The police in Lagos on Thursday paraded an aggrieved fraudster, Henry Ezechie with six others who allegedly specialise in internet fraud.

The suspects were all arrested on Saturday at Ajah, after Ezechie who felt cornered in a $7,090 deal he had with Kenneth Eric alias Biggie, petitioned the police alleging that the others were kidnappers and fraudsters.

The Nation gathered that ,detectives from the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence (SCIID) Panti-Yaba stormed Eric’s Ajah residence and arrested Stephen Onwunama, Jacob Chukwuka and two others.

However, Onwunama and Chukwuka have both denied being criminals insisting that they were just Biggie’s friends and usually visited his home.

Ezechie who admitted reporting to the police said he was angry that Biggie refused to give him his 80 percent share of the loot.

“Biggie is the one owing me. We had a $7,090 deal and he refused to give me my 80 percent share of the money and so, I took the payment slip to the police to report. We do yahoo business (Internet fraud). It was my deal. He is the picker and so, his share is 20 percent.

“Picker is the person who receives the money and sends to Nigeria. He has contacts in America who pick the money and send through money transfer. I have been doing this business for some years now to survive, but this was my major breakthrough and he refused to give me my money. It is dating that we do. We use Match, Facebook and other sites,” he said.

But Eric, who admitted he was into Internet fraud, denied being a kidnapper. He also denied defrauding Ezechie, claiming that the deal did not click.

“Henry alleged me. He gave me a transaction of N300,000 which did not click and he went to the police to claim that I was a kidnapper and a fraudster. He left what we were doing and started talking rubbish. Whoever gave him that receipt he took to the police was just deceiving him. I do Facebook loto. We tell victims that if they pay $800 they will win $100,000. Most of our victims are white people because they are greedy,” he said.

Onwunama who denied being a fraudster said he only came to visit his friend and he was arrested.

He claimed that he was a government worker in Delta State, adding that he laid somewhere in the room when the police came and searched everywhere.

“They found nothing on me. They searched my phones and laptop and they didn’t see anything that has to do with fraud in it. I was just visiting my friend and I have spent two weeks in his place. I was to go back to Asaba on Sunday before I was arrested on Saturday. I don’t know how it is an offence to be a friend to a fraudster,” he claimed.

Chukwuka also denied being a fraudster, insisting that he only went to Kenneth’s place after he heard the police were there.

“I was at my house when I heard that the police were at Kenneth’s place to arrest him that he was a kidnapper and a fraudster. So, I went there with my younger brother to explain that I know him. That he was not a kidnapper. That’s how I was also arrested. I did not do anything wrong. I have never been a criminal in my life,” he said.
Parading the suspects, Police Commissioner, Fatai Owoseni said they will be charged to court at the completion of investigation.

President Muhammadu Buhari has said that before Nigerians demand to see the changes he promised them during the 2015 election, they must first change their own attitude by shunning corruption and other social vices.

He adds that change is not about economic or social progress, but it is in terms of citizens’ personal behaviour.

Buhari said this while delivering a speech at the inauguration of the national re-orientation campaign tagged, ‘Change Begins With Me’ in Abuja on Thursday.

The President acknowledged that Nigeria is currently passing through a challenging period where hardly anything works normally.

He lamented that honesty, hard work and godliness had given way to all kinds of manifestations of lawlessness and degeneration in our national life.

Buhari said, “Our citizens must realise that the change they want to see begins with them, and that personal and social reforms are not a theoretic exercise. If you have not seen the change in you, you cannot see it in others or even the larger society.

“In other words, before you ask ‘Where is the change they promised us?’, you must first ask, ‘How far have I changed my ways? What have I done to be part of the change for the greater good of society?’

The President said his government had done well in the fight against corruption, adding that the fresh campaign was a way of getting Nigerians to join in the struggle.

He added, “The campaign we are about to launch today is all about the need for us to see change, not merely in terms of our economic, social progress but in terms of our personal behaviour on how we conduct ourselves, engage our neighbours, friends and generally how we relate with the larger society in a positive and definitive way and manner that promotes our common good and common destiny, change at home, change in work place, change at traffic junction, change at traffic lights, etc.”

He said the value system of the nation had been eroded and that was why students would prefer to embrace cultism rather than face their studies. He said it was for the same reason youths were vandalising oil pipelines thus robbing the nation of much-needed resources.

Buhari said the disintegration of social values encouraged impunity and corruption in the public sector which ultimately led to the current economic recession.

A 28-year-old man, Elochukwu Nnoruga, is to spend six months in jail for stealing N214, 000 tithe belonging to St Patrick Catholic Church, Idumaigbo, Lagos.

Magistrate Ade Adefulire of the Tinubu Magistrate’s Court in Lagos, who gave the sentence on Thursday, ruled that the convict would spend the six months in Ikoyi Prison and gave him no option of fine.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that Nnoruga was arraigned on Aug. 17, on suspicion that he stole the amount from the Church’s tithe box.

Nnoruga promptly pleaded guilty to the one-count charge of theft.

In his judgment, the magistrate expressed disgust that people could steal from the house of God.

“It is a pity that people do not see the house of God as sacred anymore.

“This judgment should serve as a lesson to the public, if you choose crime instead of hard work, the hand of the law will always catch up with you.

“Nnoruga, you are hereby sentenced to six months imprisonment without an option of fine,” he declared.

The prosecutor, Mr Ben Ekundayo, had told the court that the convict committed the offence on Aug. 14, at about 2 p.m., at St. Patrick Catholic Church, Idumaigbo, Lagos.

Ekundayo said that the convict stole N214, 000 from the tithe box after Church service.

He said that the offence contravened Section 285 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011. (NAN)

An unfortunate incident was recorded yesterday evening, 7th of September in the Lekki area of Lagos State leading to the partial destruction of a vehicle.

An electric pole fell and smashed a parked car on Lai Yusuf Crescent, behind popular Lagos Night Club, The Place, at Lekki Phase 1 but fortunately no one was wounded in the process.

The owner of the vehicle and his/her reaction was not known as at the time of filing this report, but reports have it that no one was injured from the incident.

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