by Admin | Sep 18, 2016 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has seized the passport of the immediate past Governor of Katsina State, Alhaji Ibrahim Shema, as part of investigations into the alleged N76bn fraud perpetrated by Shema. Shema was detained by the EFCC on Friday after he voluntarily walked into the head office of the EFCC. However, a source close to the ex-governor told SUNDAY PUNCH that despite meeting the bail conditions, the anti-graft agency refused to release him. The source said, “You will recall that the EFCC declared Shema wanted even though they knew he was not on the run. They had invited him for questioning in June but when he arrived at their office, he was informed that the detective in charge, Mr. Hyecinth A. Edozie, was out of Abuja, and that a new date, after Sallah, would be communicated. “However, they never informed him of a new date and then went ahead to declare him wanted. On getting to the EFCC on Friday, the ex-governor presented a stamped document acknowledging that he had honoured the EFCC’s invitation in June. “After being grilled for several hours, the EFCC gave him bail conditions, including that he tenders his passport and property documents of his sureties which he did. However, the EFCC still refused to grant him bail and said he should wait till Monday.” The anti-graft agency started investigating Shema following allegations levelled against him by his successor, Governor Bello Masari, who is a former Speaker of the House of Representatives. Masari had accused Shema of financial impropriety and diversion of billions of naira. The governor said he had “concrete...
by Admin | Sep 18, 2016 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI Thirty-six-year-old Adejoke Popoola is a mother of seven children born to different fathers. She had her last baby, almost three months ago, through caesarean section. But the labour pain she must have experienced while going through the births of her seven children did not make her have consideration for other mothers when she decided to connive with another woman to steal other people’s children for sale. But the long arm of the law caught up with her in Ogbomoso town, Oyo State, two weeks ago, when she was arrested by the state police command for allegedly stealing a four-year-old boy (name withheld) at Oja Igbo area of the town. Two other suspects connected with the stealing, one Mrs Abibat Oyesanya and a male staff of the social welfare department in a ministry in an undisclosed state in the South-West, were also arrested. Disclosing this last Wednesday, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Sam Adegbuyi, who was represented by the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Adekunle Ajisebutu, a Superintendent of Police, said the suspect perpetrated the act while the boy was playing in front of his father’s house. Adegbuyi said the suspect was, however, stopped in her tracks when the sibling of the stolen child who saw her raised the alarm which attracted the victim’s father and other sympathisers. He added that the father and sympathisers ran after the woman who had escaped from the scene with the child strapped to her back, apprehended and handed her over to the police at the Owode Division in the town. The police commissioner further stated that the case was...
by Admin | Sep 18, 2016 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI The Chairman of Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Nigeria Limited, Mr. Jide Omokore, has returned N200m to the Federal Government, Sunday PUNCH has learnt. It was learnt that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has also traced and frozen eight bank accounts allegedly belonging to Omokore. Reliable sources in the commission told our correspondent that the eight accounts were opened at different branches of Skye Bank Plc. Omokore, who is an ally of the immediate past Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, among five others, are currently standing trial before a Federal High Court for an alleged $800m (N247bn at an exchange rate of N309/$1) fraud. A top source at the commission said, “During investigations, we traced about eight accounts to Omokore in Skye Bank. Most of the accounts are company accounts. Some were domiciled in Marina, Adeola Hopewell and some other branches on the (Lagos) Island. “We were able to identify about N200m. He raised some bank drafts in the name of the Federal Government and the money has been deposited into the Federal Government account while investigations continue.” The commission had on Monday, July 4, 2016, arraigned Omokore, and five other individuals and firms, before Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja on nine counts bordering on money laundering and procurement fraud. Those arraigned with him were a former Managing Director of Nigerian Petroleum Development Company Limited, Victor Briggs; a former Group Executive Director, Exploration and Production of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Abiye Membere; a former Manager, Planning and Commercial of the NNPC, David Mbanefo ; Atlantic Energy Brass Development Limited and Atlantic...
by Admin | Sep 18, 2016 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI This report by JAMES COCKAYNE, head of United Nations University Office of the United Nations, details how terror groups have taken to social media to sell their female victims into slavery. The members of the United Nations Security Council hear terrible stories from conflict zones with alarming frequency. So it takes a truly horrific tale to bring them to tears. Yet as officials in the Council listened in December to Nadia Murad Basee Taha bravely recount her torturous ordeal as an Islamic State sex slave, some wept openly. When she fell silent, she received a rare ovation. Murad is returning next week to the UN to be inducted as a Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking. Since her last visit, the Security Council has requested a report from the Secretary-General on human trafficking in conflict, and what can be done about it. The council should act soon – because the problem appears to be rapidly getting worse. Is slavery making a comeback? International law is clear that slavery is never allowed, anywhere, any time. Yet the best estimates suggest that 45.8 million people alive today are enslaved. Armed groups have long forced vulnerable people into sexual exploitation, military service, and forced labor including construction, cleaning work, digging trenches, mining and agriculture. Some people displaced by conflict in South-East Asia may even end up catching and processing the fish that ends up in our supermarkets. But today, organizations such as Islamic State and Boko Haram are openly encouraging and organizing slavery on a scale not seen since World War II. More than 5,000...
by Admin | Sep 18, 2016 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI THIRTY-EIGHT-YEAR-OLD Adegboyega Michael, the leader of the fraud syndicate which was allegedly involved in the transfer of money from bank customer’s account in a first generation bank (name withheld) through the connivance of a bank staff member, has been arrested by the Lagos State Police Command. Michael (38) was arrested on August 26, four months after the police had been looking for him. Crime Reports learnt that a female banker (names withheld) whose password was used to access a bank customer’s account details lodged a complaint with the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, that she was falsely accused of fraud in her office. The owner of the account who was based in London had lodged a complaint with the bank when he discovered that money in his account had depleted. The police commissioner reportedly forwarded the petition to the Rapid Response Squad on April 19 and by the following day, four suspects were arrested. Those nabbed included Ezurike Peter (35) who was a staff member of the bank in which the account of the victim was domiciled, Ayo Olalekan (32), Ochenehi Israel (31) and the gang leader’s wife. A manhunt was also launched for the syndicate leader, Michael. The syndicate’s modus operandi, according to police sources, was to increase the limit of a bank customer’s account after Peter, who was an insider, would have got the customer’s details and phone number by using his colleague’s password to access it. The phone number of the account holder would also be blocked temporarily from receiving debit alert while the limit of his/her financial transaction would be upped...
by Admin | Sep 17, 2016 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI A Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos on Friday, declined jurisdiction to hear a case instituted by Human Rights activist and lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, in November 2015, challenging the appointment of Col Hameed Ali, Rtd, as the Comptroller General of the Nigeria nCustoms Service by Gen Muhammadu Buhari Rtd. Adegboruwa had asked the court for an interpretation as to whether the President could appoint anyone as Comptroller General of customs without complying with Section 3 of the Official Gazette of the Federal Republic of Nigeria made on 25th March 2002, where it was stipulated that only those within the rank of Deputy Comptroller General of Customs can be elevated as substantive Comptroller General and asking the court to nullify the appointment. In response to the case, the Nigerian Customs service filed a preliminary objection dated 29th April, 2016, challenging the locus standi of the applicant to file and maintain the suit. The customs service contended further that Adegboruwa’s suit was a mere academic exercise raising hypothetical questions that the court should not entertain. The court heard arguments from counsel to the parties on 15th June 2016 and adjourned for to September 16, 2016, for judgment. But during proceedings on Friday, Adegboruwa appeared in person whilst the respondents, Gen Muhammadu Buhari and the Attorney General of the Federation, were absent and unrepresented. In its judgment, the court held that the President is empowered under Section 5 of the 1999 Constitution, to exercise all executive powers, either by himself directly or through officers delegated for that purpose. The court held further that under section 171 of the same...
by Admin | Sep 17, 2016 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI The former first lady of Nigeria, Patience Jonathan has alleged that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) hired mercenaries to implicate her. Mrs. Jonathan said the anti-graft agency is plotting to take her hard earned money, adding that those who pleaded guilty to the fraud allegations were not authorised by the companies. This is coming as four companies accused of allegedly laundering $15m for the former first lady, pleaded guilty. A statement issued by her media aide, Chima Osuji, reads: “This is a clear evidence of the desperation of the prosecution to pull down the former First Lady and confiscate her hard-earned money. “It is an irony that it was the former First Lady who went to court for the repatriation of her confiscated money when she realised that the EFCC and its co-travellers were playing politics with this issue after she had come out publicly to say that the said money belongs to her and that she has all evidence to prove the sources of her money. Up till this very moment, the EFCC has refused to interrogate or invite her for questioning. “The biggest twist in court on Thursday was that the fourth to seventh defendants pleaded guilty to all the 15 counts. It is clear that these unknown faces were agents of the EFCC, who have been stage-managed and tutored to come to court to complicate the case as a strategy to confiscate her money.” Mrs. Jonathan had earlier asked the EFCC to lift the restrictions on her bank account, so she can take her $31.4m. She said the money was for her...
by Admin | Sep 17, 2016 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI The Commissioner of Police in Abia State, Mr. Adeleye Oyebade, has reunited a stolen 15 months old baby with her mother, Miss Chioma Chijindu of No 8 Ohafia Street, Umuahia, the Abia State capital. It was learnt that Chijindu was allegedly drugged by lover, one Lawan Nuhu, before he made away with the baby and other valuables from the house. Parading the suspects at the police headquarters in Umuahia, Oyebade said a combined team of police operatives acting on a tip-off arrested Nuhu together with two other suspects, Lawal Ahmed and Chidinma Johnson. They were arrested at Lokpanta in Umunneochi Local Government Area of the state with the stolen baby. The CP added that other items recovered from the suspects were the sum of N170,000, 58 ladies handbags and one Peugeot 307 salon car with Registration Number AZ 166 KWL. Oyebade stated that investigation was ongoing to establish how the suspects came about with the car and other items in their possession. Nuhu who claimed to have been living with Chijindu for over two years, insisted that he wanted to take the baby to Yola in Adamawa State for Sallah celebrations. He said, “I had my daughter with Chioma whom I have been living with in Umuahia. Although we are not legally married, her parents know about our relationship. “But we have been having some misunderstanding for some time because she told me that she will marry another man, which is why I wanted to take my baby to my state. “She was sleeping when I left the house with my daughter; it was on my way...
by Admin | Sep 17, 2016 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI A 37-year-old husband, Ganiyu Fatai, asked an Ado-Ekiti Customary Court in Ekiti State to dissolve his 16-year-old marriage to his wife, Modupe. Fatai is seeking the dissolution on the grounds of adultery, threats to life, stubbornness and lack of respect for him and his family. Fatai told the court that when they were living with his brother, people always told him that she was wayward. He said that there was a time his wife went to Aso-Rock hotel with a lady that lives close to their house, saying his brother’s wife and his friend told him. The father of three said sometimes she will go out without his consent and she will not return back in two days or a week. According to him, there was a day she left home for two days during Christmas eve and there was nobody to cook for the children. “When she came back, I ordered her to leave my house but neighbours intervened”, he said. He claimed that there was a day he asked her to accompany him to the hospital and when he was treated, she told him that she wanted to stay with the nurse that he can go home. “I hid in a place and watched her as she took a cab to Ilawe and I followed her with a bike. She went to a man’s house but I refused to cause commotion at the place. “When I asked her what she went to do, she denied but later confessed that she went for a naming ceremony”, he said. Fatai said that his wife and her friend...
by Admin | Sep 17, 2016 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI There was confusion in Rumuokurusi community in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers when an unidentified woman in a commercial tricycle (keke) snatched a 13-month-old baby, Chinazamepkere Eke, and disappeared to an unknown destination. The unidentified woman had ostensibly instructed the keke rider to get close to a six-year-old girl known as Chinyere Agbai carrying the baby on her back, before pulling her victim into the vehicle to Agbai’s dismay. It was gathered that the child theft, which happened at about 8.30 am on Monday shocked indigenes of the community, who said that such an incident had never occurred in the area. The distraught mother of the stolen child, Ms. Oluchi Eke, who spoke with Southern City News on Thursday, said she was in her shop where she sells provisions when she learnt that her baby girl had been stolen. Eke, who said she had separated with her husband, explained that she was dazed by the information she got about her baby. The 31-year-old mother of two said it was not the first time her baby would be brought to her in the shop and wondered why a fellow woman would steal her second child in such a manner. Eke, however, explained that she had reported the matter at Elimgbu Police Station. According to her, “This thing happened on Monday; my first daughter was carrying the little girl to the shop on the road around Orianwo Street, by Tank junction in Rumuokurusi. “A woman in a keke dragged the little baby into the Keke and went away with my child. The baby that was carrying the little...
by Admin | Sep 16, 2016 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI A salesgirl, Ifunanya Eme, has been arrested by the police in the Ajangbadi area of Lagos State, for allegedly dumping her day-old baby girl by the roadside. Our correspondents learnt that Eme, who hails from Enugu State, was arrested on Tuesday by policemen at the Ilemba Hausa division, after residents of Solimo Street raised the alarm. Eme, who was brought to the Lagos State Police Command headquarters, Ikeja, on Thursday, told PUNCH Metro that she dumped her day-old baby because her lover abandoned her, adding that she had no means of taking care of the child. Our correspondents gathered that 31-year-old Eme met her lover, identified only as John, who worked as a contract worker with a company in the area, in March 2015. It was learnt that Eme, who lived with her elder sister in Ajangbadi, informed John early 2016 that she was pregnant. PUNCH Metro learnt that John ended the relationship, fled the area and allegedly switched off his mobile phone. It was gathered that Eme was delivered of the baby girl on Monday in her house and wrapped her in a polythene bag. The suspect allegedly sneaked out of the house and went out to dump the polythene bag by the roadside around 1am on Tuesday. Residents were said to have woken up to the sight of the baby, after which the police were alerted and the baby was traced to Eme. She was subsequently arrested. The baby was said to have been rescued and is currently receiving medical attention. Speaking with PUNCH Metro, Eme said she had not been able to reach John...
by Admin | Sep 16, 2016 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps has arrested 50 suspected militants in Rivers State and destroyed 15 illegal refineries in different locations in the Niger Delta region. The NSCDC Commandant-General, Abdullahi Muhammadu, said that the suspects were arrested on Wednesday night, during a special operation by the NSCDC operatives in the state. The CG told journalists at a press briefing on Thursday in Abuja that the suspects were being screened and profiled as part of investigations to know their level of culpability in pipeline bombings and vandalism in the Niger Delta region. He stated that those indicted by investigators would be arraigned in court for prosecution as economic saboteurs. “As at yesterday (Wednesday), 15 illegal refineries were destroyed and 50 militants were arrested. However, we need to screen them to know those who would be charged to court, because they are many; 50 of them, just in a night,!” he said. Muhammadu said the mandate of the corps had been extended beyond pipeline and critical infrastructure protection to the provision of security for dams, agro-allied business, farms and proposed ranches across the country. He stated that 2,000 NSCDC operatives were participating in counter-insurgency operations in the North-East, noting that additional 2,700 others were undergoing training for deployment in the region. “Before the end of October, I will send them down (to the North-East),” he added. The CG noted that he had received requests for deployment of NSCDC personnel from various parastatals, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the Nigerian Railway Corporation, the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Agricultural Seed Council and the Ministry of Water Resources,...
by Admin | Sep 16, 2016 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is set to file an application in court seeking the total forfeiture of $15,591,700, belonging to Dame Patience Jonathan, the wife of the immediate past President, Goodluck Jonathan. The money is currently lodged in the Skye Bank account of four companies: Pluto Property and Investment Company Limited; Seagate Property Development & Investment Company Limited; Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Limited and Avalon Global Property Development Company Limited. The EFCC had frozen the four accounts, which were linked to a former Special Adviser to the President on Domestic Affairs, Waripamowei Dudafa. However, Jonathan’s wife had claimed in a sworn affidavit that the money in the four accounts belonged to her even though there is no paper evidence to establish a link between her and the companies. She also urged the court to compel the EFCC to lift the restriction on the accounts. In a sudden twist, however, the anti-graft agency arraigned the four companies on Thursday and the companies pleaded guilty to money laundering charges. A senior EFCC official told one of our correspondents that the anti-graft agency would subsequently apply for the total forfeiture of the funds. He said, “The four companies, in whose accounts the monies were lodged, have pleaded guilty to money laundering. We are therefore filing an application, seeking the complete and total forfeiture of the money to the Federal Government. “The $15,591,700 should go (be deposited in) into the Treasury Single Account of the Federal Government of Nigeria.” On Thursday, the four accused companies pleaded guilty to conspiring with Dudafa; a lawyer, Amajuoyi Briggs; and a...
by Admin | Sep 16, 2016 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI Minister of Finance, KemiAdeosun, today disclosed plans by the Federal government to inject N350 billion into the economy. Speaking with reporters in Abuja today, Adeosun also disclosed that there are plans to also raise $1 billion from Euro-bonds by mid-December to ease the recession. According to Adeosun, the N350 billion being injected will be directed towards capital expenditure projects. “We are raising money. As you know the Euro-bond capital raise is on. We are about to appoint advisers so we we will be raising additional $1 billion. Two weeks ago we approved the external borrowing plan and that was very important,”she said The Minister said the Federal government plans to borrow N1.8 trillion from the African Development Bank, China, Japan and World Bank with rates of 1.25 per cent and a 20-year maturity. She added that the borrowed money will be used to fund an expected budget deficit of N2.2 trillion. “When we said we will borrow, we said we will borrow the cheapest money first. We have approvals in that plan from the World Bank, ADB, with interest rates as low as 1.5% and tenures as low as forty years to intervene in some specific areas which include agriculture, education, health, rebuilding of the northeast and of course the rail way project that are very key to what we are doing”she...
by Admin | Sep 16, 2016 | Blog
Follow @NigeriaPI A former aide to ex president Goodluck Jonathan, Warpamo Dudafa, on Thursday appeared before a Federal High Court, Lagos over charges bordering on $15 million fraud. Dudafa, a former Special Assistant on domestic affairs to the ex president, is charged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission with six others. The accused persons are charged on 15 counts bordering on conspiracy and fraud. Others charged with Dudafa are Amajuoyi Briggs and Adedamola Bolodeoku. Also on the charge sheet are four companies: Pluto Properties and Investment Company, Seagate Property Development Company, Trans Ocean Property and Investment Company Ltd, and Avalon Global Property Ltd. When the case was called on Thursday, the four companies announced their representation as follows: Friday David (Pluto Properties and Investment Company) and Agbor Obaro (Sea Gate Property Development Company). Also, Fredrick Dioghowori announced his representation for Trans Ocean Property Ltd, while Taiwo Ebenezer represented Avalon Global properties Ltd. After the charges were read to the accused, the first, second and third accused pleaded not guilty to the charges. Meanwhile, the four individuals representing the companies listed in the charge, each pleaded guilty to the offences. Following the guilty plea of the companies, the EFCC prosecution led by Mr Rotimi Oyedepo, prayed the court to allow a short time for review of the facts, adding that he would not waste the time of the court. The trial judge, Justice Babs Kuewumi, however, declined prosecution’s request and said he would adjourn the matter to a future date. Meanwhile, counsel representing the second and third accused, Messrs Tochukwu Onyiuke, and Joseph Okebiemen, informed the court of a...
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