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T he Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Lagos Zonal office, has arrested 15 suspected Internet fraudsters for offences bordering on obtaining by false pretence, lottery scam and love scam. The suspects are: Adeyemi Tiwatope, 20; Odeyemi Olawale, 20; Nike Afolabi Olaiya, 20; Awe Abimbola Ireti, 23; Yusuf Aliu Oluwafemi, 20; Osidipe Olatunbosun, 24; Tosin Adesanya, 19 and Adeyinka Bello, 17. Others are: Aliu Lukman, 18; Damilola Fatona, 20; Shonubi Adetola, 18; Adewale Babatunde, 17; Afolabi Lekan, 19; Awe Ayodele, 24 and Adeyemi Gbadebo, 19. The suspects were arrested on Saturday, February 3, 2018 in the Shotubo and Awoluwo areas of Sagamu, Ogun State. Their arrest followed intelligence report received by the Commission about their criminal activities.  They were alleged to be living flamboyantly without legitimate sources of income. Items recovered from the suspects include laptops, phones bearing scanned forged documents, six exotic cars, charms...

K assim Afegbua, the media adviser to ex-Nigerian leader, Ibrahim Babangida, who was declared wanted by the police, has sued for fundamental rights enforcement. Mr. Afegbua is also requesting N1 billion in damages from the police, its spokesperson, Jimoh Moshood, and two media houses, according to court filings seen by PREMIUM TIMES. Mr. Afegbua’s legal representative, Kayode Ajulo, filed the suit at the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court Tuesday afternoon. The reliefs sought include an immediate end to the alleged harassment being meted against him by the police. Mr. Ajulo joined the National Television Authority and Channels Television in the lawsuit for airing claims that Mr. Afegbua was a wanted man. Mr. Afegbua released the Sunday statement in which Mr. Babangida, a former head of state, complained about President Muhammadu Buhari’s shortcomings and advised Nigerians on the path to the future. Hours after the statement was released, a counter p...

P resident Muhammadu Buhari has refused to sign three bills passed by the National Assembly into law. The three bills, passed in December 2017, are the Police Procurement Fund (Establishment) Bill 2017), Chartered Institute of Public Management of Nigeria Bill, 2017, and the Nigerian Council of Social Work (Establishment) Bill 2017. The President informed the lawmakers of his decision to withhold assent to the bills in letters to both chambers of the National Assembly. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Dr Yakubu Dogara, read the letter to the reps, while the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who presided over Tuesday’s plenary in the Senate read a copy to the senators. In the letter, President Buhari said he declined assent to the bill seeking to establish a Police Procurement Fund “due to lack of clarity regarding the manner of disbursement of funds, as well as Constitutional issues regarding the powers of the National Assembly to appropriate funds...

N igeria’s online media platform, Aledeh has revealed that statement released by former Military President of Nigeria, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, was doctored by his media aide, Kassim Afebgua. According to the report, Babangida actually released a statement titled “My Counsel To The Nation-By General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, GCFR” which wasn’t addressed to President Buhari but on a wide range of national issues. However, the statement by the ex-president was doctored by Kassim Afegbua , where he added comments that was not with the approval of his principal. “Oga gave the statement alright but Kassim got carried away and added his own…that was the problem…” the report quoted a source as saying. It was after Afegbua released the statement that the ex-president few hours after released a counter statement deny the earlier version released by his aide. Find the original statement below: “MY COUNSEL TO THE NATION–BY GENERAL IBRAHIM BADAMASI BABANGI...

K assim Afegbua, spokesman of Ibrahim Babaginda, says the former military president authorised the statement he issued earlier on Sunday. Afegbua said this when he appeared on Sunday Politics, a programme on Channels Television. TheCable had earlier reported that Afegbua would be a guest on the television station. “I have been doing this job for about 14 years now. And I have never issued a statement on behalf of the former head of state and he gave a rebuttal. I got authorisation and commitment from him before I issued the statement. It has been in process,” he said. There was a controversy when another statement was released from IBB’s camp. The statement personally signed by the former military ruler said the views in the previous one were those of Afegbua. But Afegbua said Babangida called him after the second statement went out. “He has called me to say that the statement still stands,” he said. “Of course, you know IBB is for everyone. Peop...

F ormer President Goodluck Jonathan says the sincere implementation of the recommendations of the All Progressives Congress (APC) restructuring committee will move the nation forward. The committee led by Ahmad Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna state, submitted its report last week. Speaking when Seriake Dickson, governor of Bayelsa, led a delegation to the former president on Thursday, Jonathan said the implementation would also encourage inter-ethnic harmony. According to Fidelis Soriwei, spokesman of Dickson, Jonathan said the issues which the committee deliberated upon were exhaustively treated during the 2014 national conference. He said it is a good idea that the APC set up a committee to look into the grey areas which featured prominently in the deliberations of the 2014 conference. He commended Dickson for playing the role of coordinating the thoughts of the Ijaw people on the sensitive issue of restructuring. The Nigerian leader said the governo...

F ormer President, Olusegun Obasanjo has stated that President Muhammadu Buhari ignored federal character in the appointment of security chiefs. Obasanjo spoke in Abeokuta Ogun State on Thursday where he criticized the National Assembly and the Federal Character Commission for failing to check the excesses of the President in the uneven distribution of public offices. He stressed that the ethos of nation building through even distribution of public offices had been abused under the current administration. The former President also noted that his recent open letter to Buhari was not borne out malice or what he termed “bad belle” but out of his deep concern for the situation in the country. According to Obasanjo, “Let me emphasise important areas, programmes, priorities or processes for improved attention. To start with, we seem to have taken nation building for granted. Nation building must be given continued attention to give every citizen a feeling of belonging ...