Bomb scare forces evacuation of offices in Abuja

June 22, 2012 by Agency Reporter

A bomb scare on Friday forced the evacuation of offices in Wuse Zone 5, Abuja.
As soon as rumours spread that an Improvised Explosive Device had been planted in a sack at a spot between Top View Hotel and the headquarters of the Nigerian Security and Civil Dfence Corps, people hurriedly evacuated their offices and fled the area.
The area is also home to the national headquarters of the Peoples Democratic Party and the Federal Inland Revenue Service.
When the police anti-bomb squad searched the sack, it was found to contain rags dumped by an unknown person.
Since the October 1, 2010 bomb blast in abuja, the Federal Capital Territory has been hit by periodic bomb scares.
Sacks have been used by the Boko Haram sect to conceal IEDs in Kaduna, Maiduguri, Damaturu and some parts of Abuja.
An anti-bomb officer was killed in Kaduna some

Judge threatens to discharge 24 Boko Haram suspects

June 22, 2012 by Ihuoma Chiedozie, Abuja 142 Comments

Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke (SAN)
| credits: File

Justice Abdul Kafarati, a Judge of the Federal High Court, on Thursday in Abuja, threatened to discharge the 24 suspected Boko Haram members standing trial before the court.

The judge, who granted the police a last adjournment for September 18, said the prosecution counsel had not showed diligence in prosecuting the case.

Justice Kafarati said, “I should have discharged the accused persons today, but I am compelled by justice to restrain such action and allow the prosecution one last chance.

“The court had adjourned this matter four times at the instance of the prosecutor, who had always promised to bring his witnesses to court but failed each time.

“I shall, therefore, discharge the accused persons should the prosecution fail to bring the witnesses to court on the next adjourned date.

“The prosecution was ordered to avail the accused persons’ lawyers’ proof of evidence.

“It is against the court procedure not to do that a year after the accused persons were arraigned.”

Some of the suspects are Umar Alia 21, Musa Yakubu Gava (38), Awalu Mohd (35), Modu Bama (36), Yakubu Modu Kolibe (15), Mohd Alhaji Modu (23), Badare Hassan (27), Mohd Umar (21) and Mohd Sheriff (23).

The police alleged that the accused, who were facing a five counts, conspired to commit felony and act of terrorism in Maiduguri.

The prosecution held that the accused committed an offence punishable under Section 33(1) (b) of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2011, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria.

Thirteen months after the police arraigned the suspects, no witness had been presented.

At the resumed hearing, Mr. Bernard Nnamdi, the counsel for the police, filed an oral application, praying for the adjournment of the case because of the absence of the prosecution witnesses.

The application was jointly opposed by Kevin Okoro, Mohammed Lucas and Mohammed Ipa, counsel to the accused.

They urged the court to discharge the accused on the grounds of lack of diligent prosecution.

They held that all the adjournments witnessed in the case so far were at the instance of the prosecution counsel.

They further noted that the police were only interested in the detention of the “presumably innocent persons.”

The counsel said the prosecution had failed to avail the accused the proof of evidence after over one year of their detention.

They also said Section 280 of the Criminal Procedure Act empowered the judge to discharge the accused if the prosecutor failed to provide the cause of action.

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Thrilling tales behind TWO’s Legit videos

June 22, 2012 by AKEEM LASISI Leave a Comment

AKEEM LASISI captures the  inspiring stories and  scenes  of T.W.O Legit, a new video compilation by singing couple, Tunde and Wunmi Obe

How well has the singing couple, Tunde and Wunmi Obe, fared in their journey in music? Whoever is tempted to ask this question now has a good answer. The platform to get this is T.W.O Legit, a compilation of six videos coming in a very beautiful, collector’s choice pac. 

Apart from offering viewers an exciting musical and dramatic experience, the package reveals the working of the minds – or mind – of the singing duo as they tell the stories behind their creativity in dialogues that punctuate the videos.

With the T.W.O Legit offering, Tunde and Wunmi have demonstrated the maturity they have achieved as creative minds. They should not be said to have hit their prime – since they too will not even mind to sing along with Shina Peters,  ‘Asiko our youths ree o.’  But the fact is that the videos exude features that define standards in musical productions anywhere.

The title track, T.W.O Legit,  is a song of self celebration. The musicians exploit it to announce their continued relevance on the scene. Wunmi explains the reason behind composing the number, saying, “It is a song in which we exercise our own bragging right. It follows the speculation that we had quit the industry. So, we are saying we have not quit at all.”

The  video   thus features  celebrative and assertive gesticulations, dances and spectacles, as the artistes sing, “Won ro po ti tan/ Ola ku sibe…, meaning, ‘They think it is over/ But there is still a lot of goodies in store.’

Before the video was shot, T.W.O had been working with Clarence Peters as director. But they decided to work with another hand, Gbenga Salu, who created the T.W.O Legit idea.

“That was the first time we would work with Salu,” Wunmi adds. “We had seen what he had done. So, we said, ‘Let’s explore Salu’s strength.’  Different directors have their own strengths. There are certain things we want to achieve, which we might not really be able to achieve. But with special effects, Gbenga is an ace in that respect. At the end, we were able to put together a lot of things that people would find difficult to believe were not really there.”

months ago while rummaging through a sack which contained an IED.