Justice Mojisola Dada of the special offences court sitting in Lagos, on Thursday declared the Chairman of Innoson Motors Nigeria Ltd, Innocent Chukwuma wanted over his failure to make an appearance in court for his arraignment for the fifth time.

Chukwuma, alias Innoson is standing trial in a matter between his company and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

Justice Dada had declared the automobile boss wanted, granting the request of Anselem Ozioko, the lead prosecuting counsel of the EFCC.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Innoson had previously failed to make an appearance in court for his arraignment on January 17, February 9, March 14 and April 25.

His failure to appear before the court for five consecutive times informed the issuance of the bench warrant.

During the proceedings of March 14, it was revealed that Innoson had petitioned the National Judicial Council over Justice Mojisola Dada, the judge trying the case.

Ozioko in his submission seeking the declaration of Innoson wanted said: “This appears to be the fifth time this matter is coming up before your Lordship for arraignment.

“The learned Senior Advocate of Nigeria representing the second defendant (Innoson) is still insisting on taking his application without ensuring the defendant is physically present in court.

“The question is, where is the second defendant? Is he too big for the court? Is he too big for the Federal Republic of Nigeria? Is he too big because he has money? Where is he?

“What my learned friends, the defence counsel are doing is contemptuous.

“We shall be applying for an order to declare the second defendant wanted.”

Acceding to Ozioko’s request, Justice Dada said, “The second defendant is hereby declared wanted and the case adjourned until June 22 for possible arraignment.”

Earlier, during the proceedings, Ozioko had informed the court that the anti-graft agency will also be taking some steps to ensure Innoson’s attendance in court on the next adjourned date.

Counsel to Innoson, George Uwechue (SAN) had requested that the court hear his application despite Justice Dada’s declaration that no application will be heard until Innoson is physically present in court.

“At the last hearing, the court maintained its position that it will not take its pending application unless the first defendant is arraigned.

“We were about to cite our position regarding the court’s declaration but we were interrupted by the prosecuting counsel and that interruption led to today’s proceedings.

“Whatever we did that day, we sincerely apologize; we urge this court to allow us to continue our presentation.’’

Prof. J. N Mbadugha, counsel to Innoson Motors Nigeria Ltd, in his submission told the court that he had an application challenging the jurisdiction of the court.

Mbadugha informed the court that he had made an appeal at the Court of Appeal over the case.

Justice Dada, however, maintained her position that the applications of the defence will not be heard until Innoson is physically present in court.

NAN reports that Chukwuma and his company, Innoson Motors Nigeria Ltd., are to be arraigned on a four-count charge of conspiracy to obtain property by false pretences, obtaining property by false pretences, stealing and forgery.

According to the charge sheet, the defendants committed the offences between 2009 and July 2011 in Lagos.

The EFCC alleged that the defendants with intent to defraud; conspired to obtain by false pretences containers of motorcycle, spare parts and raw materials, a property of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) from Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd, Apapa, Lagos.

They are alleged to have fraudulently induced staff of Mitsui OSK and Maersk Line to deliver to them via their clearing agents the goods which were imported from China in the name of GTB by falsely pretending that they were authorised by the bank to clear the goods.

The prosecution claimed that the defendants in order to facilitate the fraud forged a bill of lading numbered 598286020 of Maersk Line Limited and 11007950841 of Mutsui O.S.K Lines by knowingly putting a false GTB stamp and signature of the bank staff.

The alleged forgery was in order that the forged documents be used or acted upon as genuine to the prejudice of any person within Lagos or elsewhere.

The offences contravened Sections 1(1)(b), 1(3), and 8(a) of the Advanced Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act 2016 and Sections 309(9), 388, 465 and 467(1)(j) of the Criminal Code, Laws of Lagos State 2003.

Source: NAN.

Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, has made it clear that under no circumstance will he quit the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), irrespective what people call him in form of derogatory remarks.

Governor Okorocha, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Sam Onwuemeodo in a statement, said that when he took the mainstream of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), to join the merger that gave birth to APC, he was not under any pressure to do so.

The Governor said that he became the propeller of APC in the state and the whole of South East by mobilizing people for the party in Imo, and other South East states.

The statement reads: “If Governor Okorocha did not take a good percentage of APGA members to APC, the party would not have had the kind of national spread it has today.

“For that reason, they called him all sorts of derogatory names which Nigerians know, including Alhaji in Government House, Okoro-Hausa and Rochas Buhari.

“When APC came for campaign in 2015, in Imo and all the states in the South East, he was the point man.

“Today, APC has become the party to envy. Nobody is talking about Okorocha and Buhari going to use APC to Islamise the Igbo.

“Today, the same people who called him names have begun to market falsehood against him, including the fake story of his leaving APC for APGA. All these show the level of frustration on the side of the 10-man coalition. They are being hunted by their inglorious actions.

“One may also wish to know that while the unfounded story of the governor leaving APC is yet to dry, they have also come up with another one, that the governor is in coma.

“These people do not know God and, of course, they are afraid of both the present and the future.

“No landlord leaves his house for unfaithful tenants. The name Okorocha is the fibre of APC in Imo and the whole of South East.

“And anybody who says it is not true should tell Nigerians why it is only in Imo you have APC governor, 24 out of the 27 House of Assembly members, three House of Representatives members and one senator, in the whole of South East. Time will tell what happens in APC in Imo and the whole of South East.”

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has disclosed that the World Bank has recognized Nigeria as one of the top 10 most improved economies in the world.

He added that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also cited the business climate reforms in Nigeria as a major contributor to lifting the economy out of the recession last year.
Professor Osinbajo, who spoke today, Thursday at the Leadership Newspapers Award and Conference 2017, themed: “Towards Financially Viable State Government,” listed the various economic reforms which the government of President Muhammadu Buhari had undertaken.
according to him, one of the government’s priorities has been diversifying the nation’s revenue base. “When we assumed office in 2015, there were only about 14 million taxpayers of the almost 70 million economically active Nigerian citizens. Indeed, of the 943 persons who pay over N10 million in assessed taxes in Nigeria, 941 of them live in Lagos, the other two live in Ogun State.

“The question you have to ask is: how does any country survive when only a fifth of those who should be paying taxes actually pay them. And so we set out to implement the needed reforms, including our Tax Amnesty, which is being done in partnership with the State Tax Authorities. Today, we have added nearly 6 million tax payers. It is taxes usually that would pay for development.
“Secondly, is a focus on agriculture, and especially value-adding by processing along the Agro-allied value chain, creating jobs, reducing imports and exporting more. Since all the land is in the States, anywhere, except, of course, for the Federal Capital Territory, the States that have created the most jobs are those that focused on agriculture and the value chain. Rice-producing States, for example, have witnessed a tremendous rise in the prosperity of their people. So, states like Kebbi, Jigawa have noticed a significant improvement in the earnings of farmers and of people, and certainly more farmers
“Thirdly, creating an enabling environment for business is another must-do. We have pursued this goal aggressively since 2016, and I’m pleased to note that we have already started seeing the results.

“We have reduced business registration times; we have implemented a functioning Visa on Arrival system, launched an online system for filing taxes, among other reforms. By dismantling the bureaucratic obstacles in the way of businesses and investors, we are hoping to unleash the full potential of private enterprise; the kind of enterprise that creates jobs, that grows the economy, and produces future tax revenues for the government.”

There was a free-for-all fighting amongst the lawmakers in the Gombe State House of Assembly, when moves were made to remove the Minority Leader, Ahmed Usman Haruna, representing Gombe North State Constituency, leading to the disappearance the mace, which is the Assembly’s symbol of authority.

Information had it that the drama started when one of those against his removal overpowered the sergeant-at-arm of the House and that the police could not stop the lawmaker from making away with the mace.

It was learnt that police officers’ gunshots fired at the car carrying the mace were not enough to stop the aggrieved lawmakers from running away with the mace.

The Speaker of the troubled House, Hon. Abubakar Nasiru Nono, declined comments.