The Nation Newspaper

Tag: blackmailed

  • ‘INEC being blackmailed by those rigging election’

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it is being intimidated and blackmailed by politicians with a history of election rigging in the state.

    The Akwa Ibom State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mike Igini, who addressed a news conference at the weekend, said those accusing the commission of irregularities rigged elections in the past to get government positions.

    Igini was reacting to allegations by the All Progressives Congress (APC), and its lawyers, that INEC was preventing it from accessing and inspecting electoral materials.

    He said: “Akwa Ibom is the only state where the opposition is complaining of being denied access to materials but the complaints are deliberate. Those with a history of election rigging are the ones accusing the commission. The complainants cannot compare what happened in 2011 and 2015 to the 2019 elections.”

    Igini flayed the APC lawyers and petitioners for accusing it of not complying with the Tribunal order to inspect election materials.

    According to him, the Commission has complied with the tribunal’s orders in line with the provision of Sections 77 and 151 of the Electoral Act, to make available to petitioners, certified copies of election materials, and also to be open to petitioners.

    “The APC governorship candidate’s lawyer, Victor Iyanam, informed the commission of the tribunal’s order on April 25, and was told to return the next day so that INEC’s legal team could jointly work out the inspection schedule, but he never turned up.

    “Now, in between the waiting time, Iyanam already granted news conferences and issued statements, accusing the commission of denying them access to materials. But this is untrue. We are committed to the electoral accountability to ensure electoral justice.”

    Igini explained that since April 23, inspection of materials had been happening daily for Akwa Ibom Northeast and Akwa Ibom NorthWest Senatorial seat.

  • Why I blackmailed my customers with their nude pictures — Alleged

    A 21-year- old suspected sex hawker, identified simply as Blessing, and her boyfriend, Ibrahim Danladi, have been arrested by operatives of the Inspector General of police Special Intelligence Response Team (IRT) for allegedly blackmailing customers with intent to extort money from them.

    The suspects were said to have blackmailed and extorted money from several men at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, using their(men’s) nude pictures.

    Blessing, who claimed to be a 200-level Philosophy undergraduate of the Federal University , Nasarawa State, was apprehended alongside her boyfriend, Ibarahim Danladi, also a student of the university.

    They were trailed to their hideout in Maraba area of Nasarawa State.

    It was said that Blessing and her boyfriend ran into trouble, after one of their victims, identified simply as Danti, paid a sum of N150,000 to avoid being blackmailed. Buoyed by the victim’s payment, the suspects allegedly went ahead to demand an additional N300,000, threatening to kidnap the victim’s wife and children if he failed to comply.

    The victim, out of fear of being blackmailed,  quickly wrote a petition to the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, alerting him of the situation and he immediately directed his operatives at the IRT  headed by Abba Kyari, to go after the alleged blackmailers.

    The source further said that the operatives advised the victim to play along with suspects.

    Danladi, who was the one communicating with the victim, was apprehended when he was about to collect the ransom at his hideout in Kubua,.

    It was said that the phone found on Danladi contained the nude pictures of several men allegedly blackmailed by the suspects.

    Danladi confessed during interrogation that his girlfriend, Blessing, brought the nude pictures and phone numbers of their male victims, which they in turn used to blackmail their victims.

    “It was my girlfriend’s (Blessing’s) idea. She brought the pictures to me and said she wanted to blackmail and extort money from the victims. I didn’t know them (victims) before; she was the person who gave me their phone numbers.

    ‘’She said they all used and dumped her and she wanted to take back her pound of flesh. She made me do all these. I am not into blackmailing people. The truth is that she lured me into it.”

    A source said that it was Danladi who helped the police to arrest his girlfriend.

    In her confession, Blessing said: “I am not a blackmailer; neither am I a prostitute. I was just broke and I was looking for money.  My boyfriend and I came to Abuja when our school was on holiday to look for money but things were not looking too good for us. Therefore, I went to the streets of Abuja to see how I could help myself.

    ‘’One of such days, a man in a vehicle gave me a ride to Gwarimpa area and while in the vehicle, he requested to know more about me and I told him who I was. I told him that I was seriously broke and that I needed to prepare for school resumption and he offered to assist me.

    ‘’He took my phone number and promised to call me.  Few days later, he called and asked me to meet him in a hotel at Garki area. When I got there, we had sex after which he gave me N5000, but I told him that the money would not be enough, because I had to buy foodstuffs and other items I would need, but he said that was all he had.

    ‘’So I took his naked picture while he was standing and  gave it to my boyfriend, who contacted the man and demanded for money by threatening to upload it on the internet, but the man ended up not paying any money to us.

    ‘’I also met one Gado at Wuse Zone 2, and we had sex. I told him that I needed money for school but he gave me just N4000.  I also took a photo of him while he was naked and gave it to my boyfriend for blackmail and to extort money from him. I also blackmailed a man who offered to give me a job after sleeping with him. The man later gave me his business card and asked me to call him and when I called him, he invited me to a hotel and we had sex, after which he gave me just N1000 and asked me to call him later for the job he promised.

    Read also: Man chops off rival’s hand over girlfriend

    ‘’I took his picture while he was naked and I sent it to my boyfriend, who  started blackmailing the man and threatened  to publish it online.  The man became tired and told him to go ahead and  he stopped talking to the man.

    ‘’The one that landed us into trouble was that of a man named Danti whom I met in an eatery at Jabi area of Abuja and we became friends. He later took me to a hotel at Lugbe area, where we had sex and  I took a picture of him after he finished taking his bath and he gave me N5000 after the whole show.

    ‘’I was angry because I was expecting him to give me more money.  I gave his nude picture to my boyfriend and this time, we ran a search on him and we found his wife and other family members on social media.

    ‘’My friend, Danladi, contacted him and threatened to send the picture to his wife.  He also told him that he had his wife’s phone number and those of his friends and siblings.   The man became worried and begged him not to do such. The man paid us N150,000 and  Danladi and I spent the  whole money.”

  • My dad blackmailed me for sex, says daughter

    An Ikeja Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court yesterday heard how a father sexually violated his daughter by blackmailing her.

    The girl, 18, told the court that her father started having sex with her at 12 through blackmail.

    Her father, Folorunso Oluwaseun, 52, was arraigned on February 8 on a two-count charge of defilement and sexual assault.

    The girl, the first prosecution witness, said the sexual abuse spanned four years (2012 to 2016) before she was removed from her father’s care by her mother.

    Oluwaseun, she claimed, blackmailed her by refusing to give her and her siblings aged five and two food unless she gave in to his incestuous demands.

    Led in evidence by the prosecutor, Mr Babajide Boye, she said: “When the abuse occurred, I was living with my father and four siblings at Ofin in Ikorodu and my mother was staying in Ibadan.

    “When it happened, I told my immediate younger sister and she said it is a curse in the Bible, I told my father and he told me it is not a curse that God knows he doesn’t have a wife and God won’t count it as a sin.

    “I allowed him to continue but my sister said it was not good and I told him I can’t allow him to continue and he told me that he would not give us food unless I allowed him to continue.

    “He refused to give us food and my young brothers aged five and two were very hungry so my sister said I should allow him to continue so he will give us food since he said it is not a sin and I allowed him continue. I decided to tell his sister, Mummy Tosin and she promised to talk to him.

    “He approached me asking why I told his sister after he has told me it isn’t a sin and that it is only if he has sexual intercourse with me that he will have money to take care of us,” she said.

    The witness added: “In 2013, my mother came back home but left after about a month. He stopped when she was around and started again when she left, I didn’t tell my mother because my father said I should not tell her. We usually go to the camp of the Apostolic Church every year and my father told me that his sister reported him to his mother and his mother told him not to get me pregnant. I told my sister and, she said our father’s family doesn’t like us at all. Around August 2016, my mother came back home and one night he searched for me wanting to sleep with me again.

    “When my mother caught him, she started shouting but he shouted back at her saying what can she do to him. My mother took all of us to Ibadan saying if she stayed after knowing about the acts my dad can kill her.”

    The teenager said her father’s blackmail continued when the family moved to Ibadan.

    “I was teaching in a small school in Ibadan and we used to call him to send us money but he will say until we come back to Ikorodu.

    “I didn’t want to go back so I went to the owner of the school asking for salary increment and I told her everything I went through in the hands of my father,” she said.

    The witness said she reported the matter through the help of the school owner.

    The teenager’s mother, who was the second prosecution witness, said left Oluwaseun after he accused her of witchcraft.

    “I moved to Ibadan where I began selling raw food stuff and sending gifts to my sister to give my children occasionally because their father refused me direct access to them. I was unaware of everything that happened to my daughter as she never confided in me until I caught her father in the act. I left with my children after he refused to accept responsibility or show any form of repentance for his actions. I feared he will kill me in a bid to cover up the secret,” the mother said.

    Justice Sybil Nwaka adjourned till June 21.

  • ‘Govt can’t be blackmailed on NUPENG’s N224m claim’

    ‘Govt can’t be blackmailed on NUPENG’s N224m claim’

    The Lagos State government yesterday said it would not succumb to the attempt by the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) to blackmail it into paying a questionable N224 million debt.

    Reacting to a purported protest carried out by members of the association, the government said though it was not against peaceful protest by aggrieved citizens but it would not be stampeded into taking any action without strictly following due process and rule of law.

    NUPENG had alleged that the N224 million was for payment for the supply of diesel and kerosene to the government for execution of direct labour projects in Ojodu between October 2014 and May 2015.

    NUPENG Southwest Chairman Tokunbo Korodo had threatened that members would embark on the protest with over 1, 000 tankers and that Lagosians would experience scarcity of fuel if the request was not acceded to.

    But in a statement by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Steve Ayorinde, the government recalled that the said transaction took place between an independent marketer and the State Public Works Corporation (LSPWC) before the present administration assumed office.

    Ayorinde said the company wrote the government about the transaction and the government replied that it wanted to investigate the claim.

    According to Ayorinde, “The investigation proved that the claim by the company was fraudulent but while investigation was still ongoing, the company went to NUPENG, and the association agreed to demonstrate on behalf of the company.

    “Our position is that the Lagos State government cannot be stampeded or blackmailed into making payments that have not been verified for which investigation is still ongoing.

    “While the government is not against peaceful protest by aggrieved citizens, we would like to urge Lagosians to go about their businesses peacefully.

    “No amount of blackmail will stop the government from strictly following due process and rule of law,” Ayorinde said.

    The government also urged the national leadership of NUPENG to prevail on its Lagos State chapter to stop using the union to pursue personal gains.

    The commissioner added that the Lagos State government never entered into any transaction with NUPENG but a private company, and as such it was strange that the union was now being used to blackmail the government.

  • Child marriage: we were blackmailed, says Mark

    Child marriage: we were blackmailed, says Mark

    Senate President David Mark said yesterday that the Senate was blackmailed to vote against deletion of Section 29(4)(b), which deals with renunciation of Nigerian citizenship.

    Mark also noted that following the outcry over the outcome of the vote on the section, the Senate would revisit it.

    The Senate President spoke when a coalition of Nigerian women under the aegis of Gender and Constitution Reform Network (GECORN) visited him in Abuja.

    The coalition was led by the Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Zainab Maina.

    Former Minister of Education Oby Ezekwesili, former Minister of Women Affairs Mrs. Josephine Anenih and a host of other women stormed the Senate to protest against the alleged move to endorse “underage marriage”.

    The minister told Mark that their visit was informed by their desire to seek clarification on some issues that arose from the voting of Senators during the Constitution amendment.

    Saadatu Mahdi, who presented the group’s position paper to Mark, said that they were in the Senate to seek deletion of Section 29(4)(b).

    Mahdi said it was the desire of Nigerians, who treasure their citizenship, to remove the provision that young Nigerian girls, who are not old enough to vote or to obtain a driver’s licence, are somehow old enough to renounce their citizenship.

    She noted that the harm of maintaining Section 29(40(b), which is open to manipulation arising from the ambiguity, far outweighs any arguable benefits a few women might obtain.

    She said: “Contrary to the position conveyed for the retention of the section, that under Sharia, a girl, once married, automatically assumes full mental and intellectual capacity, we posit that there is certainly no unanimity of positions on such matters among Islamic jurists, which therefore allows the society to determine for itself what is in its best interest.

    “We further posit that there should be no basis to compel a girl to deal with matters of such gravity as the renunciation of citizenship merely because she is married.

    “Islam is certainly not presumptuous or harsh as to burden her with what she is mentally and physically incapable of bearing.”

    The Senate Committee on Constitution review recommended deletion of Section 29 (4)(b), which deals with renunciation of citizenship to cater for child rights and gender protection from discrimination.

    Section 29. (1) states “Any citizen of Nigeria of full age who wishes to renounce his Nigerian citizenship shall make a declaration in the prescribed manner for the renunciation”.