Justice Rilwan Aikawa has ordered that the passport of the President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr. Paul Usoro be released to him to enable him to travel abroad for his foreign engagements.

Usoro, who is being prosecuted for allegedly laundering a sum of N1.4bn belonging to Akwa Ibom State, had surrendered his passport to the court as part of the conditions attached to the bail granted him.

The defense team, led by Chief Wole Olanipekun applied that Usoro’s passport be released to him, giving assurance that the defendants would always be available for his trial.

He promised that Usoro would schedule his foreign trips not to clash with trial dates.

In response, the prosecuting counsel, Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, said he would not oppose the application for the release of Usoro’s passport, given the undertaking by his lawyer that the NBA President would not frustrate the trial.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board says it has begun the screening of over 1.3 million candidates who sat for the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, to fish out impersonation, multiple registrations and other forms of malpractices.

The board said it had therefore not yet released any UTME result, noting that candidates should expect their results soon.

JAMB’s Head of Information, Dr Fabian Benjamin, who stated this said the case of candidates who could not write the UTME due to biometric challenges was being deliberated upon with a view to finding a solution.

He said the examination has so far been successful, adding that the board was addressing some of the challenges that came up during the exercise.

The federal government is moving to check the spate of electoral offences in the country by setting up an electoral offences commission and tribunal.

To achieve this, government is proposing three legal instruments to be forwarded as bills to the national assembly for passage.

The executive bills include Electoral Offences Commission and Tribunal Establishment Bill, Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2018 and Constitutional Alteration Bill.

Briefing journalists after the federal executive council meeting, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, ABUBAKAR MALAMI said there was an urgent need for a permanent structure to replace the existing ADHOC arrangement, which makes it difficult for election monitors to identify, investigate and prosecute electoral offenders.