Zamfara: Residents pay bandits N20m to avoid attacks

The N20 million levy imposed on residents of Gidan-Goga village in the Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State by bandits’ leader, Bello Turji, to forestall attacks on their community has been paid.

Bello Turji had imposed the levy on the village residents, asking them to pay the money on or before Sunday, November 27, or face the wrath of the bandits.

A source told DAILY POST that the bandits threatened to attack the village if the money was not paid at the stipulated time.

The source further explained that the money was paid on Sunday, saying that the residents who fled to other places for safety had started returning to the village.

He stated, “Many people, including myself, have returned to the village because of the payment of the levy. We paid additional sum of N6 million for the release of five people abducted by the terrorists who belonged to Bello Turji’s camp.”

SP Mohammed Shehu, the state Police Public Relations Officer, could not be reached on his phone for a reaction to the matter.

Two Owerri prison escapees arrested over kidnap of female lawyer in Rivers

 

Two inmates who escaped from the Owerri Custodial Centre, Imo state, have been arrested for alleged involvement in a fresh case of kidnapping and armed robbery. 

The suspects, Okechukwu Edison, 42, and Sunday Morison, were arrested by crack operatives of the Nigeria Police Force's Intelligence Response Team (IRT) led by DCP Tunji Disu. 

According to The Nation, the suspects allegedly coordinated and participated in the kidnap of a female lawyer in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital. 

The duo, along with two other criminal gang members who carried out the kidnapping, have been awaiting trial for 11 years in prison custody before they escaped during the jailbreak on April 5, 2022.

Preliminary investigations revealed that both suspects, who hail from Rumuji in Rivers State's Emohua Local area, were arrested for long-time kidnapping, armed robbery, car snatching many years ago and remanded in prison custody after their arraignment in court. 

After successfully coordinating the kidnapping of a female legal practitioner in the city, the suspects were apprehended by Crack detectives of the Force Intelligence Bureau Intelligence Response Team FIB-IRT on November 10, 2022 at Rumuola junction in the Rivers State capital.

"We left the correctional facility on Monday April 5, 2022 during the attack on the prison by a group of unknown gunmen who threw dynamites at the walls of the prison and commanded inmates to flee," one of the suspects confessed.

"We went into kidnapping, robbery, and car theft after some armed soldiers invaded and destroyed the oil bunkering site we were making a living from after the jail break freedom as we lost everything that was sustaining our family," he continued.

They were apprehended after IRT agents received information about the kidnapping of the female lawyer who had been held captive for three days.

Police authorities directed their operatives to conduct an immediate search and rescue of the lawyer.

The lawyer was released after the suspected criminals were apprehended, and she identified two of the suspects in the police net as the people who kidnapped her and stole N5 million from her bank account.

Recounting his prison experience, the gang leader Edison Okechukwu stated that he was imprisoned because he loaned a car to a roommate named Emmanuel, who was later arrested and charged with kidnapping.

He also stated that he had spent eleven years as an awaiting trial inmate in the Imo State prison prior to the jail break, and that the attackers of the prison invaded the facility and ordered inmates to leave.

On kidnapping, he stated that they spotted the victim along Igwuruta road coming out of a shop in the city and kidnapped her, then called one Chukwuemeka Onu 25 male from his village to arrange for the safe keeping of their victim in an unfinished building.

According to Onu's confession, he took Okechukwu, the gang leader, to Eneke, a semi-urban settlement in the city, to make arrangements for where to keep his bunkering equipment, not realizing he was accompanied by a kidnapped woman.

One of the suspects also admitted that he was imprisoned in the Imo State prison prior to the jail break and had spent 14 years there before his case of armed robbery was reassigned to a new judge.

The IRT team is still looking into their involvement in other criminal activities in the state and making efforts to apprehend other gang members. 

CBN: Tinubu Support group seeks court order against Emefiele

A group under the aegis of South-South Agenda for Tinubu/Shettima (SSAT), one of the APC/Tinubu Support Groups in the South-South has announced that their legal battle to seek judicial reprieve for the suspension of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele from office will commence this week at a Federal High Court, Abuja.

It said this would pave the way for the forensic probe of the CBN Governor and his activities since assumption of office, including his top management staff and aides.

Making the announcement in a press release made available to journalists, the National Coordinator of the group, Mr. Bitrus Nta Oliver said the legal action had become imperative after the endless wait for the cleansing of the apex Bank, to help rescue the dwindling economy and save President Muhammadu Buhari’s legacies.

The group had few weeks ago called on President Buhari to suspend Emefiele from office over what they described as ‘abuse of office’.

The group threatened to commence legal action if the President failed to act.

They said in the statement that “after many weeks of waiting, we are now left with no option but to take the patriotic step of launching a legal action to help save the economy from Emefiele’s mismanagement.”

“SSAT intends to secure an order for the NFIU, DSS, Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN), and the CBN board to investigate the Bank, Emefiele, his top management staff and personal aides who are allegedly part of the problem the Nigerian economy is facing,” it said.

The group said that there is no way the alleged rots in mismanagement, financial recklessness and corruption that have allegedly happened in the CBN “can be exposed when Emefiele is still presiding, hence the need for the legal action and an injunctive order to restrain and suspend him from office while investigations and deep audit is carried out by the relevant security agencies to help unearth the sleaze that might have been perpetrated in the bank.”

The group urged Nigerians who are in economic despair “not to lose hope as their legal offensive will offer a way out of the deep rooted mismanagement and looting of the apex bank and help save Mr President’s good efforts and commitment to transparency and fight against corruption.”

The group said the court action will commence this Monday and that they will keep updating Nigerians as the action progresses.

I can’t be controlled by a man who’s below me — Woman files for divorce after her husband sponsored her education to PhD level

A Nigerian woman has reportedly filed for a divorce because she doesn’t want to be controlled by a man who’s below her educationally.

According to Twitter user @Abdullahiabba_ who relayed the incident, his cousin – the woman’s husband – dropped out of school to support his wife’s education and saw her through to the highest level of education, PhD.

However, after she bagged her doctoral degree, she said she can’t continue with the marriage because she can’t submit to a man with his level of education.

@Abdullahiabba_ tweeted,

“My Cousin Sameer had to drop out of school after marriage just to support his wife education due to her parents were not strong enough for that just for her to attain Phd and seek for divorce from him telling him she can’t be controlled by a man who’s not educated like him.

She can’t be controlled by a man who’s not up to her standards in terms of Education.”

See his tweet below,

I go kee you – Oyibo victim threatens Yahoo Boys after finding out where they live

An exchange between a white man and group of fraudsters who were trying to scam him was filmed and shared online.

It is not clear if the boys had already defrauded him of some money, but they were having a video-call where the foreign client was angry.

The yahoo boys were asking him to send the money he promised, but he had already discovered that they are scammers.

He threatened the young men over the phone and noted that he knows all of them are living in Nigeria.

They were not taking his threats seriously rather as he was talking, they decided to hurl insults at him and his family.

He issued a threat in Pidgin English because he realised he was talking to Nigerian scammers. ”I go k**l you” the white man said.

One of the guys told him to calm down and send the gift card he had earlier promised when he was still oblivious of the scam.

2023: Why it’ll be difficult for APC to defeat Seyi Makinde in Oyo – El-Rufai

The Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has admitted it would be tough for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to defeat his Oyo State counterpart, Seyi Makinde, in 2023.

El-Rufai stated this at the commemoration and send-off ceremony organised for the outgoing director-general of the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Nteranya Sanginga, on Friday.

The Kaduna governor, however, said APC will try its best to unseat Makinde, but it would be tough because he has governed well.

Both governors recounted how they argued during a National Executive Council (NEC) sitting, over if to lock down their states in the heat of the COVID-19 outbreak.

“After that debate, I went back to my state and I locked it down. Seyi (Makinde) went back to his state and did a partial lockdown. But he locked himself down because he got COVID.

“In my state, I did what I felt was the right thing and he did what was best for his state.

“We’ll do our best to defeat you. But I know it will be tough because you have been a good governor,” El-Rufai said. 

Sanwo-Olu ordered closure of Lagos markets for Tinubu, APC rally – PDP’s Jandor

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Olajide Adediran (Jandor), has accused Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of closing Lagos markets for the All Progressives Congress (APC) rally for Bola Tinubu.

The APC presidential campaign is underway at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere.

Adediran said the Lagos government forced the traders in major markets to attend the event.

A statement by his campaign spokesperson, Gbenga Ogunleye, noted that the leaders complained about a directive not to open today.

The Lagos State Parks and Garages Management Committee, led by Musiliu Akinsanya a.k.a. MC Oluomo, allegedly threatened to punish traders who flout the order.

Jandor called the alleged action of the state government as “insensitive, callous, barbaric, and criminal.”

The flagbearer said the traders are free citizens whose right to do business is protected by the constitution.

“Any act to intimidate or threaten them to attend a programme against their wish is criminal and inhuman”, the statement reads.

It warned the authorities to stop inflicting pains on people trying to survive the harsh economy “the APC at the federal and state levels have plucked the nation into”.

Jandor advised Lagos residents to keep hope alive as they “endure the remaining days of the inept APC-led administration”.

Police identify, charge man caught with dagger at Peter Obi’s Ibadan rally to court

The Oyo State Police Command has given insight on how a man caught with a double-faced Jack-knife at the Labour Party presidential campaign rally in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, was arrested.

It was reported that a video of the man caught with the weapon at the Lekan Salami Stadium Adamasingba, Ibadan, had trended on Twitter.

Some eyewitnesses had alleged that the suspect positioned himself in a place the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi was expected to walk through to the podium.

Reports also claimed that the Wednesday incident was an assassination attempt on the former Anambra governor.

But a statement issued on Saturday by the Oyo State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Adewale Osifeso, said the report was untrue, misleading and a product of a figment of the author’s imagination.

According to the PPRO, preliminary investigations revealed that the event was “characterized with effective deployment of operational, tactical and intelligence assets which was monitored under the highest levels of professionalism”.

Identifying the suspect as Lateef Wasiu, the command’s spokesman said the suspect was arrested by “Police operatives stationed at the venue for being in possession of a concealed weapon, a double-faced Jack-knife on the inside of his suit in violation of the 2022 Electoral Act and other guiding regulations.

“Assertively, the Command wishes to re-iterate again that there was no assassination attempt on the life of Mr. Peter Obi, the Presidential Aspirant of the Labour Party contrary to widespread, unfounded speculations”.

The statement added that Lateef Wasiu has already been charged to court.

‘Future husband be ready for me’ – Bobrisky sends message as he makes pounded yam in video

Controversial Nigerian drag queen, Idris Okuneye aka Bobrisky has taken to social media to show off his cooking skills.

The Instagram influencer shared a video of him pounding yam in his kitchen and sent a message that he is a wife material.

Bobrisky said whoever will marry him in the future should get ready to have a homely spouse who will prepare sumptuous meals.

The self-acclaimed Mummy of Lagos vowed to feed his future partner until his in-law’s can no longer recognise their child.

He wrote; ”Future husband be ready for me. I’m gonna feed you that your family won’t recognize you lol 😆”

Watch the video HERE

2023: Wike will end up in jail – Ned Nwoko

The verbal war between Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike and Senator Ned Nwoko has taken another dimension.

Wike had in a video aimed a dig at Nwoko over the $418 Paris Club refunds.

But reacting, Nwoko, in a statement issued by his Media Directorate, which he personally signed, vowed that it was only a matter of time for Wike to end in jail over his alleged corrupt practices.

He also accused Wike of making fraudulent claims on the alleged payments of 13% derivation to South-South States, describing Wike’s claim as fraudulent.

In the statement made available to DAILY POST, Nwoko said characteristic of the garrulous governor, “Wike carelessly dabbled again into the issue of the $418 Paris Club refunds, a legitimate entitlement of Prince Ned Nwoko, whose patriotic ingenuity, as a time-honoured lawyer, secured billions of dollars in favour of local and State governments, including Wike’s administration as a beneficiary.”

He said Wike was chastising him, (Nwoko) for laying claim to monies the international lawyer genuinely earned and approved by the Federal government following various court judgements and 3 separate EFCC reports supporting the payments.

“When has demands for professional fees duly sanctioned by statutory authorities and scrutinised by anti-corruption agencies like EFCC and DSS become ‘fraud’.

“We are appalled by Wike’s wicked and despicable wild goose chase.

“Ned Nwoko Media directorate asserts on the contrary, the Rivers State governor received a whopping share of over 60 billion Naira from the Paris Club refunds to States, thanks to the sterner stuff of Prince Ned Nwoko who took the Federal government to Courts on behalf of the States and local governments and won, over the arbitrary deductions.”

Nwoko claimed to have infallible evidence that Wike not only collected the huge funds but squandered the proceeds through phantom projects and frivolous travels around the world in crude obscene ego trips.

“Like discerning members of the public, we are aware of Wike’ s primitive hoarding of illicit loot for elections, a dubious game plan that can only be contrived by a man of opaque character.

“Wike spoke of corruption among some governors. Kettle cannot call Pot black. A man with both hands stained with filthy lucre lacks moral justification to utter one word on embezzlement. To go sanctimonious is unpardonable criminality. Wike, no matter the pretence, has exposed himself towards jail.

“We need to remind Wike for the umpteenth time, in case he has forgotten, that 25 innocent children in life support machines died in a Rivers State- owned hospital the same hour because the hospital could not afford electricity. He could not provide electricity, having diverted all funds to meaningless ventures for self aggrandisement.

“At the appropriate time when his dictatorial reign on the high horse is over, he would surely answer charges of criminal negligence at the International Court of Justice for the sad deaths of those children.

“It is laughable that a man of monumental corrupt tendencies and wanton profligacy could so unabashedly talk when his activities connote unimaginable scam and fraudulence.

“Who was Wike when Ned Nwoko returned to Nigeria in 1999 to win the Aniocha/Oshimili Federal constituency seat and mount the green chambers of the National Assembly as a distinguished member, House of Representatives?

“That he was spoon-fed to become governor through godfather syndrome in 2015, desperately grabbing public funds to his chest, should not be a licence to brag and bully. Let Wike disclose the source of wealth he now flaunts with arrogant vainglorious relish. Can he survive outside dirty politics?” Nwoko queried.

On the alleged payments of 13% derivation to South-South States, Nwoko said Wike was trying falsely and maliciously to instigate the people against some governors.

“Wike postures deceptively in panic to cover his tracks on the well-known serious open secret of his involvement in national economic sabotage through oil bunkering.

“If the governor’s mischievous vituperations on the Paris Club refunds are off-key and unserious, his pedestrian shout on Ned Nwoko’s matrimony amounts to nothing. His false, childish tantrums that the man has imaginary ‘20 wives’ sounded like beer parlour gossip, unbelievable from the lips of a governor. How nauseating and condescending. But that is Wike, ever steered by gutter language and uncouth tempers.

“Let Wike delude himself in a bogus gubernatorial robe. By six months time, he would descend into a commoner, stripped of all immunity, bare from boastful manners and haughty airs. Prince Ned Nwoko, a civil fellow who has never been on the street with Wike would then compel him to answer questions about his litany of lies and corrupt misdeeds. He is poised, resolutely waiting to bring the Rivers State governor to justice very soon.

“Since Wike lost the PDP presidential ticket and failed nomination for Vice presidential slot because of his brash and unreliable temperament, he has been weeping, nagging on Television and every fora. Rather than lick his self-inflicted wounds remorsefully, he chose an inglorious path of blame game and transferred aggression. How pitiable for a fake emperor tumbling like the old nursery rhyme clown Humpty Dumpty.

“We hereby wish to emphasise for the avoidance of doubt that no external influence whether overtly or covertly moved Prince Ned Nwoko to challenge Wike’s excesses as the Star Prince of Anioma is a man of his own clout, unaffected and independent by nature.

“He is driven by the conviction as a pioneer and strong stakeholder in PDP, that an unhinged Wike, a latter day political noise maker and opportunist has become a power-drunk bull in a China shop who must be decisively handled, before he plots more divisive embarrassment.”

Nwoko added that he has all it takes to humble Wike.