MYSTERY LAND !! Two kidnapped job seekers from Lagos rescued by F-SARS in Rivers

Two men on job search from Lagos who were kidnapped have been rescued by the personnel of the Federal Special Anti Robbery Squad, FSARS in Rivers state.

The two kidnapped victims identified as Chijioke Ahammefula and Victor Ihere were said to have been lured to Port Harcourt with a purported job interview.

Spokesman of the Command, DSP Nnamdi Omoni told newsmen that the job hunters were rescued by SARS officials around Obibi Etche in Etche Local Government Area of the state.

“Today Friday, men of the Federal Anti-Robbery Squad led by their Commander, SP Iwu Divinus stormed a bush in Obibi, Etche and rescued two kidnapped victims; Chijioke Ahammefula and Victor Ihere from Mbaitoli in Imo state.

“Both victims are artisans who were lured all the way from Lagos on the 26th of June to come and do a job in Port Harcourt. Unknowing to them, the contacts offering them the job were kidnapper.

“They came for the non-existent job and the criminals kidnapped them and started asking for ransom. The SARS men investigated the matter, trailed the men to their camp in a Obibi forest and rescued the victims,” Omoni said.

Police PRO also confirmed the killing of two people including one beheaded in Choba community in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of the state by unknown gunmen in the area.

Omoni said the gunmen invaded the home of one John Obule, killed and beheaded him, shot his wife before shooting another man identified as George who later died on the way to the hospital.

- DAILY POST

UK detectives storm Nigeria over Diezani’s probe

Detectives from the UK are currently in Nigeria to gather more evidence in the probe of Diezani Alison-Madueke, former minister of petroleum resources, who has been standing trial on allegations bordering money laundering.

According to The Nation, the detectives, who met with officials the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), have been in the country for a week in what appeared a final lap of the investigation.

“It is a major case the National Crime Agency (NCA) in the UK has been collaborating with the EFCC to probe,” the newspaper quoted a source as saying.

“A few weeks ago, EFCC Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, was also in London to compare notes with similar agencies on this case. You will recall that Magu in November 2018 made it clear that Nigeria was tired of waiting for the trial of Diezani by the UK.

“But after the initial issues between EFCC and UK agencies, there were talks which revealed that those at the London end were making painstaking investigations.

“After Magu’s visit to London, the investigation of Diezani assumed enhanced dimension because some grey areas were cleared.

“The coming of the detectives from London was meant to fill some gaps, get additional evidence and crosscheck a few findings on their part.”

The source added that the mutual assistance in criminal matters bill, 2019, signed into law recently by President Muhammadu Buhari, might help in confiscating Diezani’s assets at home and abroad.

“The new law will certainly assist the EFCC and other security agencies in bringing some of these looters to justice,” the source said, adding that the law will hasten EFCC’s action on Diezani and suspicious assets traced to her.

In November, the EFCC had started a process to extradite the former minister, and the following month, the international police issued an arrest warrant for her following a request by the federal government. 

- PM NEWS

FAKE COUNTRY ! FAKE PEOPLE !! THE INSIDER: COZA ‘agents’ offering influencers millions to defend Fatoyinbo

People claiming to be members of the Commonwealth of Zion Assembly (COZA) have been reaching out to social media influencers to carry out a social media campaign in defence of their pastor.

Biodun Fatoyinbo, the senior pastor of the church, was accused of rape by Busola Dakolo, a celebrity photographer and wife of Timi Dakolo.

TheCable understands that social media opinion influencers are being offered as much as N2 million to upload posts in defence of Fatoyinbo.

There have been comments from various persons on social media in defence of the pastor including from Reno Omokri, a former presidential spokesman, who said the story rings false.

In a flurry of tweets, the ex-aide stated that although he never liked Fatoyinbo for personal reasons; the preacher was too “sleek” and won’t stoop so low to “rape an underage girl” in her parents’ house.

In an interview with YNaija TV, Dakolo had alleged that the rape occurred twice in the space of four days.

Some protesters under the platform of #ChurchTooMovement have vowed to storm the headquarters

This is not the first time that the pastor has been accused of rape or having sexual encounters with church members.

The most prominent was that of Ese Walter in 2013. Walter shared her experience on a self-named blog, which has now been deleted.

Fatoyinbo had also denied the allegation, attributing it to his enemies.

TheCable has contacted the church authorities for reactions.

- THECABLE

JAMB unveils new method of registration

The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says starting from 2020, candidates will register for its examinations with their National Identity Management Number (NIM) to solve the challenges of multiple registration.

Dr. Fabian Benjamin, Head of Media of the board made this known at a one-day capacity building workshop organised by the National Examination Council (NECO) for education correspondents in Keffi, Nasarawa on Friday.

Benjamin, who spoke on the topic: “Understanding Reporting in the 21st Century”, said the development would be facilitated through partnership with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).

According to him, experience has shown that malpractice in the conduct of public examination, especially the UTME, actually begins with the registration exercise.

“Four days ago, we cancelled results of four candidates because of examination malpractices we discovered after the examination.

“The board is on top of the situation as it has the determination and technology in place to forestall attempts at compromising the registration process.

“An intrinsic part of the strategies adopted by the board is ensuring that its registration period is kept very short.”

He said that the registration of candidates would now take 30 days instead of a longer period to contain the chances of fraudsters’ strategies to circumvent the process.

Benjamin also appealed to parents to desist from encouraging their children to commit examination malpractices.

On biometric challenges, he said the board had planned to ensure that by 2020 the issues of biometric problems in the course of registration would be over.

“In 2018, we have about 24,490 biometric challenges but we have been able to bring this down to 22 in 2019; but if we are able to stand on our ground by 2020, we will not have any biometric challenges,” he said.

He added that no Computer Based Test (CBT) centre would be used for the conduct of its examinations except those centre whose administrators were the owners of the CBT centres.

Speaking on the challenges of impersonations in examination, Benjamin said multiple registrations, if not checked, was an easy way to impersonate a candidate.

He noted that the board, in conforming to international best practices, would take care of people with special needs through the ICT capacity building and empowerment programme.

- DAILY POST

PSG ask Barcelona, Madrid pay €222m for Neymar

Le Parisien has reported that French champions, Paris Saint Germain have cut their €300million market price for world’s most expensive player, Neymar Jr.

According to the newspaper, PSG would now accept €222m – the same amount they paid Barcelona to sign the Brazil star two years ago.

The high price is making Barcelona intensify talks to sign Antoine Griezmann.

Real Madrid too are no longer interested in signing Neymar, according to Goal, who report the LaLiga giants are considering several factors, including a possible move for another PSG star, Kylian Mbappe, in the future.

For Barcelona, Landing the Atletico Madrid star, Griezmann looks set to be easier than bringing in Neymar, reports said.

Griezmann announced last month he would be leaving Atletico, with LaLiga champions Barcelona long expected to be his next destination.

Barcelona and Atletico Madrid have started negotiations regarding Griezmann, according to Sport and L’Equipe.

Sport report Barca will agree to pay €126million for Griezmann, slightly above the forward’s release clause of €120m, which will come into effect next month, and the same amount Atletico are set to sign Joao Felix for from Benfica.

Like Atletico want to do with Joao Felix, Barcelona would pay the fee in instalments, opening up their potential move for Neymar.

- PM NEWS

Fayose’s re-arraignment stalled as EFCC begins new investigation

The planned re-arraignment of a former Governor of Ekiti State, Mr Ayodele Fayose, before the Federal High Court in Lagos was stalled on Friday as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said it had begun a new investigation on the ex-governor.

The EFCC had on October 22, 2018, arraigned Fayose for an alleged fraud of N2.2bn before Justice Mojisola Olatoregun six days after he completed his tenure as governor.

He was arraigned alongside his firm, Spotless Limited, on 11 counts bordering on criminal breach of trust, theft and money laundering.

The prosecution had opened the trial on November 19, 2018, and called 13 witnesses out of the 15 witnesses listed when the EFCC wrote a petition to the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Adamu Abdu-Kafarati, requesting that the case be transferred from Justice Olatoregun before it was subsequently transferred to Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke.

During Friday proceedings, counsel for Fayose, Ola Olanipekun (SAN), informed the court of an application before the court seeking that the matter to be returned to the former trial judge, Justice Olatoregun.

Olanipekun later informed the court that the defendants had opted to withdraw the objection to the arraignment.

Upon the withdrawal of the objection by the defence, counsel for EFCC, S.A Obafemi, informed the court that the arraignment of the ex-governor could not go on as he was being investigated in other matters, Punch reports.

However, Justice Aneke upheld the prayer of the EFCC and adjourned till July 2 for re-arraignment.

- PM NEWS

Rape: My wife has been silent for too long – Timi Dakolo

Nigeria’s king of soul music, Timi Dakolo says his wife, Busola, has been silent for a long time over her ordeal in the hands of Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo of Commonwealth of Zion Assembly (COZA).

Busola Dakolo, a mom of three, in an interview with Chude Jideonwo, a Nigerian lawyer, journalist and media entrepreneur, revealed that she was raped repeatedly by the pastor at different times.

She said: “Immediately I opened the door (of her house in Ilorin), he just pushed me, he didn’t say anything, he didn’t utter any word, he just pushed me to one of the chairs in my living room.”

“I saw him, he was removing his belt, he just said: ‘keep quiet, (put his hand on my mouth), do what I want you to do and you will be fine.”

“He didn’t say anything after the act, he just left for his car, returned with a bottle of Krest and forced her to drink it, probably as some crude contraceptive.”

She also said he told her,” You should be happy that a man of God did this to you.

“I have kept quiet over the years. I had to come out to say this because another narrative was being said.”

Timi Dakolo said the time is right for his wife to open up and lay everything to rest.

- PM NEWS