by Admin | Jun 1, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI The Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of Southwest Zone, Mr. Foluso Adebanjo, has rated Ekiti State as having the lowest crime rate in Nigeria, hinging this on the high level of professionalism existing among his men in the State. This is as the Police Community Relations Committee(PCRC) and other stakeholders frowned on the incessant transfer of the Commissioners of Police out of Ekiti police command, saying the scenario always led to the regrouping of criminals to unleash terror on the citizens. The DIG spoke in Ado Ekiti on Thursday during a stakeholders’ meeting ,where police officers in the command, led by the CP, Alhaji Abdullahi Chafe, were present. Adebanjo saluted the courage of his men in tackling criminalities, urging them to be dedicated to duties and expect commensurate rewards from government and members of the public. “The crime rate in Ekiti is very low, in fact, the lowest in the country. The police anywhere in the world can’t do it alone without the cooperation and consent of the people. You need to work with critical stakeholders to achieve a crime-free society. “The Inspector General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris is committed to the task of giving our men incentives. Before now, Inspectors used to spend over 14 years before becoming superintend of police, but such has been corrected and other rank and file positions. “Apart from promotion, we are working on the housing scheme for our men to be able to own a house after retirement. We are also improving on the medicals , so that our men who sustained injuries in the course of...
by Admin | Jun 1, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI N423bn spent in six years, execution rate at 12% • Some contractors collected money without going to site The Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Usani Uguru, on Wednesday said the Federal Government has uncovered some shady deals by some of the contractors that handled projects in the Niger Delta region between 2009 and 2015. He said while some of the contractors made away with the money paid them without appearing on the sites of the projects, some others managed to implement 12 per cent of the projects they were paid for. Uguru disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council presided over by the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. He said the discoveries were contained in a report of an investigation carried out by the ministry on all contracts awarded and projects carried out by the ministry from 2009 to 2015. The late Umaru Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan were the Presidents of the country during the period. The minister said the report revealed that over N423bn had been expended in the region by the ministry alone, adding that the amount did not include the sums expended by other intervention agencies. “From this amount, projects execution rate has been at 12 per cent with an average completion rate of a project standing at five years. The impact rate is eight per cent,” he said. The minister said he sought and got the council’s approval to make the report available to relevant government agencies in charge of recovering government assets that were either misappropriated,...
by Admin | Jun 1, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI The Nigerian Navy on Thursday said it had arrested five suspected oil thieves in Ikot Abasi Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom. The Commander, NNS Jubilee, Commodore Saidu Garba, disclosed this to newsmen while handing over the suspects to the Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps. Garba said that men of the command, during a routine patrol in its area of operation, intercepted two canoes and arrested the suspects with 11, 250 litres of Automobile Gas Oil. He said the arrest followed intensive patrol of the maritime environment, following intelligence information on the activities of oil thieves in the area. Garba reiterated the determination of the command to deal decisively with crude oil thieves, sea pirates, pipeline vandals and other perpetrators of crime within its area of operation. “The command admonishes oil thieves and other criminal elements operating within the maritime environment to refrain from such acts or face unpleasant consequences, as there will be no hiding place for criminals in the state,’’ the commander said. He alleged that the suspects had confessed to conveying the products from Bonny in Rivers to Akwa Ibom. Receiving the suspects, the Akwa Ibom NSCDC Commandant, Mrs Obiagelu Obiagulu, commended the Commander, officers and men of NNS Jubilee for their complementary role in fighting criminality within its maritime environment. “Let me acknowledge the effort of the NNS Jubilee for combating crime within the coastal water of the state,’’ she said. Obiagulu said the command had secured the conviction of 25 persons in the last five months, for various offences. She said that the five suspects would be prosecuted...
by Admin | Jun 1, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI The Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday heard that a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Mohammed Dele Belgore and former minister of National Planning Prof Abubakar Suleiman signed for the N450million they allegedly received from former Petroleum Minister Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said the money was part of $115,010,000 (about N37billion) allegedly shared by Alison-Madueke to some individuals in 36 states during the 2015 general elections. EFCC re-arraigned Belgore and Suleiman on an amended money laundering charge in which Mrs Alison-Madueke was included as a defendant, though “at large”. The commission said they “directly took possession of the sum” and conspired to make cash payment of N450million, which “exceeded the amount authorised by law without going through financial institution”. Testifying at the trial yesterday, an EFCC operative, Usman Zikari, said the money was stashed in a bank’s vault before it was shared among the politicians and some Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officers as gratification towards the 2015 general election. He exhibited a receipt for N450 million which Belgore and Suleiman allegedly signed. Zikari said sometime in 2016, the commission received an intelligence report that three firms and an individual, Adesanya Olaitan, took $89million to the bank on Alison-Madueke’s instructions. The witness added that another aide of the former minister took $25,776,000 to the bank. Zikari said the money was first converted to naira before it was then distributed to politicians, including the defendants. He said in the course of investigation, the bank’s Managing Director was invited for questioning. “During the interview with the MD, it was revealed that in December...
by Admin | May 31, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI MAKURDI—Benue State Police Command has uncovered an illegal firearms factory at Tse-Tyungu, Kyado District of Ukum Local Government Area; arrested three suspects, with several finished and unfinished firearms recovered. Parading the suspects and the recovered items shortly after flagging off the Show of Strength campaign, which comprise members of security agencies in the state, Benue state Police Commissioner, Bashir Makama, said the discovery was made following a tip-off. He said the prime suspect in the business, now at large, had been into the manufacturing of the weapons for long, which were being sold to buyers in the state and other parts of the country. Explaining the circumstances that led to the discovery, the Commissioner said: “Following the arrest of one Felix at Assasi in North Bank area of Makurdi town on May 24, based on reliable information, the suspect confessed to being a distributor and had sold a locally-made Beretta pistol to one Bishop in Abuja for N40,000. Arrested suspects “During our investigation, the suspect led operatives to the arms factory at Tse-Tyungu, Kyado District, where several types of guns were being manufactured. “Two suspects, 25-year-old Tyowa and 18-year-old Aondoyavenga, were arrested at the plant. Items and exhibits recovered from the factory include one carbon cylinder, one gas cylinder, one Sumec generating set, one Dane gun, one fabricated Beretta pistol, one filing machine, one drilling machine, two saws, one tool box, one jute bag containing tools and a motorcycle.” Makama explained that the command was still investigating the matter, stressing that the police was on the trail of the alleged prime suspect, who reportedly absconded on sighting...
by Admin | May 31, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI The Oyo State Police Command on Wednesday paraded a dismissed police inspector, Herbert Mbachu 55, and a soldier attached to 2 Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army, Corporal Sikiru Balogun, 46, for being a member of a criminal gang that specialised in snatching fuel-laden tankers. Seven other suspects, John Precious, 45, Lawal Olalekan 26, Sodiq Onifade, 26, Timothy Ayodele, 53, Oluwadare Segun aka Honourable, 30, Gabriel Olanrewaju, 39 and Gbadegesin Olawale, 45, were also paraded. The state Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Odude, said the gang was arrested by the command’s Special Anti-Robbery Squad, adding that no fewer than six trucks had been snatched by the gang. While Mbachu was dismissed by the police for desertion and other professional misconduct, Balogun, with service number 969NA/4310863 is still a serving soldier. Odude said, “Mbachu and Balogun operated using their uniforms. In one of their latest operations, the suspects on April 4, 2017, at about 8am laid a siege for a truck with number plate APC 937 XB, laden with fuel along a bad portion of Sasa road in Ibadan and snatched it from the driver. “The truck had 33,000 litres of fuel in the tank. They also abducted the driver to an unknown destination but dropped him off afterward. The lorry was driven to Efon Alaye and later Ife-Akure road where it was abandoned after disposing of its contents.” The commissioner said discreet investigation carried out led to the arrest of one of the suspects, Onifade, from whom the truck driver’s mobile telephone was recovered. Also recovered from the gang were two Honda Accord cars with number plate AKD...
by Admin | May 31, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI Kannywood actress, Rabi Ismail who escaped from prison about six years ago after being sentenced to death, has been recaptured. The actress, now 46 years old, escaped from custody in Hadejia Prisons, Jigawa state, on December 16, 2011, mysteriously, without breaking walls or digging tunnels. Prison officials believed then she was aided by insiders. Francis Enobore, spokesperson for the prisons authorities, confirmed that Ismail was re-arrested through a collaboration between the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS) and the State Security Service (SSS). Rabi Ismail, also known as Rabi Cecilia, was in 2005 found guilty of culpable homicide and sentenced to death by a high court in Kano. Her case went up to the Supreme Court, where the sentence was confirmed in 2011. She was alleged to have murdered her boyfriend, Ibrahim Auwalu, in 2002. The actress was said to have lured Ibrahim to a picnic at Tiga Dam, where she poisoned him with chocolate and pushed him into the dam. She was initially held at the Kaduna Central Prison from where she was transferred to Hadejia prison before she escaped. In July 2011, the Supreme Court of appeal upheld the sentence of the lower and appeal courts that sentenced her to death by hanging. The actress was initially arraigned in 2002 before a Kano High Court for culpable homicide contrary to Section 221(b) of the Penal Code. The case dragged on till January 5, 2005, when Justice Haliru Mohammed Abdullahi pronounced her guilty of the charge. While delivering the lead judgment, Justice Haliru said the court was convinced beyond reasonable doubt that Rabi committed the act. Quoting Rabi’s...
by Admin | May 31, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI The Special Intelligence Response Team, IRT, of the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, says it has arrested three suspects in connection with the kidnap of six students of Model College, Igbonla, Lagos. He said the suspects were arrested on Tuesday in Benin. According to Abba Kyari, an assistant commissioner of police, the three suspects arrested have been involved in various kidnap incidents within the country. “Three of the militant kidnappers, who left the creek and came to Benin to visit one of their members that was injured in recent gun battle with security agents, were arrested by IRT in Benin. “The suspects are Egelu Endurance, aka Jubby, 25, a native of Abere town in Ovia South L.G.A Edo; Stanley Yomi Irabomini, 25, aka Powei from Ovia South LGA of Edo State and Bentel Endurance, 24, also from Ovia South LGA Edo State. Mr. Kyari said the suspects have confessed to have participated in the kidnapping of prominent personalities in Lagos and Ogun state. “The suspects claimed they came to Benin to see their injured colleague and relax for a while before going back to the creek.” He said that efforts to arrest remaining gang members and rescue the school children was in progress. PREMIUM TIMES reported how the students were abducted at Igbonla Model School, near Epe, Lagos. The students were abducted at around 5 a.m. last Thursday by unknown gunmen, who arrived through a creek behind the school. The hoodlums broke through the school’s fence to gain access into the premises. The incident occurred seven months after gunmen kidnapped two teachers and four pupils of the...
by Admin | May 31, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI A high court sitting in Lokoja has again adjourned the trial, Comrade Austin Okai till 21st June, 2017 for Judgement. Justice Ishaq Mohammed Sani made this known at the court 1 in Lokoja. Earlier, the amended charges of the Prosecutor was read to the court as the charges were increased from 13 to 14 taking a new twist. The defendant, Mr J.S Okutepa SAN said the 14 count charge discloses carries no offence known to law, vague and not sufficient to what constitute offences in in the sight of law are absent from the count charges. “This is a criminal offence as they claim and petition should not be written by proxy. The governor should sign the petition, submit it and come to the court of law” said Okutepa. “The criminal Prosecutor should not massage the ego of those in power and the individual (Governor Bello) who is alleged to defamed should go and complain himself to the Nigeria Police Force” noted the SAN. He said his client social media accounts were account was hacked by some top Kogi state government officials. ” the 14 count charges brought forward to this court of competent jurisdiction is not injurious known to law and it is to late for the Prosecutor to introduce it at this stage” Okutepa said. Okutepa Urged the judge to maintain the civil rights of Austin Okai and Nigerians to point out errors and ego of people in government pointing out that the charges submitted by the Prosecutor have no power to summon a witness. “Section 37 of the Constitution of the federal Republic of...
by Admin | May 31, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI A court in the south-western city of Liupanshui has sentenced to 10 years in jail a former vice governor of the populous province of Sichuan for bribery. In a brief statement, the Chinese court said that Li Chengyun had taken bribes worth 6.36 million Yuan ($933,250). It was not possible to reach a legal or family representative for comment. Sichuan, famed for its spicy cuisine, has emerged as a focus of Xi Jinping’s crackdown on graft, since it was a power base for Zhou Yongkang, the country’s once powerful domestic security boss. Zhou was jailed for life in 2015 for corruption, and dozens of his associates have also been arrested, many in Sichuan, where he was Communist Party boss from 1999 to 2002. According to his official biography, Li spent his entire working life in Sichuan, where he was party chief in the provincial city of Deyang when Zhou was in charge of Sichuan. (Reuters/NAN) source: the...
by Admin | May 31, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has seized another property from George Turnah, a godson to former President Goodluck Jonathan. The property, which is located at Citec Estate, Gwarinpa, Abuja, is a duplex. Although the EFCC has yet to evaluate the value of the property, sources told our correspondent that such property would go for between N70m and N100m. As of Tuesday afternoon, the inscription, ‘EFCC, Keep off’ was seen across the fence and the gate of the building. The commission is still tracing Turnah’s remaining properties. Last week, the anti-graft agency seized a mansion and some other properties allegedly traced to Turnah who is standing trial for an alleged N3bn fraud. The commission also froze about seven bank accounts through which Turnah allegedly received billions of naira. Justice Ibrahim Watilat had granted the interim forfeiture order based on an application filed before the court by the EFCC’s counsel, Adebola Olatunji. Turnah, together with seven companies, were arraigned on 12 charges bordering on obtaining money by false pretences, money laundering and abuse of office to the tune of N3, 094, 268, 235.69. Meanwhile, some aggrieved youths in Bayelsa State on Tuesday staged a peaceful demonstration in Yenagoa, the state capital, in support of the EFCC. The youths, particularly commended the anti-graft agency for the arrest and detention of Turner. On Tuesday, the angry youths, under the aegis of the Concerned Citizens of Bayelsa State, led by their coordinators, Chief Harrow Zuokomor and Mr. Abule Bethel, said Bayelsa was still in shock at the magnitude of funds seized from Turner by the EFCC. The youths were armed with...
by Admin | May 31, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI The Federal High Court in Lagos has adjourned till July 5 for hearing in a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission by a cousin to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Robert Azibaola. Azibaola filed the suit to challenge his alleged unlawful detention by the EFCC last year March. In the suit filed before Justice Mojisola Olatoregun, Azibaola’s lawyer, Mr. Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, contended that the EFCC had no right under sections 293 and 294 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act to detain his client. Adegboruwa claimed that the EFCC detained Azibaola to make him implicate Jonathan, a move, he argued, was a violation of Section 7 of the ACJA, ‘which has outlawed the practice of arresting a citizen as ransom for the alleged offence of another citizen’. He claimed that Azibaola was being persecuted based on his relationship to Jonathan and also alleged that the EFCC had perfected a plan to keep transferring Azibaola from one state to another in order to keep renewing the remand warrant to ensure that he was perpetually kept in detention. He argued that the sections of the ACJA relied upon by the EFCC to detain Azibaola were designed for criminal offences such as murder, armed robbery, kidnapping and treasonable felony, which attracted capital punishment and for which the police would need time to await a legal advice from the office of the attorney-general. But the EFCC, which had arraigned Azibaola for an alleged scam of $40m, urged the court to dismiss the suit. The anti-graft agency alleged that Azibaola fraudulently received $40m in September 2014 from...
by Admin | May 30, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI Traffickers are increasingly swallowing condoms filled with liquid cocaine to cheat traditional detection methods, Interpol said Tuesday as it pointed to West African and Asian gangs driving the Asia-Pacific narcotics trade. Interpol’s Singapore office, which said methamphetamine remains the region’s most trafficked substance, highlighted the rising trend in a report on an international anti-drug operation in May. The campaign, called Operation Lionfish – ASEAN, involved more than 2,000 police and customs officials in 14 countries, said a statement from the Interpol Global Complex in Singapore which coordinated it. It focused on drug trafficking through airports while a second phase will target land and sea borders. The operation “revealed a network of West African and Asian organised crime groups behind trafficking in methamphetamine — one of the most smuggled drugs in the region,” the statement said. Of 59 seizures during the two-week period, nearly a quarter of the drugs confiscated was methamphetamine, of which nearly 80 percent was in crystalline form known as “ice”. Cocaine, cannabis, heroin and amphetamine stimulants were also among the drugs seized, it said, adding that smugglers were becoming more innovative. Authorities in the United Arab Emirates have identified a rising trend of liquid cocaine being trafficked, Interpol said. “Smugglers would swallow condoms packed with liquid cocaine,” it said, adding that this type of concealment is harder to detect using traditional methods like X-rays. Interpol said it identified a “cocaine trafficking route via Ethiopia to destinations in the Middle East, Asia and Pacific”. source: the...
by Admin | May 30, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI ABUJA—THE Senate, yesterday, said Nigeria has lost about $450 million to 3,500 cyber attacks on its Information and Communication Technology, ICT, space. According to the Senate, this represents over 70 per cent of hacking attempts on technology in the country. Against this backdrop, the Senate asked the National Security Adviser, NSA,Major-General Mohammed Babagana Monguno (retd), to, as a matter of urgency, alert all security agencies and financial institutions in the country about the current and threatening dimensions of cyber attacks. The Senate also asked its Committee on ICT and Cybercrime to immediately convoke a national stakeholders’ conference on cyber security that would help stimulate what it described as a collective reflection among relevant stakeholders and articulate a national and broad-based approach to keep the country ahead of the challenges. The Senate, which noted that the figures were arrived at by revelations from studies, expressed concern that government servers were currently under serious threat. The upper chamber, however, lamented that the ICT shortfall in Nigeria was enormous, while its cyberspace had become very porous, adding that the system lacked a well-structured and effective approach to cyber-crime control, according to the oversight findings of the Senate Committee on ICT and Cybercrime. Yesterday’s resolutions of the Senate were sequel to a motion by Senator Abdulfatai Buhari (APC Oyo North), entitled: “Worrisome dimension of cyber-crime and insecurity, urgent need for concerted efforts to secure Nigeria’s cyberspace.” Get ready to fight cyber war— Ekweremadu Meanwhile, Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over yesterday’s plenary, however, called for concerted efforts at confronting the cyber war currently threatening the world. Ekweremadu noted that...
by Admin | May 30, 2017 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Bayelsa State Command, has solicited the cooperation of residents and relevant stakeholders to rid the state of narcotics abuse and illicit drug trade. A statement on Monday by the agency’s Principal Staff Officer, Public Affairs, Mr. Osakwe Ikenna, a superintendent of narcotics, said for the war on drug trafficking to be won, there was the need for stakeholders’ synergy. The agency also solicited the support of stakeholders and members of the public in terms of volunteering information, saying the agency was moving from reactive to a proactive organisation. The statement said, ”The State Commander hereby wishes to solicit for the cooperation and partnership of the good people and residents of Bayelsa State in fighting the war against the illicit drug trade and abuse. ”With such concerted efforts, the fight against narcotics abuse and other problems associated with hard drugs will be reduced drastically. It will also engender a peaceful, progressive and drug-free state.” The appeal for partnership came just as a new State Commander, NDLEA, Mr. Abdullahi Abdul, has taken over the mantle of leadership of the command. Abdul, who resumed duty recently, took over from Mrs. Josephine Obi, who has been redeployed to Jigawa State as its commander. Prior to his resumption in the state, Abdul was the immediate past Commander of Jigawa State Command of the agency. Meanwhile, the agency has appealed to parents and guardians to warn their children and wards to desist from drugs. It said, ”Drug has negative effects on the individuals. So, talk to your neighbours and friends to shun the use of narcotic drugs...
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