Five members of a notorious kidnap gang have been arrested by professional hunters in Okehi Local Government Area of Kogi State,
The five suspects were arrested in an early morning operation at Atami, a suburb of Osara community on Tuesday, September 27.
The criminals have been terrorizing Okene-Lokoja road and Okene-Auchi road of Kogi State.
The suspects are: Tukur Saleh, Ahmadu Sanni, Yusuf Sanni, all from Bauchi; Abubakar Saleh (Baba Wuro) and Isah Saleh, both from Kano State.
Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka in an interview with the UK Guardian over the weekend, described the Big Brother reality show as nauseating.
“I find it nauseating. I watched Big Brother Africa out of duty when it first came out in 2003. My friends used to rush home.
“They would say: “Excuse me, I must get back. I’ve got to watch this episode,” Mr Soyinka said.
The Nobel laureate added that the show promotes people watching nudity and sexual activities, contrary to his belief.
“I think I managed about two and a half episodes. But the voyeurism was totally contrary to everything I believed.
“So I haven’t seen the new version at all. I’m not going near it,” Prof Wole Soyinka.
Sule Lamido, former governor of Jigawa state, says the country lacks the needed leadership to tackle its challenges.
While appearing on Sunday Politics, a Channels Television programme, on Sunday, Lamido said the government must be accountable to the people.
“Government must be held accountable and I don’t want to sound too political but it is a fact of life. When you want to attain political power the process must be credible,” he said.
“Let us put politics aside. What do we do as leaders? We have no leadership in Nigeria, that is the problem and the world is looking at us.
“Above everything else, it is about leadership. Leadership is very important. On the issue of Zamfara, why is the state becoming the hub of terrorism in Nigeria. Why?”
Lamido said the ruling party did not have a plan to effect change but just wanted power in 2015.
“They knew they were telling lies. But for then, it was about getting the power. If they get the power, then they begin to ask, ‘what do we do?’ So, the process and the platform must be very honest; it must be very credible,” he said.
“It is this character of telling lies to the young generation.
“When you raise their hopes in trying to get government help, and you are in government, by the time you fail to fulfil their needs, of course, there will be problems.”
U.S. government gathers 2,700 electronic files, 6,700-page documentary evidence for Abba Kyari’s case
U.S. prosecutors say they are processing some of the documents obtained from foreign law enforcement agencies.
The United States government has gathered over 2,700 electronic files as part of evidence for trial in the $1.1million fraud case involving a top Nigerian police officer, Abba Kyari, a court filing has shown.
Other sets of investigative reports and “new discoveries” including documents obtained from foreign law enforcement agencies with over 6,700 pages are being processed by prosecutors, the document also says.
U.S. prosecutors along with three of the six indicted defendants in the fraud case have asked the U.S. District Court for Central California to postpone trial from October 2021 to 17 May, 2022.
PREMIUM TIMES reported that the parties jointly filed the application on Friday, citing various reasons for asking for trial postponement.
Apart from the need for additional time by the defence lawyers to prepare for the case, U.S. prosecutors also asked for more time to process troves of documents, including those obtained from foreign countries.
According to the application, the U.S. government has already handed to the defence approximately 2.31 GB of data consisting of 2,707 electronic files.
The files contain, among others, exported chat logs, Cellebrite reports, WhatApp messages, audio recordings, and other social media content, it stated.
It added that prosecutors were processing approximately 6,773 pages of additional discovery expected to be produced in two weeks’ time.
“Defendants are charged with violations of 18 U.S.C. § 1349 (Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud); § 1956(h) (Conspiracy to Engage in Money Laundering); and § 1028A(a)(1) (Aggravated Identity Theft).
“The government has produced discovery to the defense, including approximately 2.31 GB of native data consisting of 2,707 files including exported chat logs, Cellebrite reports, WhatApp messages, audio recordings, and other social media content.
“The government is currently processing approximately 6,773 pages of additional discovery including investigative reports and documents received from foreign law enforcement agencies for production and anticipates those materials will be produced within approximately two weeks,” the document reads, in part.
Three ready for trial in May, Abba Kyari, two others ‘at large’
Three of the defendants – Rukayat Fashola (aka Morayo), Bolatito Agbabiaka (aka Bolamide), and Yusuf Anifowoshe (aka AJ and Alvin Johnson) – arrested in the United States and subsequently released on bail signed the application for their trial to be postponed to May 2022 along with their separate lawyers and U.S. prosecutors.
The U.S. Acting Attorney for the Central District of California and U.S. Assistant Attorney, Khaldoun Shobaki, signed the application on behalf of the U.S. government.
Ms Fashola with her lawyer, Edward Robinson; Ms Agbabiaka with her lawyer, Daniel Nardoni, and Mr Anifowoshe with his lawyer, Lakeshia Monique Dorsey, also endorsed the application.
But the rest of the three accused believed to be outside the U.S. – Mr Kyari, Abdulrahman Juma, and Kelly Chibuzo Vincent – “remain at large,” prosecutors say.
Fraud case, delayed extradition
All six defendants, including Mr Kyari, indicted in the case were co-conspirators in the $1.1million fraud coordinated by a former Nigerian Instagram celebrity, Abbas Ramon, better known as Hushpuppi, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) said in court documents released in July.
A Qatari businessperson was said to be the victim of the heist spearheaded by Hushpuppi between November 2019 and April 2020.
Hushpuppi, known for flaunting his wealth on his Instagram page, has pleaded guilty to various fraud activities including the $1.1million scheme in another case before the U.S. district court in Central California. He is now awaiting sentencing.
The former head of Intelligence Response Team of the Nigerian police, with pending U.S. extradition request against him, was suspended in the wake of the revelation of the charges against him and five others.
The report of a probe into the case commissioned by the Inspector-General of Police has been submitted, but its findings and recommendations have yet to be made public officially.
With the delay, speculations are rife that efforts are being made to cover up for Mr Kyari in a bid to avert his extradition to the U.S.
Trial may be separated
The application filed at the U.S. District Court of Central California stated that parties had estimated that six days would be required to conclude the three defendants’ trial.
Indicating that the trial of the available defendants may be separated from those of Mr Kyari and others still at large, the application states, “all defendants are joined for trial and a severance has not been granted.”
With no objection to the application from any of the parties, the judge, Otis Wright, is expected to grant the request to fix 17 May, 2022 for commencement of trial any time soon.
It isn’t a list anyone would be proud of. In plain terms, it is a frightening list. But here it is in black and white: 6,319 persons arbitrarily and willfully killed; 3,672 kidnapped; N2, 805,049,748 paid as ransom; 6,483 widows and 25,050 orphans left behind by slain victims; 215,241 cows, 141,404 sheep, 20,600 of other animals (such as camels and donkeys) rustled; and 3,587 houses, 1,487 motor vehicles and motor cycles burnt.
Bandits operated 105 camps from which they launched deadly attacks on Zamfara, kill and steal the people’s properties at will; their leaders identified.
To be sure, the Zamfara banditry, according to the report, started in a village called Dansadau.
The report is unsparing of some former governors over the roles they allegedly played during their tenures which escalated banditry in Zamfara
On the alleged role of former Governor Ahmed Sani Yariman Bakura (May 1999 – May 2007), the report said: “When small scale armed robbery began to rear its ugly head in different parts of the state, he directed allocation of farmlands in government forest reserves along the major highways in order to create clear view for motorists and make it difficult for armed robbers to escape easily from the thick forest reserves.
On former Governor Mamuda Aliyu Shinkafi (May 2007 – May 2011), the report has this to say: “During his four-year tenure, fraudulent civil servants enjoyed a field day.
“They allocated farmlands in government forest reserves at will without the knowledge of government.
“He too allocated some farmlands especially to some high profile individuals both within and outside the state of between 100 to 700 hectares per person.
“191 beneficiaries include legislators, political appointees and party officials”.
In the case of former Governor Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar (May 2011 – May 2019), the committee wrote: “The seed of security crisis planted during Governor Ahmed Sani Yariman Bakura’s tenure watered and nursed all through germinated fully three months into the tenure of Gov. Abdul’Aziz Yari Abubakar.
The Federal Government on Thursday descended on critics of its frequent request for fresh loans describing them as insincere.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, spoke for the government during a town hall meeting in Maiduguri, Borno State to address vandalism of power and telecommunications infrastructure.
Mohammed said the critics were members of previous administrations who ‘performed abysmally in terms of modernising our infrastructure, even when they served at a time when our earnings were multiples of what we get today.”
He said that government was not borrowing for recurrent expenditure or to pay salaries but to build world class infrastructure that would benefit generations of Nigerians.
Former beauty queen and estranged wife of former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode, Precious Chikwendu, has filed a suit at a Federal High Court in Abuja, seeking the enforcement of her fundamental human rights.
According to the court papers filed by her lawyer, Abdul-Aziz Jimoh, Precious listed Fani-Kayode, Inspector-General of Police, his officers and means defendants and is demanding the sum of N800m as damages. Other respondents listed in the suit include the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Force CID, Commissioner of Police, FCT, CSP James Idachaba (OC Legal CID), FCT Command.
Precious in the suit said she was demanding the said amount because of the roles the respondents have played in “intimidating and harassing” her during the pendency of her custody suit.
The mum of four asked the court to restrain the IGP, his officers and men from intimidating and harassing her in any form, pending the hearing and determination of her suit seeking the custody of the four children she had with Fani-Kayode.
As part of her demands in the court papers, Precious asked the court to grant an order enforcing her fundamental human rights as she was apprehensive of an imminent violation of such rights in the actualization of alleged threats to her life by Fani-Kayode and in the face of the nonchalant and refusal of the first, second and third respondents (IGP, DIG Force CID and CP FCT) to investigate her genuine petitions of threat to life against the fifth respondent (Fani-Kayode).
She sought for a declaration that she was not bound to honor the invitation of the first to fourth respondents in relation to a purported conspiracy and forgery of court records during the pendency of suit no CV/372/2021 between her and the fifth respondent.
In an affidavit in support of her court application, Precious stated that
“I was in a most tempestuous and violent relationship with the fifth respondent (Fani-Kayode), a qualified legal practitioner, a politician and a former minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The fifth respondent and I have four children together and I am forcefully separated from our children, who are all minors.
Consequent upon the unbridled violence perpetrated against me by the fifth respondent and the forceful separation from our children, I filed a suit in the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, with Suit No CV/372/2021.
Rather than allow the contending matters placed before the FCT High Court to be determined by the honorable court, the fifth respondent has persisted in using the Police officers under the control of the first respondent (IGP) and supervised by the second respondent (Commissioner of Police FCT) incessantly to intimidate and harass me with a view to interfering in the adjudicatory powers of a competent court of justice.”
Chikwendu said she had also petitioned the Commissioner of Police, FCT, the third respondent, alleging threats to her life by the fifth respondent and that the Police Commissioner had refused to act on her petition, thus prompting her to go to court to enforce her fundamental human rights.
As of the time of filing this report, no date has been fixed for mentioning of the matter.
Naturally, a lot of loyal APC members are hopping mad that FFK was readmitted into the party. And not only that, he got back at the highest level. Not at his ward in Ile-Ife, Osun State, but the triumphal entry was at the Presidential Villa, with President Buhari himself as the host.
I understand the umbrage taken against the development by teeming APC supporters. It’s the natural thing to do. But then, having vented spleen, raised dust and almost brought down the roof, the next thing is to isolate the issues dispassionately. With the bile displayed towards President Buhari and his family over the years, how did the man find the grace to have received FFK? How was he convinced? Who did the convincing? What were the extenuating factors? How? When? Why?
By agreeing to the readmission of FFK to APC as the leader of the party, and hosting him at the Villa, President Buhari displayed amazing capacity to forgive, to show mercy, and let bygones be bygones. How many of us can do that? Not many.
Not a small ruckus has been caused by the defection of former Minister of Aviation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode (FFK), from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) last week.
An icing on the cake, or the salt added to injury (depending on which side you are), was his reception at the Presidential Villa by Muhammadu Buhari, father of the nation. The development has been rocking the polity for many days.
FFK is by no means a miscellaneous personality, and whatever he does, or does not do, attracts loads of attention.
He was a founding member of the APC, before he ported back to the PDP. And he did not leave quietly. He ruffled feathers and stirred up the mud. He became a rabid hater of his former party and its members.
The Ondo State Governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu, has berated his counterpart in Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, over the latter’s comment on anti-open grazing law.
El-Rufai had described the anti-open grazing laws being signed by some of the southern governors as unrealistic.
But Akeredolu, in a statement issued by the state Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr Donald Ojogo, said such a statement should not have come from a leader.
The statement read, “From all indications, Governor Nasir El-Rufai, if he was properly quoted and his views not misrepresented, is struggling hard to export banditry to the South under an expressed opinion that is laced with mischief.
“Perhaps, it is apt to state clearly that the likes of Governor El-Rufai are already in a hysteric ‘mode’ of escalating and indeed, externalising banditry, especially as the military onslaught against criminal elements and other terror variants suffices in the North.
“For emphasis, any such comment like that of the Kaduna Governor, if indeed he made that statement, merely seeks to encourage anarchy under the guise of resentment of a law by affected stakeholders.”
The residence of the Sokoto State Commissioner for Careers and Security Matters, Garba Moyi, has been razed by an angry mob in the Isa Local Government Area of the state.
Garba’s house was burnt down on Tuesday for alleged of complicity with criminals terrorising the area.
Vehicles belonging to the District Head of the area, Sarkin Gobir of Isa Alhaji Nasiru Ahamad were also vandalised by the mobs, for as well allegedly defending the activities of criminal gangs in the area.
A source said that people in the area had for long accused the two leaders of not showing concern to the banditry activities in the area.
The Sokoto Police Command Public Relations Officer (PPRO) ASP Sanusi Abubakar who confirmed the incident noted that it happened Tuesday and that the police were investigating the matter.
“No life was involved, and as soon as the investigation is completed, the details will be made known to the public,” Sanusi said.
He however, appealed to the residence in the area to remain calm and cooperate with law enforcement agencies and the police to maintain the security of lives and property of the citizenry in the state.
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