The federal government has re-arraigned Omoyele Sowore, convener of #RevolutionNow Movement, on a two-count charge of treasonable felony.

At the court on Thursday, Aminu Alilu, the prosecution counsel, asked that the previous seven-count charge, which was filed in September 2019, be substituted with an amended charge.

Upon re-arraignment, Sowore and Olawale Bakare, his co-defendant, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In the new charge, the offences which bordered on fraud, cyber-stalking and of insulting the president were removed.

The government accused them of staging “a revolution campaign on 5th day of August 2019, tagged #RevolutionNow” aimed at removing the president during his term in office by unconstitutional means.

The prosecution counsel informed the court of the presence of the first witness whom he said was ready to give evidence.

But Abdul Mahmud, counsel to the defendants, told the court they cannot proceed with the trial because the prosecution was yet to comply with the order directing it to provide statements of the witnesses it intends to call.

He said only the summarised statements of witnesses were served on them.

“We were served with summary statements of Moses Amadi, Usman Bafa, Paul Okafor (technical video engineer) and Paul Clement (financial analyst/investigator),” he said.

Mahmud added that the video recording and tape mentioned in one of the witnesses’ statement had not been served on them.

Aliyu said since all his witnesses would be referring to the video evidence, he would need two weeks to enable him to serve the necessary evidence on the defence team.

He also informed the court that the N200,000 cost awarded against the prosecution has been paid to the defence team.

Mahmud confirmed payment of the said sum.

Ijeoma Ojukwu, the judge, adjourned the case till March 11, 12, 13 for trial.

A 26-year-old man, Kelechi Emeka, on Thursday appeared before an Ikorodu Magistrates’ Court in Lagos State for allegedly assaulting a police officer performing his lawful duty.

Emeka, whose address was not provided, is facing a charge of assault to which he pleaded not guilty.

The Prosecutor, Sgt. Mary Ajiteru told the court that the defendant committed the offences on Jan.29 at about 9:00 a.m. at Kokoro Abu along Sabo Road, Ikorodu.

Ajiteru said that the defendant assaulted the complainant,  Insp. Babatunde Kadiri,  by dragging him around for asking him to obey the traffic rules.

Ajiteru said that the offences contravened Section 172 of Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

The Magistrate, Mrs Tunji-Careena, granted the defendant bail in the sum of N50, 000 with one surety in like sum.

Tunji-Careena adjourned the case until Feb.20 for mention.

Gov. Dapo Abiodun of Ogun has called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on federal roads in the country.

He made the call when members of the Senate Committee on Works led by its Chairman, Sen. Adamu Aliero, paid him a courtesy visit on Thursday in Abeokuta.

The governor said that the call became imperative as some of the roads; especially those in the South-West region were very deplorable.

“The township, rural and connecting roads are very deplorable. I want to call on you to declare a state of emergency on the federal roads because it’s as if our roads are nonexistent,’’ he said.

He said that as a result of the state of the roads, his administration was making efforts towards finding ways and means to ensure that people moved about easily.

“This effort we are doing is to ensure there is no loss of productive time and loss of lives.

“The Lagos–Ibadan expressway is being reconstructed; it is going to be a six-lane road. The population explosion on that corridor has far exceeded in that dimension. That road which is the busiest in Nigeria should at least be a 10-lane road at the minimum.

“By virtue of our location, we have federal roads including the Lagos–Ibadan expressway which traverses through Ogun, the busiest highway in the country, Sagamu-Ikorodu and the Lagos-Ota-Abeokuta road.

“We have the problem whereby our roads see more and more unusual traffic that they were built for.  We have a problem,’’ he said.

He described travelling on the Sagamu-Ikorodu highway as a harrowing experience.

“When I was informed you were coming on that highway, I shook my head knowing the harrowing experience.

“This is because this is the state of this particular highway that was the main link between the north and the south in the past before the Lagos–Ibadan express was built.

“It continues to remain the alternative road for people going to Ibadan from Lagos, it would have been that which provided relief for the number of vehicles travelling on the Lagos–Ibadan expressway,’’ he said.

He noted that the vision of his administration was to provide focused and qualitative governance while creating an enabling environment for public-private partnership.

Abiodun further said that public-private partnership was fundamental to the economic growth of the state.

“The Lagos state governor and I said that since these roads are common to both of us and affecting the economy of both states and the quality of life of our people, what we should do is how to encourage public-private sector partnership,’’ he said.

He appreciated the members of the committee for the visit and sought their assistance towards ensuring the completion of the roads.

Aliero said that the Benin-Ofosu-Ore-Ajebandele-Sagamu dual carriage was funded by SUKUK.

He said that very soon, the National Assembly would give approval to President Muhammadu Buhari to borrow 29 billion dollars.

“We are sure that most of this money will be used in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of all ongoing road projects in the country.

“Government is not borrowing money to spend on recurrent expenditure; government is borrowing money to spend on infrastructure; for that reason, the National Assembly is committed to granting that request,’’ he said.

He further said that the National Assembly would enact a law that would promote public-private partnership.

A facility management company, Endo Industries Limited has been awarded the contract of clearing drainages in Umuahia metropolis by the Abia State governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu.

This is even as the state owned agency, Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA) has failed in meeting the mandate of making the major cities in the state clean with urban outlook.

Speaking with ABN TV on Wednesday, the CEO of Endo Industries Limited, Chief Eme Ndubuisi said that the job given to him by the state government has nothing to do with ASEPA, insisting that he won the contract bid to clear Umuahia drainages.

He also commended the governor for doing lot of jobs in various parts of the city, adding that Finbarrs road is currently receiving attention as a result of the effect of flood that affected it during last year rainy season.

He emphasized that his workers have been busy since January to clean up the whole place in Umuahia, so mosquito will no longer bite them and will not have any other flooding issue in Umuahia metropolis.

Chief Ndubuisi said, every blocked drainage will be cleared and unblocked [put it back to normal.]He said one of the area worked on is Abam Street by Ibeku road where heap of sand were removed from the drainage and the residents are so happy because almost all their properties were destroyed during the rainy season last year. Chief Ndubuisi said, they are working tirelessly to put everything in order.

He requested on behalf of the people of Umuahia about St Stephen primary school where there is a big tunnel that was built before the war and after the war, when Sam Mbakwe was in charge of constructing the road, major drainages were connected to that place and now it is blocked. The tunnel leads from St Stephen primary school to ceramics.

In 1985, the people who were in charge thought they’ve finish everything about the servicing of the tunnels, they killed about four [4] crocodiles and three [3] pythons. He said the tunnel he said the tunnel has been blocked for 40 years and the good people of Umuahia are pleading that he use his good office to get contract of clearing the tunnel, he further said that it takes braveness to work.

Chief Eme Ndubuisi along with his workers have been working since January to clean up the whole place to unblock the drainages in Umuahia to free the residents from mosquito infection and flooding which eventually leads to loss of properties.

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, has told traditional rulers to speak out about the problems of the country.

Also, he accused the elite of “using the common man who doesn’t have anything” to get what they want.

Speaking at the National Summit on Security and Insecurity in Nigeria organised by Centre for Black Culture and International Understanding in  Osogbo on Wednesday,  the monarch lamented the collapsing infrastructure in the country.

The event was attended by scholars and security experts as well as traditional rulers from Osun, Oyo, Ekiti and Ondo states.

Abubakar reminded the royal fathers that they for centuries managed the affairs of their territories before government relegated them to the background after the 1914 amalgamation.

He told them to rise to the occasion and save the country.

The Sultan said, “You cannot have peace and security when you do not have good governance and justice. Without justice, you can’t have good governance. That is what our forefathers said. We need to rise to the occasion, things are really bad.

“If you keep quiet and don’t get to see how we can help our political leaders on this issue, then we are part and parcel of the problem when you keep quiet in the face of injustice.

“And Almighty Allah would ask you on that day when you have nobody: how you used your positions to help the common man. And if you have no answer, God has a way of rewarding you and I don’t pray for that for anyone.”

He added, “We should speak out the truth all the time without being afraid of a governor or local government chairman or chairman of traditional council threatening us. If you are convinced, speak out and stand by it.

“I have always said it that the problem of this country is us, the elite. If we want to deal with these problems we can do it. We have always used the common man who doesn’t have anything to get what we want and lord it over them. I urge  the elite to visit graveyards to see their rich predecessors and understand that no one would depart this world with anything.”

The  Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi, said the Operation  Amotekun security initiative had come to stay because royal fathers were involved in its planning.

He urged the government to involve monarchs more in security strategies in their domains for effective policing.

The chairman of the Centre, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, said Amotekun appeared to have made the Federal Government redouble its efforts to protect life and property.

He  said  the focus of the conference  was informed by “the time-tested truth that at all times when things threaten to fall apart for our nation, the lot always fall on our fathers to do the pull back from the brink.”

Declaring the summit open, Osun State Governor Adegboyega Oyetola urged stakeholders and the security agencies to partner traditional rulers in the fight against insecurity.