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Liberian Supreme Court orders govt to return $113,000 to defendants acquitted in $100m cocaine trial

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The Liberian Supreme Court had ordered the federal government to return the sum of $113,000 to defendants who were standing trial in a $100M cocaine case but were discharged and acquitted.

The defendants, Malam Conte, Adulai Djibril Djalo, Makki Ahmad Issam and Oliver A. Zayzay, were accused by the government of shipping cocaine worth $100 million into the country last year.

The verdict was given by the President of the court, Associate Justice Yamie Quiqui Gbeisay, who also denied a writ of prohibition filed by the government through the Ministry of Justice, challenging the return of the money to the men.

The government had argued that the money in question was confiscated from one Gustavo Henrique who was tried in absentia and was not among those acquitted by the lower court.

The Justice Ministry insisted that the money was confiscated during the arrest of one of the four defendants, Malam Conte, at the premises of TRH Trading, the company that shipped the cocaine into the country.

The 520kg haul of cocaine substance was seized by authorities in 2022 among containers that TRH Trading had imported from Brazil where the drug worth over $100 million was discovered, making it one of the largest drug-related cases in the country’s history.

According to TRH Trading, a subsidiary of AJA Group Holdings, the accused allegedly offered to pay $200,000 for a single container of frozen foods on which the cocaine was smuggled, which at the time cost less than $30,000.

The government also argued that Henrique absconded from Liberia upon learning of the arrest of Malam Conte on October 1, 2022, and was never brought under the jurisdiction of the court.

“For the State to return any money, it has to be based upon a process initiated by Gustavo Henrique, and not any of the four individuals,” the government argued.

They were arraigned on charges bordering on “commission of money laundering, unlicensed possession of controlled drugs and unlicensed importation of controlled drugs.”

After months of trial, the accused were exonerated and acquitted of all the charges by an empaneled jury.

According to the jury, the accused had no knowledge of the cocaine smuggling operation as claimed by the government, and that the money seized from the men should be returned to them.

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Metro

65% of Nigerian households lack money for healthy food—Survey

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A survey conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that around 65% of Nigerian households, which is about two-thirds of the population, lack the financial means to eat healthy food.

According to the survey by the agency, the decline is a reflection of the multidimensional poverty in the country and the impact of continuous reduction in the purchasing power of Nigerians due to rising prices of goods and services.

And as a result, two-thirds of households in the country lack money to eat healthy, nutritious food, the NBS said.

Titled “Nigeria General Household Survey – Panel (GHS-Panel) Wave 5 (2023/2024),” the survey examined demographics, education, and health trends in Nigeria, comparing data from Wave 4 (2018/19) and Wave 5 (2023/24).

On food insecurity, the survey stated:

“Approximately two out of three households indicated being unable to eat healthy, nutritious or preferred foods because of lack of money in the last 30 days.

“Similarly, 63.8 per cent of households ate only a few kinds of food due to lack of money, 62.4 percent were worried about not having enough food to eat, and 60.5 percent ate less than they thought they should.”

It added that between Waves 4 and 5, the proportion of households that reported being worried about not having enough food to eat because of lack of money increased significantly, from 36.9 percent to 62.4 percent.

On access to energy, the survey revealed said:

“82.2 percent of urban households have electricity, compared to 40.4 per cent in rural areas. Nigerian households face an average of 6.7 power blackouts weekly.

“Cooking typically involves traditional three-stone stoves (65.0 percent), primarily using wood as fuel (70.2 per cent), but with use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) rising significantly.

“Many households lack toilet facilities and rely on tube wells or boreholes for drinking water. Waste disposal is mostly informal, with 45.6 percent of households using bushes or streets,” it added.

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Metro

Zambia: APP leader lampoons PF over pledge to reverse forfeited properties

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Leader of one of Zambia’s opposition parties, Advocates for People’s Prosperity (APP), Mwenye Musenge, has criticised the Patriotic Front (PF) over its promise to reverse forfeited properties if the party won the 2026 presidential election.

Musenge, who was reacting to a statement credited to the PF Member of Parliament (MP) for Lukashya Province, George Chisanga, described the PF’s promise as a betrayal, saying the declaration had exposed the party’s disregard for accountability and justice.

The APP leader, who spoke to Zambia Monitor in a telephone interview from Kitwe, expressed shock that Chisanga, a former Law Association of Zambia president, would endorse what he termed a “regressive agenda,” accusing the PF of prioritising the protection of corrupt individuals over the welfare of citizens.

“This declaration reveals the PF’s true intentions, returning to power not to serve Zambians, but to shield their corrupt network and restore stolen assets,” Musenge said.

He alleged that former President Edgar Lungu’s consistent calls to protect his family, who he claimed cannot explain their amassed wealth, further demonstrate the party’s self-serving mission.

Musenge further described the PF as “a political carcass animated by greed and nostalgia for its days of unchecked looting,” and accused its leaders of leaving Zambia impoverished while enriching themselves.

“Allowing them near power again would be akin to handing a butcher’s knife to a thief already drenched in the blood of the nation’s resources.

“The PF represents everything wrong with Zambian politics—a relic of the past clinging to survival through recycled lies and corrupt agendas,” he added.

Musenge went on to call for the party to be permanently eradicated, saying it had no vision, morality, or credibility to serve Zambians.

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