Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the Special Offence court sitting in Ikeja, Lagos has sentenced one Abdulrauf Alade Owolabi to one year imprisonment, with an option of N250,000 for being in possession of false documents and obtaining money by false pretence to the tune of $5,000.

The convict was arraigned on a two-count charge by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Lagos Zonal office, on Thursday, February 6, 2020, following his arrest in connection to a case reported against him during an operation tagged “Operation Rewired” between the Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigations, FBI.

One of the counts reads

“ That you, Abdulrauf Alade Owolabi, sometime in 2018 in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of the court, and with intent to defraud, represented yourself as Courtney Lopez and defrauded one John Howard, an American Citizen, an aggregate sum of $5,000 under the pretext that you are in love with him and made a promise of marriage, a representation you knew to be fraud and committed an offence contrary to Sections 1 (3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other Fraud Related Offences Act No: 14 of 2006.”

He pleaded guilty to the charge when it was read to him.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested seven suspects over an alleged bitcoin scam in Port Harcourt.

The suspects were identified as Kufre Miller Okoh, Joshua Tom, Emmanuel Ekpuk Anderson, Pascal Alisiri, Chimezie Umungalaen, Clinton Alisiobi and Joshua Onuigbo.

EFCC’s spokesperson, Tony Orilade said Kufre Miller Okoh, Joshua Tom and Emmanuel Ekpuk Anderson were arrested during an early morning raid at 52/53 Azungu Street, Rumuigbo in Port Harcourt.

Pascal Alisiri, Chimeze Umungalaen, Clinton Alisiobi and Joshua Onuigbo on the other hand were arrested at Intercontinental Hotel in Umuahia, Abia State.

Orilade said the suspects will be arraigned in court after investigation has been concluded.

The two children of kaduna-based medical doctor, Philip Ataga, have been released by their abductors two weeks after they were abducted alongside their deceased mother from their home in Juji, Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna metropolis on January 25th.

Dr Philip Ataga who confirmed their release, said the children were dropped by the kidnappers at Ungwar Kati area along the Juji bypass at about 7pm on Thursday night February 6th. They were later picked by one of his relatives who brought them back home.

Their release comes barely a week after the kidnappers killed their mother, Bola, and dropped her body along the Abuja-Kaduna highway.

A 29-year-old primary school drop-out, Adetunji Adesina, has confessed to stealing from bank customers using the ATM machines. .

Adesina, who hails from Osogbo, Osun state, made this revelation on Tuesday after being arrested by the police in Benin, Edo State.

He was arrested while in possession of 10 different ATM cards and cash amounting to N678,000 withdrawn from the account of one Mr. Ekhitomwen Aghama.

According to the suspect, he met Ekhitomwen at the ATM machine of one the new generation banks along Sapele Road, Benin.

“I pretended that I wanted to use the ATM machine, then deliberately dropped my phone on the ground. While Aghama was trying to help me, I punched the cardless button on the ATM machine.

He was, unaware that I pressed the cardless button, so he thought his card was stuck in the machine and went to seek for help from bank workers. At that point, I removed it from the cardless transaction and removed his ATM card.

I got his ATM pin number when I was pretending to help him and later withdrew 678,000 from his account, using the ATM and PoS, just before I was arrested by the police,” he said.

Aghama said he went to inform his bank, so that they could block it but was surprised that 20,000 was withdrawn from his account.

He went back to the bank, but they did not block the ATM. He said a week later, his brother overseas paid about 600,000 into his account and the money was withdrawn by Adesina.

The Federal Government of Nigeria has said N620m is needed to prevent an outbreak of coronavirus in Nigeria.

The deadly coronavirus has moved beyond China into other countries and the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, appeared before the Senate Committee on health to brief the panel on what the ministry is doing to prevent an outbreak of coronavirus in Nigeria.

The minister said the ministry submitted a memo proposing for the release of the sum of N620m to take proactive measures to prevent the spread of the virus.

Enahire added that the ministry had a multi-stakeholder meeting to deploy port health services to screen all passengers coming into Nigeria.

Four members of the National Youth Service Corps scheme, representing thousands of others, today, visited President Buhari to thank him over the recent increase in their monthly allowances from N19,800 to N33,000.

President Muhammadu Buhari has described the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme as a laudable one that needs to be sustained as it affords the opportunity for Nigerian youths to understand the country better.

“People come from far and wide; some from Victoria Island in Lagos have not even been to Ikeja. They now find themselves in Daura and other parts of the country. Whenever I go to my town, I get in touch with members; some of them from Lagos, some from Port Harcourt,” he stated.

President Buhari who said this Thursday in Abuja while playing host to corps members who came on a thank-you visit to him, also praised General Yakubu Gowon for the initiative.

“Whenever I meet General Gowon up till today, I thank him for initiating the NYSC. It is a nationalist and patriotic thinking that led to the development of the scheme,” he added

Four members representing others countrywide came to convey their “deepest gratitude” to the President over the recent increase in their monthly allowances from N19,800 to N33,000.

According to them, “the implementation in January, when we least expected it brought tears of joy to us as we had doubts of the promises earlier made.”

“You have demonstrated that you are a loving and caring father committed to the welfare of his children,” they added.

They also reiterated their commitment to do their best during their period in the scheme. “The increase is a wake-up call to us to show more commitment to the affairs of our fatherland. We are great stakeholders in our collective determination of building a prosperous and united Nigeria, the future belongs to us.”

The NYSC members were led to the State House by the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare and the Director General of the scheme Brigadier General Ibrahim Shehu.

Femi Adesina
Special Adviser to the President
(Media & Publicity)