Author: Staff Editor
A Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has declared Mrs. Adenike Oluwayemisi Ajayi the sole lawful widow of the late founder and Chief Executive Officer of First Foundation Hospital, Dr. Tosin Ajayi, bringing to an end a protracted legal battle over the deceased’s marital status and estate. In a judgment delivered on Wednesday, Justice Oluwayoyin Odusanya granted all the reliefs sought by Mrs. Ajayi and her children, while dismissing the claims of former beauty queen Helen Prest that she was also a spouse of the late medical practitioner. The dispute, which commenced in 2021 following Dr. Ajayi’s death on…
The first woman president of OPEC and Nigeria’s former oil minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, was cleared of bribery charges in a UK trial Wednesday, her defence lawyers said in a statement. “Diezani Alison-Madueke was cleared of six charges of bribery at Southwark Crown Court on 17 June 2026, after a five-month trial,” defence lawyer Jonathan Laidlaw said in a press release. The trial was brought by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), which targets serious organised and international crime, after a years-long investigation concerning alleged offences between 2011 and 2015. Laidlaw told the jury at the London court in January that…
A prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Adoza Bello, on Wednesday, June 17, 2026, told the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Maitama, Abuja, that he paid between 50 and 60 percent of the commissions earned by his company from consultancy services rendered to the Kogi State Internal Revenue Service (KSIRS) to some officials of the agency. The witness, who testified as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) eighteenth prosecution witness (PW18), made the disclosure before Justice Maryanne Anenih while being led in evidence by the Commission’s lead counsel, Kemi Pinheiro, SAN. The…
The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, presided over by Justice Maryann Anenih, has dismissed an application filed by former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Adoza Bello, seeking to strike out the charge brought against him in Charge No. FCT/CR/778/2024: FRN v. Yahaya Adoza Bello & 2 Ors. Bello, through his lead counsel, J.B. Daudu, SAN, and a team of senior advocates, urged the court to strike out the 16-count charge on the grounds that the court lacked territorial jurisdiction to entertain the matter. He also argued that the charge constituted an abuse of court process due to…
Proceedings in the ongoing corruption trial of former Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai continued on Monday at the Federal High Court sitting in the state capital. El-Rufai was brought to the court at about 9:30 a.m., accompanied by officials of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigeria Police Force. The case, brought by the ICPC, involves allegations of abuse of office, fraud, and financial misconduct during his tenure as governor. Prosecutors allege that funds were improperly released for projects that were either not executed or…
Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, sitting in Apo, Abuja, on Monday, June 15, 2026, dismissed an application filed by counsel to a former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Sadiya Umar Farouq, seeking to set aside the bench warrant and warrant of arrest issued against her. Farouq, alongside two others — Bashir Nura Alkali and Sani Nafiu Mohammed — is to face prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged criminal conspiracy, abuse of office, and diversion of public funds amounting to $1.3 million and N746.7 million. Delivering his ruling on Monday, the judge…
The trial of a former governor of Taraba State, Darius Dickson Ishaku, and a former Permanent Secretary in the Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs in the state, Bello Yero, continued on Monday, June 15, 2026, before Justice S.C. Oriji of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Maitama, Abuja, with the Third Prosecution Witness, PW3, Taiwo Johns, informing the court that money from local governments in the state was paid into his private account on the instruction of Yero and other officials of the Bureau for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs for disbursement. He further informed the court that…
Ahead of the 2027 general elections, the Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ola Olukoyede, has called on Nigerians from all walks of life to work collaboratively toward ensuring peaceful, credible, and transparent elections, warning that vote buying and other forms of financial inducement remain major threats to democratic governance. Olukoyede made the call in Ilorin, Kwara State, on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, while delivering the inaugural lecture of the High-Level Guest Speakers’ Series organised by the Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies (CPSS), University of Ilorin. The lecture was themed: “Mobilising Critical Stakeholders for…
A Federal High Court sitting in Kaduna State has adjourned proceedings in the trial of a former governor of the state, Nasir El-Rufai, until June 24, 2026. The case, brought by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), involves allegations of abuse of office, fraud, and financial misconduct during his tenure as governor. El-Rufai, through his lawyers, has consistently denied all allegations against him. At the resumed trial on Monday, the former governor was brought to the court at about 9:30am, accompanied by ICPC officials and operatives of the Department of State Services and the police. Previous…
The Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ola Olukoyede, has charged the Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Shehu Dikko, on the need to observe regulatory compliance in the interest of sports development in the country. He gave the charge in Abuja on Friday, May 29, as Dikko led the top management team of the NSC on a courtesy visit to him at the EFCC’s corporate headquarters. “We always want to engage in the spirit of working together. As you would have known, the EFCC has had cause to investigate some of your predecessors,…