The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Six jailed for internet fraud

    The Ibadan Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, on Thursday, secured the conviction of six internet fraudsters in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

    Justices Mohammed Abubakar and Ibrahim Watilat of the Federal High Court, Abeokuta Division handed down the verdicts.

    The convicts are: Ibrahim Adenekan, Akinniyi Bankole Ojumu, Amoo Hammeed Olamide, Oshoala Abayomi Ganiu, Opaaje Oluwatobi Isiah and Ibukun Sunday.

    They were all found guilty of the respective one-count amended charges filed to replace the original charges against them, having reached an agreement with the Commission on plea bargaining.

    Ibrahim pleaded guilty to fraudulent impersonation, an offence contrary to Section 22 (2)(b)(i) of the Cybercrime Prohibition Prevention Act 2015 and punishable under the same Act.

    Read Also: Alleged tax evasion: Court refuses to stop FIRS, EFCC from arresting SAN

    For Akinniyi, the crime was sending pornographic and indecent pictures with his email account. The offence is against Section 24(1)(a) of the Cybercrime Prohibition Prevention Act 2015, and punishable under Section 24(1)(b) of the same Act.

    The presiding judge sentenced Opaaje based on his guilty plea to the fraudulent impersonation offence file against him.

    Each of the convicts bagged three months jail term starting from their time of arrest.

    Besides the jail term, the convicts were ordered to restitute to their victims the money they fraudulently collected from them, and also forfeit all the items recovered from them to the Federal government of Nigeria.

  • Police arrest robbers who used sedative drug to snatch cars

    Four suspected car robbers who specialized in using sedative drugs to snatch cars from owners have been arrested by operatives of the Inspector General of police Intelligence Response Team (IRT).

    The suspects are: Kingsley Iwueze,34, whose role is to drive  stolen vehicles to Onitsha and other parts of the  Southeast; the gang leader, Moses Ugwu, 47; Ugwuoke Euphemia ‘f ‘ 40, who provided the drug  used to sedate victims; and Onyebuchi Odoh, 48, who received the stolen cars and sold them.

    The suspects, in a bid to escape with the stolen vehicles, usually used a drug identified as Ativan to force their victims into  deep sleep  for hours.

    Police sources said the gang had snatched a red Toyota Corolla saloon car marked GGG 720 FK from one Clifford Echereode of 34 Road , E close Gowon Estate Egbeda, Lagos.

    The car, which was used for Uber cab service, according to sources, was snatched from Echereode on April 22, 2019 at about 10:00pm, at Apple Junction Festac, Lagos.

    Echereode was engaged by a member of the gang to pick up his brother who purportedly would be returning from Ghana through the Murtala Muhammaed International Airport, Ikeja at about 11 pm.

    The cab driver was  lured to a bar in Festac Town where he was offered roasted meat  (suya), which he ate and became unconscious, while his car, one Infinix Android phone and other valuables were snatched.

    Police sources said Iwueze’s arrest and confession led to the apprehension of his gang members, while the said Toyota Corolla car, Toyota Camry (muscle) and Toyota Camry (Big Daddy) car were recovered.

    In his confession, Iwueze, a native of Isiala Mbano Local Government Area of Imo state, claimed to have  an Ordinary National Diploma (OND) certificate in Agricultural Science from the Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Owerri.

    The father of two said he relocated to Afromedia area of Ojo, Lagos in 2015.

    He said he met Ugwu at a bar in Lagos in March 2019, where he was introduced to car robbery.

    He confessed to have snatched three cars in Lagos, together with Moses Ugwu using a  substance called Ativan on their victims.

    He revealed that the stolen cars were all sold in the Southeast by Ugwu after which they shared the proceeds.

    Confessing, Ugwu said: ” My  involvement in the crime as a syndicate member can not be denied because we have been arrested and everything is clear. My gang is dreaded because of our mode of operation. I am from Umuida town in Igboeze North Local Government Area of Enugu State; I only attended primary school and ceased to further my education owing to financial difficulties experienced by my  parents which I vehemently refused to inherit. Now, I am a father of six children and I do not want them to inherit poverty, hence, my sojourn into crime but we do not use gun. We use sleeping drug which we give our victims to fall into  deep sleep till we take their vehicles to the Southeast.

    ‘’I was into scrap business,  I later became jobless and that led me into choosing crime as my  alternative means  of livelihood. I have the pleasure to inform you that sometime in the year 2018, one Chukwuma introduced me  to illegal(car theft) . It is not wise to lie now so that you will have mercy on us now that we have repented from the crimes which the devil made us to commit. I will tell you the truth. I had snatched and sold many cars together with Chukwuma and shared proceeds with him before Chukwuwa died in a ghastly motor accident.

    ‘’In 2019, one Ejike introduced me  to a woman called Euphemia Ugwuoke who aided us  in the car snatching deal with some poisonous substance which my gang used in snatching cars including a red Toyota Corolla marked GGG 720 FK.

    Read Also: One killed as Police, armed robbers clash in Imo

    ‘’ I was thereafter arrested in Enugu by the operatives of IRT special squad. I call the squad special squad because of the high intelligence they displayed that resulted in my surprise arrest.

    In her confession, Euphemia said: “I am a native of Udenu in Udenu Local Government Area of Nsukka, Enugu State, married with four children. My husband is Mr Augustin  Ugwuoke but we had  a misunderstanding in  2002 but thank God we are now talking of settlement to resolve the misunderstanding. He is working as a mechanic and motor spare parts dealer in Markurdi .However, I have a place behind Army Barracks, Onitsha where I sell food and drinks.”

    ‘’My boyfriend was a car snatcher and it was the offence that sent us to prison in Owerri, Imo State, in 2013; we were released in 2017. However, I had also been remanded in prison for phone snatching in Gboko, Benue State. It happened that one of my friends snatched phone and  presented it to me as special gift, unfortunately, I gave it to my son not knowing that it was a stolen phone and the worse is that the victim or owner of the phone was robbed.

    ‘’Before I knew that it, the police had tracked my son and arrested him and on interrogation he confessed that  I gave him the phone as gift. My son was released and I was arrested and charged to court. I was remanded in prison but my bail was later perfected and I regained my freedom. However my freedom did not last when my brother Ejike brought this Moses to my house in Onitsha (pointing at Moses her gang member also in police net) begging me to help them to buy the Ativan drug . Moses gave me N15,000 for 10 sachets of the drug. I did not follow them to operations but they came to me because I know the drug. Yes, I knew that they wanted to use it to do snatching work.’’

    Another member of the gang, Kingsley said he was formerly a driver in a bank before he took to robbery.

    ” I am from Isiala Mbano in Imo State,and married with two kids. I had worked with a bank on N35,000 salary from 2015 to 2016 when the  bank sacked all its  drivers. I later joined another on a salary of N50,000. It was Moses who advised me to resign from the bank, because they didn’t pay well. I knew Moses through Jude on phone. Jude asked me whether I had money to buy a car and I said no. He said his friend had a car for sale at any amount and I still told him that I had no dime.

    ‘’Jude told me that his friend Moses needed a taxi driver to take him to a hotel. He asked whether the driver would accept to sleep in a hotel. We went to the first hotel but Moses did not like it, the second one was N12,000 but the third one was N4,500.While in the hotel Moses said he needed to eat and we left to a nearby joint. While with the driver, he asked me to buy some Suya and I put the sleeping powder in the one we gave the driver.

    ‘’After the driver slept off, I collected the car’s key, and drove the car from where he parked it and zoomed off. At a reasonable distance, I called Moses and he met me where I parked and we drove to Onitsha. Moses gave me N15,000 to go back to Lagos. I later sent my bank account number to him and he sent N170,000 to me.’’

  • Career Mastery Certification programme holds next month

    Chariscoopers has announced plans to host another session of its highly intense career master class session tagged Career Mastery Certification Programme.

    The announcement was made by the company’s representative who confirmed that the decision to organize the July edition was as a result of the positive impact recorded at the maiden edition which held in June 2019 and was handled by Tunde-Success Osideko, one of the company’s external consultants.

    Osideko, who is a distinguished HR professional, said the company was very keen on adding value.

    He said: “We have seen from the feedback we have been getting that this session is as valuable as we wanted it, hence our decision to begin another which will hold in July. At the last one, we exposed participants to the nitty gritty of building a career and what to look out for.

    Read Also: Court strikes out certificate fraud case against AbdulRazaq

    “We touched extensively on how they can become aware of their importance as integral parts of the economy, assess their abilities and play out their strengths. “There was a mock job interview which helped participants better understand what employers look for. We are excited about the next edition and certain it will be worth the time of every attendee”.

    One of the participants of the maiden edition, Ibukun  Owolabi spoke about her experience at the training.

    “I am glad for the insights, practical and applicable thoughts and learning points. I am now ready and equipped to focus on my career. I highly recommend this programme for organisations and individuals hungry for career growth’.

  • Nigeria ‘ll continue to support ICC, says Buhari 

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday in Abuja said that Nigeria would continue to support the International Criminal Court (ICC) as much as possible to enable it fulfil its mandate.

    Receiving the Nigerian-born President of the ICC, Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji, at the State House, President Buhari appealed to developed countries to take the ICC “more seriously in order to strengthen the rule of law and democracy.”

    Buhari, in a statement by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said: “The ICC provides a moral strength for victims to receive justice against internal and external injustice.”

    Read Also: Globalization, technology fueling insecurity – Buhari

    He also commended Judge Eboe-Osuji for the achievements of the ICC under his presidency.

    Earlier, the President of the ICC had congratulated President Buhari on his re-election and successful inauguration for a second tenure.

    He lauded the Nigerian leader’s “strong and unambiguous statement in support of the rule of law” and for the court and its principles during his visit to the headquarters of the ICC in The Hague last July.

    Judge Eboe-Osuji appealed to President Buhari to continue to support the ICC and urge African leaders whose countries have not ratified the Rome Statute which established the court to do the needful.

  • Coronet Obas: Ogun community calls for fairness

    The people of Ado-Odo in Ogun State have called on Governor Dapo Abiodun to handle the report of the committee set up to review the appointment of the suspended coronet obas in the state with fairness.

    They also appealed to the committee headed by Oba Kehinde Olugbenle, the Olu of Ilaro, to discharge its duties with impartiality.

    The people, under the auspices of the Stakeholders of Ado-Odo Kingdom, made the calls in a statement to protest the installation of Chief Mathew Hugbo Ajeyigbe as a coronet oba in Agbonjedo, a community in Ado-Odo Kingdom.

    They condemned the appointment made by former Governor Ibikunle Amosun as undesirable

    They said: “The royal and chieftaincy families of Ado-Odo have been thrown into to an unfortunate historic development by the installation”.

    The statement, signed by Akinde A. Wasiu, Secretary of the group, expressed disgust at the choice,   pointing out that: “From the Treaty of Annexation signed in 1863 and 1890s, down to post-colonial era, Ado Kingdom has no record of an Egun/Ogu oba”.

    The statement described the installation of Ajeyigbe as a monarch as a violation of Yoruba traditional set-up, particularly Ado-Odo Royal heritage, and the judgment of the Supreme Court   in the Locus Classicus case of Chief S. O. Ogunola vs Hoda Eiyekole: SC95/85.

    It would be recalled that Governor Abiodun, on assumption of duty, suspended the 74 coronet and upgraded obas installed by his predecessor and  set up a committee headed by Oba Olugbenle  to review the controversial appointments.

  • Ondo monarch urges youths to shun cultism

    The Osemawe and paramount ruler of Ondo Kingdom, Oba Victor Adesimbo Kiladejo, has urged youths to shun cultism in order to become responsible citizens and develop the community.

    He said a workshop on youth empowerment was being organized to educate youths on the need to shun cultism and other vices.

    Dr. Kiladejo, the Jilo III, who spoke yesterday on Victoria Island, Lagos at the workshop said it was regrettable that Ondo town, which in the past hosted many multinational companies, had become a shadow of itself.

    He said: “Ondo community has become but a shadow of its old self and there is not much to write home about by way of economic, industrial and social development.

    “When everything is put together, there seems to be but superficial quality to our joint attainment, whereas, for sustainable corporate growth and future enviable strength, what we need is a strong structure to anchor our society upon.

    “We need this strong durable structure, particularly as far as our teeming youths are concerned, for we must not for one moment lose sight or the fact that our youths are our future.”

    Read Also: Monarch proffers solution to insecurity

    Oba Kiladejo added: “There is the need to generate ideas that will awaken the sensibilities of our people and rekindle in them the desire for corporate growth through self-help projects.

    “There is the need to empower people through philanthropic gestures targeting our youths.

    “Youth-centred programmes are required to redirect the minds of our youths from crimes towards profitable and sustainable pursuits.

    “Youths need to be assisted to acquire the needed education through scholarship schemes and bursaries. While we appreciate such programmes on ground, a lot more needs to be instituted.

    “There must be a deliberate effort to empower youths through skill acquisition programmes and provision of requisite tools to keep them gainfully employed and redirect them from criminal tendencies.”

    The Ruwaji of Ondo Kingdom, Chief Oludolapo Akinkugbe, decried the insecurity in the country, saying it was retarding development.

    He urged the federal government to tackle it.

    Prof. Ibi Ajayi of the Department of Economics, University of Ibadan, Oyo State, said it was imperative for youths to be empowered to discourage them from crimes.

  • We‘ll use Kogi, Bayelsa governorship polls to correct wrongs in 2019 polls — Institute

    The Electoral Institute, Abuja, said on Friday that it would use the Kogi and Bayelsa states’ governorship elections to correct all the wrongs from the lessons learnt during the 2019 general elections.

    Dr. Saád Idris, Director-General of the institute, said at a Policy Dialogue series tagged, “Dynamics of Delegation: Reforms in the Recruitment, Training and Deployment of Ad-hoc Election Personnel” in Abuja that Professor Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has been engaging with stakeholders since the last  elections, to know what went wrong to improve on subsequent elections.

    The INEC chairman, according to him, “has been making effort to address the challenges faced, so this is a part of that effort to look into the recruitment, training and deployment of ad-hoc staff during elections.

    “The effort of the commission is clear; it has owned up to some things that it did not do right, so beginning from the Kogi and Bayelsa elections, you will see improvement.’’

    Idris said that the plans to correct the electoral process had started, adding that “we are not going to wait for general elections before correcting all the wrongs.’’

    Idris explained that the meeting was part of the mandate to organise a policy dialogue, to engage in dialogue for reforms, recruitment, training and deployment of ad-hoc staff.

    Read Also: INEC to review MoU with NYSC 

    He also said that the dialogue was with particular reference to what happened in 2019 elections.

    Earlier, Prof. Shola Omotola, Lead Speaker and lecturer, Federal University of Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State, called for expansion of the recruitment data base of adhoc staff to include ex-NYSC members, to guarantee continuity.

    Omotola, therefore, called for training and re-training of ad-hoc staff and the need to put mechanisms in place to enable such staff to also vote on Election Day, in order not to disenfranchise them.

    He advised INEC to imbibe the culture of timely recruitment and training of ad-hoc staff to enable them work effectively.

    Omotola said that there was need to guarantee their security as well as increase their remunerations for greater performance.

    Mr Adedeji Soyebi, Chairman, Board of Electoral Institute, said that a lot had been learnt from the lessons shared by various stakeholders on the occasion.

    Soyebi said that ad-ahoc staff played critical role in the electoral process, adding that INEC could not afford to overlook such role.

    “So the reforms in the delegation of responsibilities would constantly be reviewed,”he said.

    He said that the institute would continue to improve on the electoral process in consonance with the commitment of INEC to ensure free, fair and credible elections and acceptable by all.

  • FG phases out yellow card, replaces it with e-yellow card 

    The Federal Government has introduced the e-yellow card certification for travelers to address the issue of fake yellow cards.

    The electronic card, which will take effect from July 1, replaces the old card.

    Announcing the development yesterday, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, Mr. Abdulaziz Mashi Abdullahi, stated that the new card has enhanced security features that could be verified anywhere in the world by scanning the bar code or checking the card number on the yellow card portal.

    The introduction of the new e- yellow card, otherwise known as International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis (ICVP), is to address the issue of fake yellow cards which has hitherto constituted a source of national embarrassment.

    Mr. Abdullahi stressed that with effect from July 1, the new e-yellow card would be the only valid documented proof of vaccination against yellow fever.

    Read Also: Passport issuance: Immigration officers are still collecting bribe – Babandede

    On the importance of the yellow fever vaccine for which the yellow card is documented for, the permanent secretary said that yellow fever, a viral haemorrhagic fever, caused by a virus transmitted by the Aedes Aegypti mosquito is a potentially fatal illness but vaccine preventable.

    Mr. Abdullahi noted that some countries, including Nigeria, were endemic for yellow fever, as such travelers to affected (endemic) countries were at risk of exposure to infection by the yellow fever virus, hence the mandatory vaccination against the disease.

    To this end, the permanent secretary said that according to the World Health Organisation’s, recommendation, all international travellers, nine months of age and above, who were visiting Nigeria must be vaccinated against yellow fever.

    Also, additional measures have been adopted at points of entry for the prevention and control of yellow fever which involves mandatory requirement of evidence of vaccination against yellow fever on arrival in Nigeria, Mr. Abdullahi added.

    He further noted that some countries also require evidence of vaccination against yellow fever as a condition for entry.

    He stressed that from July 1, travelers arriving Nigeria without proof of yellow fever vaccination would be vaccinated at points of entry and issued the cards after payment.

  • Kwara gets N4.2bn federal allocation for June

    Kwara State Government has announced the receipt of the sum of N4,202,659,072.11 (four billion, two hundred and two million, six hundred and fifty nine thousand, seven two naira and eleven Kobo) for the month of June, 2019.

    The announcement was contained in a statement on Friday by Mr Benjamin Fatigun, the Permanent Secretary of the state Ministry of Finance who represented Kwara at the FAAC meeting of June 27 in Kano.

    The breakdown of the money for the state includes statutory revenue allocation (SRA) of N3,193,761,125:58; Value Added Tax of N1,002,461,709.09; and exchange rate gain of N6,436,237:44, according to the statement.

    Read Also: Federal Government eyes 45million tax net

    The statement  said the entire 16 local government areas also received the total sum of two billion, six hundred and seventy five million, three hundred and seventy seven naira, thirty one Kobo (2,679,675,377.31).

    The breakdown for the LGAs is 2,106,501,950.22 (SRA); 568,928,292.22 (VAT); and 4,245,134.87 (Exchange Gains), it added.

    Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, meanwhile, has directed the immediate payment of June salary to the state’s workers.

  • INEC to review MoU with NYSC 

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Friday revealed that it is planning to review its Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) on the rules regarding the engagement of corps members as electoral ad hoc staff.

    The Director General, The Electoral Institute, Dr. Sa’ad Umar Idris, made this known in Abuja at the Policy Dialogue on “Dynamics of Delegation: Reforms in the Recruitment of Ad-hoc Election Personnel.”

    He said that “we (INEC) are going to review the MoU with the NYSC to ensure that the members on election duties are loyal and can be held accountable and punished for their actions.”

    According to him, the NYSC staff put the reputation of the commission at stake whenever they are on election duty, stressing that obedience to INEC core values, code and conduct is very important.

    He said that the commission has its core value that anybody working for it being him an ad-hoc or permanent worker has to comply with.

    He said that the need to train the ad-hoc staff and expose them to the core value of the commission has become expedient for “them to do things the way INEC does its own things.”

    Read Also:  Ill-treatment of corps members on electoral duty

    Continuing, he said that “when they (youth corps members) are on the field, they are INEC. Are they loyal to the commission? We need to interrogate that.”

    The commission, according to him, is also mulling administrative measures of dealing with malfeasance, especially a mechanism for punishment such as denial of discharge certificate and a repeat of the service year.

    He insisted on the need for reforms of the electoral policies for the improvement of the conduct of elections.

    The Lead Speaker, Prof. Shola Omotola, had observed that the allowances for the ad-hoc staff were grossly inadequate.

    The don mentioned the challenges of insecurity, late mobilization and training of staff as part of the characteristics of the 2019 general elections.