in the pump price of petrol.

COURT ORDERS OKONJO IWEALA TO ACCOUNT FOR MISSING N30TN.

A Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered a former Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to account for the N30tn which a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Charles Soludo, claimed went missing under her watch.

Justice Ibrahim Buba said ordering Okonjo-Iweala to offer explanation on the allegedly missing money was the only thing to do since she had failed to put in a valid defence against a suit seeking an order, mandating her to account for the allegedly missing money.

Soludo had, sometime ago, alleged that “at least, N30tn was either stolen or unaccounted for, or grossly mismanaged” over the years that Okonjo-Iweala was in office as the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance.

POLICE SEAL OFF PDP HEADQUARTERS IN ABUJA AS 3 FACTIONS EMERGES.

Heavily armed policemen have taken over the national headquarters of the Peoples Democratic Party in Abuja.

This step, which was noticed on Sunday, was said to have been carried out by the police to prevent the breakdown of law and order at the secretariat.

A former Governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, was reportedly removed as the PDP national chairman at the party’s convention in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, on Saturday.

SERAH LUKA BECOMES SECOND CHIBOK GIRL RESCUED BY THE NUGERIAN ARMY.

A second schoolgirl who was among more than 200 others kidnapped by Boko Haram during an attack on their school in the northeastern Nigerian town of Chibok more than two years ago has been found, the army said Thursday. The news comes just days after the first of the missing schoolgirls was found by vigilantes late Tuesday in Sambisa forest, near Nigeria’s border with Cameroon.

The second schoolgirl, Serah Luka, was among 97 women and children held hostage by Boko Haram who were freed Thursday after clashes between soldiers and jihadi militants in northeastern Borno state, Army spokesman Col. Sani Usman reportedly said. Luka reportedly was from the northeastern town of Madagali, in the state of Adamawa, which borders Borno.

WRECKAGE OF CRASHED EGYPTAIR PLANE FOUND NEAR GREEK ISLAND.

Wreckage of EgyptAir flight MS804 has been found south of the Greek island of Karpathos, Egyptian aviation officials say. The Airbus A320 was en route from Paris to Cairo with 66 passengers and crew when it went down overnight.

Egyptian Vice-President Ahmed Adel told CNN the rescue operation was "turning into a search and recovery". Officials say the plane is more likely to have been brought down by a terrorist act than a technical fault.

It made two sharp turns and dropped more than 25,000ft (7,620m) before plunging into the Mediterranean Sea, Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos told reporters.

WHY WE CANNOT RELEASE SAMBO DASUKI - FG TELLS ECOWAS COURT.

The Federal Government on Thursday told the Economic Community of West African States that it would be dangerous to release the immediate National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), from custody because he constituted a threat to national security.

Dasuki was re-arrested on December 29, 2015 by the operatives of the Department of State Service shortly after he was released on bail from ‎Kuje Prisons, Abuja, with respect to his ongoing trial on three separate sets of charges.

The Federal Government on Thursday called two witnesses ‎to oppose a fundamental human rights enforcement suit filed before the ECOWAS Court by Dasuki seeking his release from the custody of the DSS.

RONKE SHONDE MAY HAVE DIED FROM RESPIRATORY SEIZURE & HEAD INJURIES.

Autopsy report reveals that late Ronke Shonde, who was  allegedly killed by her husband, Lekan, died from respiratory seizure. The report which was signed by Dr. Shoyemi, a pathologist at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital LASUTH, attributed Ronke's death to head injuries and she also had water clustered in her head.

The final autopsy report, which just got to the State Department of Criminal Investigation, revealed that the victim did not die from domestic violence.

A very reliable source said, “The final autopsy result has been released. In fact, it is just getting to the SDCI. The summary of the report is that she did not die from the bruises on her body. She died from respiratory seizure.”

ICE PRINCE CONFIRMS EXIT FROM CHOCOLATE CITY.

Rapper Ice Prince confirmed he has parted ways with Chocolate for over two years but decided not to make the news public. He made the announcement on a radio station during an interview earlier today.

He stated that he will float his record label "Super Cool Cat" soon.