Gist Arena

A fraudster who posed as an American general serving in Afghanistan conned two women out of more than £300,000 in just six months in what detectives believe was a multi-million-pound global scam. The conman used images of real-life US soldiers to befriend the women over Skype saying he wanted to move to the UK to marry them. He posed as “General James Krulak” and “General James Raul” and persuaded them to help transfer his $8.5 million (£5.4 million) retirement fund — a “box of treasure” from a family in Afghanistan. Today Scotland Yard issued an appeal, saying it has identified two other possible victims of the fraudster but fears there may be many more women who have lost money. Detectives from the Yard’s new FALCON cyber crime unit say they have uncovered evidence the con was part of a “sophisticated global network” preying on vulnerable women.  Nigerian national Robinson Agbonifoayetan, 32, of Welling, is facing jail after pleading guilty to two co...

AS the 63rd annual convention of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, reached crescendo on Thursday night, church members as well as first time worshippers at the spiritual fiesta were stunned to watch Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, regarded by millions of admirers as one of the meekest men around, turned combative. Even long time members of the church were also astonished by the growing number of babies delivered at the church’s major programmes with not a few participants wondering why heavily pregnant women often travel, sometimes, long distances to the Redemption Camp to have their babies. The large crowd of worshippers that included the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Benue State Governor, Deacon Sam Ortom and his wife, the Speaker of Ekiti House of Assembly, Pastor Kola Oluwawole and a motley of traditional rulers were shocked as the church General Overseer led them to pray some very dangerous prayers, calling down Holy Ghost fire on all unrepentant...

Rudo Nigeria Limited, the contractor handling the Adada Dam project in Nkpologwu, Uzouwani Local Government Area, Enugu State, which earlier abandoned the project, has returned to site to escape the ongoing probe of activities of the previous administration by President Muhamadu Buhari. The Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Water Resources had awarded the contract to the company at the sum of N2.5 billion and paid N289 million mobilization fee to the contractor. It was expected that the project at completion would ensure all-year-round irrigation for farmers in the area and serve as source of water supply to Nsukka urban, host community of University of Nigeria Nsukka. Although work started on the project in June 2011 with completion date of March 2015, the project was abandoned shortly afterwards, amid speculations that the water level at Adada River was not enough to carry a dam of such magnitude. The contractor however recently retur...

The federal government has concluded plans to appoint two international forensic audit firms to audit the accounts of all its revenue generating agencies. Addressing the media in Abuja yesterday, the chairman of the National Economic Council (NEC) adhoc committee on the management of Excess Crude Account Proceeds and Accruals into the Federation Account, Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, said the audit will be a who list is one that will unravel the secrecy that had trailed accountability in revenue collection. “Given our mandate, even if we are professional accountants, because we are sitting governors, we do not have the time to do the kind of forensic auditing which this assignment entails. Therefore, we have agree to appoint two international reputable auditing firms,” he said. He said the audit will cover a five-year circle beginning from January 1, 2010 to June 30, 2015 but could be extended if need be. Oshiomhole, who addressed the media alongside gover...

Officers of the Gwarinpa Police Division have arrested suspected armed robbers who specialize in robbing residents during rainfalls and bounding their victims with ropes. A 26-year-old furniture maker suspected to be the gang leader was arrested with locally made pistol and pump action rifle penultimate Thursday. A police source told City News that the man who owns a furniture shop in Dei-Dei was the leader of a five-man gang terrorizing Gwarinpa residents. It was gathered that the gang operates during heavy rainfall, and when they invade a compound, they tie up their victims with ropes, tape their mouths and force them to surrender their valuables. “We received distress calls from residents residing in 21 and 14 Roads, then we swooped into action and with the help of vigilante group, arrested one of them - a known mason, as he tried to escape. He was arrested with an AK47 gun,” the police source said. He said during interrogation, he mentioned the p...

One Amale Pius told an Abuja Grade 1 Area Court that he is ready to commit a suspected fake female corps member that allegedly carted away his over N1 million worth of properties to God. The court struck out the case of the suspected 25-year-old woman, Anita Ubi Sani, following the withdrawal of the case by the nominal complainant on Tuesday. Anita Ubi Sani of Back of Cathedral Church, Wida, Abuja, was charged with joint act and theft, offences that contradict Sections 79 and 287 of the Penal Code. The Police prosecutor, Igono Icholi, had earlier told the court that the complainant, of Phase 2, Site 1, on February 3, reported at the Kubwa Police Station that the accused, with two others, presently at large, jointly in furtherance of a common intention, went to his apartment and carted away his properties worth N1, 505, 000 without his consent. He said the accused sold the items in an undisclosed place and converted the proceeds to her personal use. A...

Former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Dr. Olufemi Thomas has voluntarily submitted himself to EFCC, to clear the air on the $2.1million cash seized at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Ikeja- Lagos. One Mr. Ibiteye Bamidele (pictured above), a bureau de change operator who was arrested by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for being in possession of the $2.1m cash suspected to be laundered,  had implicated the ex-NHIS boss. The suspect was however declared wanted by the EFCC   on Thursday   on the suspicion that he had absconded to evade justice. But Thomas, a former Commissioner for Health in Ekiti State voluntarily submitted himself for interrogation   on Friday   at EFCC Headquarters in Abuja but denied that he was planning to run away because he did not get any invitation from the anti-graft agency. Dressed in a white brocade, Dr. Thomas who arrived the EFCC aro...

Two young Nigerian men, Imran Kabeer 24 and Sani Jamiliu 25, both from Kano state, were arrested today August 7th in India as they made their way allegedly to join the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq According to reports, the young men were arrested at the India-Pakistan border as they made to scale a barbed wire fence. When interrogated by India's Border Security Force officials, Imran and Sani said they were on their way to Pakistan and then to Iraq to join ISIS but when searched, they had no valid travel documents to enter Pakistan but it was found that they had entered India on August 6th. They made their way from Amritsar city to Delhi and arrived at the integrated check point at Attari on Friday morning.  “On finding the border gates closed, the youths moved towards a barbed wire fence along the Attari-Wagah rail track (on which the Samjhauta Express peace train between both countries plies) and jumped over the high barbed wire fence, thinking they had en...

This drunk mobile police man was seen in Amuwo Odofin area in Lagos state today. He was so intoxicated his colleague had to hold him. Another photo below Pic source: Sahara Reporters

The notorious Brigadier General Aliyu Momoh, first exposed by SaharaReporters for rigging the Ekiti State gubernatorial elections for current Governor Ayo Fayose, has been moved to a lackluster position at the Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) of the Nigerian Army in Minna, Niger State. Brigadier General Momoh was exposed as a fraud for accepting bribes and promises of a promotion from Governor Ayo Fayose, the former embattled Minister of Defense Musiliu Obanikoro, the former Governor of Osun State Iyiola Omisore, and the Minister of Police Jelili Adesiyan. The audiotape revealed by SaharaReporters depicted these politicians bullying Brigadier General Momoh. Brigadier General Momoh admitted on the audiotape that he might begin to cry if Governor Fayose did not believe that he was trying very hard to rig the election for him. It is believed that the TRADOC posting is the beginning of many punishments for Brigadier General Momoh. The whistleblower who reveale...

President Muhammadu Buhari has said Nigerians must stop paying mere lip service to agriculture, as crude oil and gas exports will no longer be sufficient as the country’s major revenue earner. The president gave the charge at an audience with Dr Kanayo Nwanze, the Nigerian born President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Friday. “It’s time to go back to the land. We must face the reality that the petroleum we had depended on for so long will no longer suffice. We campaigned heavily on agriculture, and we are ready to assist as many want to go into agricultural ventures,’’ he said. Buhari pledged that his administration would also cut short the long bureaucratic processes that Nigerian farmers had to go through to get any form of assistance from government. He told the IFAD President that improvement of the productivity of farmers, dry season farming and creative ways to combat the shrinking of the...

A Federal High Court in Lagos on Friday seized the N30.5m found in the bank account of an alleged Internet scammer, Orobor George aka Georgio Machini. George, who was said to have fled to the United Kingdom, is wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for advanced fee fraud. The suspect allegedly swindled an Hong Kong lady of  $250,000 under the pretext of a fake marriage proposal. Justice Mohammed Idris on Friday ordered that the suspect’s account with Enterprise Bank, having a credit balance of N30,546, 998.09, be frozen. EFCC lawyer, Mustapha Aliyu,had narrated to  the judge how the Hong Kong lady met George online sometime in 2012, where they started a romantic relationship with George promising to marry the victim. George was said to have, however,  cut ties with the victim after the victim had severally sent money to him so he could travel to Hong Kong where he was to marry the lady. According to the EFCC prosecutor, George rece...

A 28-year-old student, Gimba Emen has been remanded for allegedly jilting his girlfriend. The prosecutor, Sgt. Samuel Okoro, told the court that Jessica Ibrahim, a girlfriend to the accused, reported the matter at the Sani Abacha Road Police Station, Mararaba, on Aug. 4 at about 11:30 a.m. Okoro said that sometimes in Jan. 4, the accused who resides at Mararaba, approached Jessica for a relationship to which she accepted. He alleged that the accused deceived and deceitfully induced the complainant, who is not lawfully married to him, to believe that he will marry her. “The accused cohabited with Jessica and had sexual intercourse with her which resulted into pregnancy. “He drove her out of the house without providing for her needs,’’  Okoro alleged. According to him, the complainant is carrying a seven-month-old pregnancy. Okoro said that the offence committed by the accused contravened Section 383 of the Penal Code. Section 383 prescribes a three-year jail...

The new Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mr. Emmanuel Kachikwu, Friday said he sees his appointment as a serious national assignment and called on well-meaning individuals for support instead of sponsoring congratulatory advertisement on his appointment. Kachikwu, in a statement by the NNPC, appealed to friends and well-wishers to stop placing congratulatory adverts on him in the media. He said he sees his appointment as a serious national assignment that does not require the frivolity of congratulatory adverts and the celebration they connote. He added that he would rather appreciate that friends and well-wishers support him with their prayers for divine guidance to carry out the onerous task ahead. Kachikwu was appointed, Tuesday, by President Muhammdu Buhari as the chief executive of the NNPC, making him the 17th Group Managing Director of the Corporation. Prior to his appointment, Kachikwu who took ove...

Press statement from EFCC below... A crack team of operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Thursday, August 6, 2015 arrested one Kato Ifrahimu Nyam and Godwin Odali, both staff of a new generation bank for conspiring to defraud the bank to the tune of N3.6bn (three billion, six million naira) with an e-payment mandate purportedly from Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The suspects, who operate as syndicate, sometime in June 2015, through their cronies submitted an e-payment mandate of N1.4bn (one billion, four hundred million naira) to Zenith bank and Access bank Plc. The banks, sensing a foul play after noticing some abnormalities on the e-payment mandate discretely contacted the Ministry of Agriculture Agriculture for confirmation and authentication of the document. A response from the Ministry showed that, no mandate was sent to the banks. Hence, the EFCC was contacted for investigation. While the investigatio...

President Buhari attended the National Defence College Course 23 graduation ceremony which took place in Abuja earlier today. Continue to see more photos...

A 14 year-old girl yesterday committed suicide in Ilorin after a disagreement with her boyfriend who allegedly threatened to kill her over an affair with another lover. Aishat Oba, a Junior Secondary School (JSS 3) student of Burihanudeen UBE School, Isale-Koko Ilorin, was said to have taken a poisonous substance believed to be an insecticide at Ile-Olowo Compound in Opo-Malu Area of the city.  Her boyfriend, Rafiu, is presently on the run, while the second lover was arrested by the police yesterday. Aishat would have turned 15 years on September 18.  It was gathered that Rafiu, 20, who claimed to be a member of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), allegedly threatened to cause a stir at Aishat’s compound if she was found to be in a secret affair with the alleged lover boy.  The girl who was gasping for breath after drinking the substance was rushed to a private hospital and later referred to the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UI...

The metal part of a bra saved a female tourist from suffering greater injury when she was hit by a stray piece of ammunition during a hunt in northern Germany, police reported Friday. The 41year-old woman from North Rhine-Westphalia was cycling through a rape field in the north-eastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with a male companion when she suddenly felt pain. “According to our enquiries so far, she was hit by an object in the breast area,” a police spokesman in the port of Wismar said. A wild boar hunt was taking place in the area at the time of the accident. The woman from the city of Guetersloh suffered only bruising. A piece of ammunition was found on the bra’s metal wire. Police were questioning one of the hunters on suspicion of bodily injury caused by negligence. A local newspaper reported the incident on Friday, saying that it took place on Sunday. The hunt was stopped and the hunter’s rifle was seized. It is possible that a ...

Operatives of the Lagos State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, SCIID, Yaba, are currently investigating the death of a middle-aged man, identified as Anuoluwapo Saheed, who was reportedly stabbed to death at a hotel in Abule Egba area of Lagos. It was learned that the victim, Saheed was attacked by hoodlums led by a one Emmanuel, on July 30, in front of Buffalo Hotel, located along Akerele Street in the Abule Egba area. Vanguard gathered that the hoodlums traced the victim to the hotel where he was drinking with his friends. He was lured outside the hotel by a sex worker attached to the hotel before they pounced on him. Anuoluwapo Saheed was allegedly stabbed while conversing and romancing the yet-to-be identified commercial sex worker at the gate of the hotel. An eyewitness, who identified herself as Taye Adeokya, told Vanguard that the victim was not stabbed inside the hotel. ”He came inside to drink, and he was strolling out wit...

A report on abusidiqu.com has revealed the daily routine of President Muhammadu Buhari as he presides over the affairs of Nigeria from the presidential villa, Aso Rock. The president lives an austere life. He works from 7am to the wee hours of the night, but still makes out time for his five daily prayers as a devout Muslim. He consults with few underground advisers and aides in one of the guest houses in the villa on a daily basis to weigh his options in his policy decisions. Speaking about the tight schedule of Buhari, the senior special assistant on media to the president, Mallam Garba Shehu, said: “Maybe because of his military background, the President wakes up early and he is an avid listener to radio stations. Before he reports for work by 7am, he must have listened to all the talk shows on radio and you will be amazed how he picks you up on some national issues discussed on radio. Most times, he starts his day by 6am. “The President works from t...

A 13-year-old Yazidi boy has revealed how ISIS brutes took over his school and turned his class into mini-jihadists – teaching them how to behead non-believers. Taha Jalo Murad said the terror group tried to indoctrinate him and his classmates into becoming Islamic extremists. The boys were taught Sharia Law, the Koran and were told precisely where to hold the knife on the neck during a beheading.After instruction they were forced practise on fellow pupils at the front of the class in mock executions.Speaking exclusively to  MailOnline,  Taha said:  They taught us how to cut peoples heads off - they taught us which arteries of the neck are best to cut.' Taha's ordeal began when ISIS took over his school in Kocho village, in the Sinjar Mountains, northern Iraq.They ransacked the village and lined up Yazidi men and women in separate lines.The men were taken to the outskirts of the village, made to lay on the floor and shot.  'I was separated from ...

Following the rising cases of ritualism in Ogun State, the Commissioner of Police, Abdulmajid Ali, yesterday ordered his men to shoot on sight any suspect. He gave this order while parading 23 suspected cultists, kidnappers, armed robbers and ritualists at the command headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta. According to Daily Sun,Ali said  “criminal activities are becoming alarming everyday in the state and drastic action has to be taken. Ritualists’ are killing people. We won’t tolerate that. When you see them in action, they should shoot on sight. When you see them perpetrating the act, bring them down. Once you find any policeman that is not discharging his duty correctly, please report such.

Some Nigerians on Twitter share hilarious opinion on what could possibly happen to non Americans if Donald Trump becomes US President. We all know he's racist, so yes, a lot of people will feel the heat. More tweets below