Television Nigerian

Asekun Sakiru Kehinde was on Wednesday arraigned by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency. The former Vice-Chairman of Lagos Island East Local Government is accused of exporting kg of cocaine. He pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Asekun Sakiru Kehinde, the former Vice-Chairman of the Lagos Island East Local Government, was charged with exporting 1.000kg of cocaine before a Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Wednesday.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, or NDLEA, has charged him with drug dealing.

“That you, Asekun Sakiru Kehinde, Male, Adult, on or about the 7th May, 2021, during the outward clearance of passengers on Virgin Atlantic Airlines flight from Lagos to London-Heathrow, at the Departure Hall of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja- Lagos, without lawful authority exported 1.000 Kilogramme of Cocaine, a Narcotic Drug, and you thereby committed an offenders offense,” the charge read.
After he pled not guilty to the charge, the prosecuting attorney for the NDLEA, Abu Ibrahim, sought the court to set a trial date in light of the defendant’s plea of not guilty.

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However, the defendant’s attorney, Olasupo Sasore SAN, representing Chief Benson Ndakara, informed the court that a bail application had been submitted with the court and that the NDLEA had responded to it.

Mr Abu reiterated Mr Sasore’s viewpoint in his response.

Following that, Sasore urged the court to admit the defendant on bail, while Abu opposed the bail motion and urged the court not to grant the defendant release due to the seriousness of the crime.

After hearing both sides’ arguments, the presiding judge, Ayokunle Faji, delayed the case until July 16, 2021, when he will rule on the bail application and begin the trial.
He also ordered that the defendant be remanded in correctional services’ custody.

THE pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, has called on Nigerians to defend themselves against bandits, which it said, seem to have declared war on the nation.

The group also charged President Buhari to transmit a bill on restructuring to the National Assembly for legislative processes.

It noted that Buhari should initiate the legal framework that would birth restructuring, having shown that “he has now favourably disposed to restructuring.”

These were parts of the resolutions reached at the end of a meeting yesterday held at the country home of its leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, at Ogbo-Ijebu, Ogun State.

The resolutions were contained in a communique signed by Afenifere’s National Publicity Secretary, Jare Ajayi.

“Given the challenging situations we face, Afenifere calls for, and indeed actually ready for meetings of stakeholders where the issues of restructuring, devolution of power and true federalism would be firmed up. The outcome of such deliberations is to be passed into law and be made operational immediately.

“It is a matter of interest that the President said that he is now favourably disposed to restructuring. We urge him to send a bill to the National Assembly on it immediately after the planned deliberations by the stakeholders in the country.

“Afenifere strongly holds the position that the above i.e. restructuring, should be done before the next elections in the country.

“In the meantime, every community must be at alert to defend themselves from bandits who seem to have declared war on Nigeria,” the communiqué reads in part.

Secretary-General of Afenifere, Chief Sola Ebiseni, who spoke with journalists at the end of the meeting, said:

“Afenifere is going to tour Yorubaland and engage the traditional rulers. We are disturbed that restructuring is no longer popular in Yorubaland.”

He emphasised that the Federal Government and those who still believe in the unity of the country should do something about the country, adding: “We are disappointed by the response of the Federal Government on the Ijaw demand. It would have been better if the President did not say anything.”

It has been announced that the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) will mobilize its members to attend Kanu’s next court appearance on July 26th in Abuja.

This was stated in a statement issued on Wednesday by the organization’s publicity secretary, Emma Powerful. Part of the statement read as follows:

“The IPOB will not back down in its pursuit of Biafra independence. When it comes to our fight for the restoration of Biafran Sovereignty, we have crossed a major threshold. There is no turning back, no matter how much our oppressors intimidate us,” says the author.

There will be more to come…