NNPC earns $378.42m from crude oil & gas export in June

 

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has announced a total crude oil and gas export earnings of $378.42 million in June, as against $133.16 million it posted in May 2020.

The corporation disclosed this in its June Monthly Financial and Operations Report (MFOR) released on Sunday in Abuja.

It said that the amount signalled a marked improvement in revenue earnings, following the ease of the COVID-19 pandemic global lockdown and the subsequent increased demand and firmer prices for the black gold in the international market.

The report indicated that petroleum receipts for the month reflected crude oil earnings of $230.65million, with gas and miscellaneous proceeds standing at $75.97million and $71.80million dollars, respectively.

It puts the total crude oil and gas export earnings for the period of June 2019 to June 2020 at $4.60 billion.

On petroleum products supply in the downstream sector, the report said that 1.34 billion litres of white products were distributed and sold across the country by NNPC’s Downstream subsidiary, the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC).

It noted that the figure was significantly higher than the 950.67million litres of white products sold and distributed in May 2020.

“Again, an apparent reflection of the gradual ease of the lockdown in the country and the picking up of business activities,” it said.

A breakdown of the June 2020 figures indicated that over 1.3billion litres of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) also know as petrol, 5.10million litres of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) and 1.65million litres of Dual Purpose Kerosene (DPK), were sold and distributed during the period.

“White products sale for the period from June 2019 to June 2020, stood at over 19.104billion litres, with PMS accounting for over 18.9billion litres or 99.36 per cent.

“In monetary value terms, the above volumes translated to a total sale of ₦134.22billion of white products by PPMC in June, compared to ₦92.58billion sales in May.

“Total revenues recorded from the sales of white products for the period from June 2019 to June 2020 stood at over ₦2.267trillion, where PMS contributed about 99.12 per cent of the total sales, with a value of over ₦2.247trillion,” the report revealed.

In the month under review, the report further noted that 33 pipeline points were vandalised, representing about 11 per cent decrease from the 37 points recorded in May 2020.

It said that Mosimi-Ibadan accounted for 33 per cent, while Atlas Cove-Mosimi and Warri-River Niger recorded 27 per cent of the breaks each, while other locations made up for the remaining 13 per cent.

The MFOR stated that in collaboration with the local communities and other stakeholders, the corporation would continuously strive to rein in on the incidences of pipeline breaches across the country.

In the gas sector, it said that out of the 232.03billion Cubic Feet of gas (BCF) supplied in June 2020, 148.66BCF of gas was commercialised.

This, it noted, consisted of 34.64BCF and 114.01BCF for the domestic and export market, respectively.

It noted that the transaction translated to a total supply of 1,154.78million Standard Cubic Feet of gas per day to the domestic market and 3,800.45mmscfd of gas supplied to the export market for the month.

According to the report, it implies that 64.07 per cent of the average daily gas produced is commercialised, while the balance of 35.93 per cent is re-injected, used as upstream fuel gas, or flared.

The report further stated that gas flare rate for the month of June stood at 6.11 per cent, implying 472.94mmscfd, compared with average Gas flare rate of 7.84 per cent, an equivalent of 611.73mmscfd for the period from June 2019 to June 2020.

- PM NEWS

The Covid-19 crisis is accelerating the breakup of the UK

 Covid-19 is a great accelerator. In most of the countries it has struck, whatever inequalities, divisions and tensions were festering before its arrival have now sped into the political foreground. And so it has proved here. Race, class, gender, poverty, wealth, the north-south divide – even though it often feels it as if time has stood still, all of these things are now vividly in front of us, demanding attention. And one key issue has come roaring back: the fate of the United Kingdom itself. Brexit and the pandemic are pushing its countries and regions in strikingly different directions.

Clearly, nothing highlights our increasingly unsettled, estranged national condition better than the politics of Scotland. One should always hesitate before claiming that mere polls represent historic shifts, but in the last few months, a number of surveys have found support for Scottish independence running at more than 50%. Leaving aside undecideds, a Panelbase poll last week put the for-and-against numbers at 55 and 45 respectively: an elegant inversion of the 2014 referendum result, and another excuse for stories about political shockwaves supposedly now spreading from Edinburgh to London.

It is remarkable that the possible end of the union has yet to enter England’s political conversation, on left or right.

The superficial explanation is obvious. As one Tory put it to me last week, Nicola Sturgeon has succeeded in creating a contrast between her government’s “cautious and communitarian” approach to Covid-19 and the idea that Boris Johnson’s administration has been “chaotic and market-driven”. As the UK government has lurched from crisis to crisis, she has presented an image of grown-up competence – even if, as evidenced by Scotland’s exam results fiasco, an image is sometimes all it is. Brexit is also central to what is happening, not least in the sense that remain-voting Scots who backed the union six years ago have decided that independence is now the better option.

Elections to the Scottish parliament will take place in May 2021. Even if the Scottish National party has done surprisingly little with its 13 years in power, and governs in a narrow, cliqueish fashion, the most recent poll on voting intentions for Holyrood found 57% of the electorate planning to support Sturgeon and her party in the constituency vote, and the SNP heading for an outright majority. The Johnson government still insists that it will not countenance another referendum on independence, certainly not during the current parliament. But the current situation seems to point in one direction: towards a potentially historic showdown, and the fissures decisively opened in 2014 becoming unmendable.

For some of us in England, independence for Scotland is still a fascinating and exciting prospect. The idea may be laced with anxiety about what exactly it would mean for politics in our home country, but it also highlights basic notions of democracy and self-determination, and suggests a realistic chance for a modern kind of left politics that could jump away from cruel, reckless economic liberalism and the lunacies and nastiness of Brexit. From a more dispassionate perspective, what seems remarkable is that the increasing possibility of an end of the union has yet to enter England’s political conversation, on left or right.

.A sense of ignorance and complacency may go right to the top. According to a recent report in the Financial Times, Michael Gove recently warned the cabinet of the seriousness of the situation and outlined ideas about how to pull Scotland back, and the first minister to respond was Rishi Sunak. “I now understand why this is so important,” he said. An odd thing for a holder of one of the great offices of state to say, but there we are

Sleepwalking is one aspect of the English approach to the union; the other is a biting hostility, which mirrors some of the uglier aspects of Scottish separatism. A vocal part of English opinion still imagines Scotland to be a place full of entitlement and unjustified grievances, and therefore best let go – a belief cynically encouraged by David Cameron and George Osborne in the election campaign of 2015, when they pushed the idea that Labour might go into coalition with the SNP, and signed off billboards featuring Alex Salmond with the caption “Don’t let the SNP grab your cash”. In June last year, let us not forget, a briefly infamous survey found that 63% of Conservative party members agreed that Scottish or Northern Irish secession was a price worth paying for our exit from the European Union. Brexity patriotism is a strange thing: always clad in the union jack but so defined by a crazed and zealous Englishness that it embraces a surreal contradiction: that in pursuit of a supposedly reborn United Kingdom, the UK itself can be written off as collateral damage.

For now at least, this is more the stuff of emotion than practical politics – and even if it still festers in the Tories’ collective soul, given that the end of the UK would surely spell the fall of Johnson and his ministers, the government wants nothing to do with it.

.When I spoke to a senior Conservative minister last week, they acknowledged the gravity and urgency of the current situation, and outlined roughly what they may try to do next year. Even if the SNP won by a landslide, recession and a lingering pandemic would perhaps allow the government to play for time (“The question would be, ‘Do you want to call a referendum now?’ I don’t think Sturgeon would want to”) while it tried to re-emphasise the kind of cultural argument voiced in 2014 by Gordon Brown – that people should not be forced to choose between Scottishness and their place in the UK. Much would be made of steps Westminster had taken to fight the worst effects of the pandemic, such as Sunak’s furlough scheme. If the debate carried on for another two or three years, this source reckoned, tensions over Brexit might by then have receded, along with the idea of the EU as an “easy cushion into which you could rest” if an independent Scotland instantly faced big fiscal and economic challenges

Whatever these arguments look like on paper, as Johnson holidays in Scotland and ministers are dispatched on PR trips, the idea of the government styling itself as the union’s great defender sits rather awkwardly with a plain fact. However much Tory voices may try to portray independence as a fiendish conspiracy worked up by the SNP, they and their party have played a huge role in weakening the union, and continue to do so.

Labour also has a case to answer – about the hatchet-faced, factional, macho politics that it embedded in Scotland over decades, and the fall into disgrace of the Blair government, not least on Iraq. But from the miners’ strike, through the poll tax to the bedroom tax, it has been Tory actions and aggressions that have most outraged Scots. By 1987 – 33 long years ago – the Conservatives were down to only 10 MPs in Scotland; a decade later, they had none at all. To have even tried to rebuild any meaningful legitimacy would have required an emollient, open, progressive kind of Conservatism – to some extent, the kind of politics belatedly tried by the former leader of the Scottish Tories, Ruth Davidson. But in retrospect, Brexit killed that prospect, and now far too much of what the Tories do threatens to only deepen Scotland’s estrangement from Westminster.

All this makes for a mixed-up and confusing political stew. Wreckers of the union are now desperately trying to save it, while the effects of the pandemic could conceivably fall in two contradictory directions – fomenting change but also convincing some people that in times as turbulent as these, the status quo remains the safest bet. So far, only one thing is crystal clear: that even as England dozes, British politics is now brimming with fundamental issues, and the fate of the UK will sooner or later prove to be the most fundamental of all .

UK  Guardian 

Sentencing hearings to start for New Zealand mosque shooter

 

The gunman who killed 51 Muslim worshippers in New Zealand's worst mass shooting faces a life prison term, possibly without parole, after multi-day sentencing hearings starting on Monday morning in Christchurch, the city where the attacks took place.

Brenton Tarrant, an Australian, has pleaded guilty to 51 murder charges, 40 charges of attempted murder and one charge of committing a terrorist act.

The attacks on March 15, 2019, prompted a global outpouring of grief as well as scrutiny, with regulations imposed on online platforms after the then 28-year-old live-streamed the mosque shootings shortly after uploading a manifesto.

Some survivors will be allowed in the courtroom for their first encounter with Tarrant since the shootings.

High Court judge Cameron Mander will hear about 66 victim impact statements, according to the court. Tarrant, who is representing himself, will be allowed to speak before sentencing.

A murder conviction carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison. The judge can impose a life term without parole, a sentence that has never been used in New Zealand.

Live reporting from the courtroom is banned, and other restrictions have been put in place on what the media can report.

- REUTERS

Bayern beat PSG to lift sixth UCL title

 

Bayern Munich have beaten Paris Saint Germain (PSG) in the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League (UCL) final in Lisbon, Portugal.

Kingsley Coman’s 59th minute goal was the difference in a game — between two of the wealthiest and domestically dominant clubs in the world — at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon, Portugal on Sunday night.

The first 45 minutes ended goalless, despite the fact that it was a clash between two of the heaviest-scoring sides in world football.

Coman, however, headed home from a Joshua Kimmich cross to give Bayern the lead in the 59th minute – a goal that turned out to be the German club’s 500th in the

The Hans-Dieter Flick’s side have now won their sixth Champions League title from 11 finals — and first since 2013 — drawing them on same level with Liverpool at third on the all-time winners’ list.

The win is Bayern’s 21st straight victory in the coronavirus pandemic-interrupted season.

The Bundesliga champions have also completed a second treble in seven years, having already clinched the domestic double.

Prior to Sunday’s clash with PSG, the German powerhouse have demolished Chelsea, Barcelona and Lyon.

Bayern will now face Sevilla, Europa League champions, in the 2020 UEFA Super Cup, which is expected to be played on September 24 at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary.

- THECABLE

Sunday Shodipe: How escaped prime suspect was rearrested – Police

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 The Oyo State Police Command on Sunday, narrated how the prime suspect in the series of killings that took place in Akinyele Local Government Area of the state, Sunday Shodipe, was rearrested.

DAILY POST had earlier reported that Shodipe was rearrested by the police on Sunday.

Our correspondent gathered that Shodipe had earlier, been arrested and paraded in July this year.

He, however, escaped from police custody on Tuesday, 11th August 2020 after he has been charged to court.

The Oyo state police command last week announced a reward of five hundred thousand naira as reward for anyone with useful information that will lead to his re-arrest.

But, Public Relations Officer (PPO), of the state police command, Mr. Olugbenga Fadeyi, in a statement made available to DAILY POST Sunday night, said that the arrest of Shodipe was made possible through human intelligence and collaborative efforts of members of the public.

He added that Shodipe was rearrested at about 1030hrs at Bodija Area of Ibadan. He informed that the suspect is presently in Police custody.

“The Commissioner of Police, Oyo State Police Command, CP. Joe Nwachukwu Enwonwu, psc wishes to inform the general public that the prime suspect in the serial killings at Akinyele Local Government Area, Moniya Ibadan, Oyo State, Sunday Shodipe ‘m’ a 19yrs old who escaped from lawful custody on 11th August, 2020 has been re-arrested today 23rd August, 2020 at about 1030hrs at Bodija Area of Ibadan and presently in Police custody.

“The arrest of Sunday Shodipe was made possible through human intelligence and collaborative efforts of members of the public. It can be recalled that the Commissioner of Police implored the general public to be on his lookout, arrest and immediately inform the officers and men of the Command when sighted for immediate handing over for further action.

“Sequel to this, Police Tactical teams including Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS), personnel from State Criminal Investigation Department, Iyaganku Ibadan, (CID), Swift Response Squad (SRS), State Intelligence Bureau (SIB), Anti-kidnapping Squad (AKS), Skynet Squad, Puff Adder, e.t.c. were all deployed for his manhunt.

“Through concerted efforts from these teams and credible information from the good spirited members of the public, this eventually yielded result and the culprit who has been hiding and evading Police arrest was arrested at Bodija Area of Ibadan.

“The Commissioner of Police further use this medium to thank the Inspector General of Police, IGP Mohammed Abubakar Adamu, NPM, mni, the Government and people of Oyo State, the Traditional leaders, leaders of thought, political leaders, and the general public for their patience and understanding.

“He reiterated the Command’s resolve to continue to rejig our security architecture for maximum protection of lives and properties of the good people of Oyo State while he sternly warns criminal elements who wants to hibernate in Oyo State to relocate as the Police in Oyo Police Command is battle ready to crush any individual or groups who is bent on disturbing the relative peace and tranquility being enjoyed by the good people of Oyo State.

“Finally, he urged all the citizens of Oyo State to go about their lawful businesses without any fear, threat or intimidation from any group or individuals whatsoever, while the Oyo Police Command will not relent in the performance of its professional constitutional responsibilities of the protection of lives and properties of the good people of Oyo State.”

- DAILY POST

Virgin Atlantic to resume London-Lagos flights September 10

 

Virgin Atlantic has announced that flights from Lagos to London will resume on September 10.

This comes after Hadi Sirika, the minister of aviation, announced that Nigeria would open its airspace to commercial flights on August 29.

A statement by the airline to have said all passengers will be provided personal health packs which will contain three medical-grade face masks to be worn on-board, surface wipes, and hand gel.

The British airline said it has taken other measures taken to ensure customers have a safe flying experience including the use of electrostatic spraying of high-grade disinfectants in all cabins and lavatories before every flight and enhanced thorough cleaning practices at check-in and boarding gates.

“Economy and premium economy customers will now enjoy a ‘Fly safe, eat well’ meal box, which incorporates a choice of two hot meals, cheese and biscuits and a dessert pot washed down with a choice of wine, beer, soft drinks and bottled water,” the statement read.

“Upper-class customers will receive a choice of three hot meals, desserts, including cheese & biscuits and a ciabatta roll, all delivered to their seat on a tray.

“All customers will receive a second meal service which, on day flights from the UK, includes the delicious Mile High Tea in collaboration with celebrity pâtissier Eric Lanlard.”

Commenting on flight resumption, Justin Bell, Virgin Atlantic’s commercial manager, said: “We are delighted to be able to relaunch flights between Lagos and London Heathrow, showcasing our brand new A350-1000 aircraft.

“We will always ensure that health and safety remain our number one priority, whilst keeping our signature Virgin spirit and our teams have been working tirelessly to implement new measures and evolve our customer experience. We are looking forward to welcoming customers back on-board, taking them to the skies safely and in true Virgin Atlantic style.”

“The health and wellbeing of our customers and crew is at the centre of all our operations and that includes social distancing at the airport and on-board wherever possible, meticulous cleaning of the aircraft and individual health packs for all customers, containing medical-grade face masks, hand sanitizer and surface wipes.”

The airline also advised passengers to arrive at the airport three hours before their flights are due to leave.

- THECABLE

Reports: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hands over power to sister

 

North Korean maximum leader, Kim Jong Un is reportedly in coma and is preparing to hand over power to his sister, British tabloid The Sun reported, quoting a former South Korean diplomat.

The diplomat, an ex-aide to former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung said the isolated state is hiding the truth about their leader’s health.

Speaking with local media, Chang Song-min said: “I assess him to be in a coma, but his life has not ended.”

He spoke as North Korea reportedly handed over some powers to the dictator’s sister Kim Yo-jong, 33.

Chang added: “A complete succession structure has not been formed, so Kim Yo-jong is being brought to the fore as the vacuum cannot be maintained for a prolonged period.”

Kim Jong Un, 36, has rarely been seen in public this year with rumours circulating in April that he was in a “vegetative state” following a botched heart op.

But Kim appeared in a picture just three days ago, supposedly attending a government meeting.

Reuters, which published it, said the photo has not been verified.

The claim by Song-min is being given some credence after South Korea’s spy agency, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) , reported that Kim will gradually transfer authority to his sister “to ease stress” despite his young age.

However, the agency said the ruthless leader will still “exert absolute power” from behind the scenes while insisting the move was not linked to the tyrant’s health.

In April, there was speculation that Kim had died or was in a vegetative state.

The report was quickly quashed when the portly dictator turned up at the opening of a fertiliser factory 30 miles north of capital Pyongyang.

- PM NEWS

Many feared dead as police, IPOB clash in Enugu

 

Many persons were reportedly killed when some members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) clashed with the police in Enugu state on Sunday.

Policemen were said to have invaded a building when IPOB members were holding a meeting at Emene in Enugu.

They reportedly resisted the attempt to disperse them, prompting the police to apply force.

This resulted in a violent clash between the IPOB members and the police officers who started firing gunshots.

A team of security operatives was said to have been immediately deployed to the scene after which they were able to arrest many of the IPOB members.

TheCable could not immediately confirm the number of casualties but a witness said “many people” were feared killed with their bodies reportedly taken away by the security operatives.

Daniel Ndukwe, spokesman of the Enugu state police command, could not be reached for comments as of the time this report was filed.

Sunday’s violence is the latest of frequent clashes between the police and IPOB members since the group was declared a terrorist organisation by the federal government in 2018.

Hundreds of the Biafran agitators who were arrested during their rallies and similar meetings in various parts of the south-east are currently facing prosecution.

- THECABLE

Barcelona’s new signing, Pjanic tests positive to COVID-19

 

Barcelona’s new signing, Miralem Pjanic, has tested positive to COVID-19.

Pjanic, who joined Barcelona from Juventus a few weeks ago, will not travel to Camp Nou until after two weeks.

Barcelona disclosed this known in a statement via the club’s official website on Sunday night.

The statement read: “Miralem Pjanic has tested positive in a PCR taken on Saturday 22 August after feeling a little unwell.

“The player is in good health and is self-isolating at home.

“The player will therefore not be travelling to Barcelona for 15 days when he’ll be expected to report for duty with the Barcelona FC team.”

- DAILY POST

ECOWAS donates 4,000 tonnes of food items to Nigeria

 

The Nigerian government has received about 4,000 tonnes of food items from the ECOWAS Commission to distribute to vulnerable households, in order to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sangare Sekou, the ECOWAS Commissioner of Agriculture, Water Resources and Environment, disclosed this at the presentation of the items to the Federal Government on Saturday in Kano.

Sekou said that the gesture was to demonstrate the region’s solidarity with the Government and the People of Nigeria.

He said: “This regional solidarity will be demonstrated through food donations of a total quantity of 3,999 tonnes of cereals comprising of millet and sorghum.

“The first donation consists of 1,196 tonnes of cereals financed by the ECOWAS Commission’s Humanitarian Emergency Fund for Disaster and Emergency Relief to Member States affected by a humanitarian crisis.

“While the second donation of 2,803 tonnes is funded by the resources of the Regional Food Security Storage Support Project, which the European Union is financing for a total amount of €56 million.

“The grains will be taken from the stocks in the ECOWAS Regional Food Security Reserve, partly warehoused with the Federal Strategic Reserve Department (FSRD) and distributed free of charge to the households mostly affected by the humanitarian situation in the country.”

The Commissioner said the donations would complement the multidimensional support ECOWAS was providing to Nigeria since the advent of COVID -19 in the country on Feb. 27.

Sekou noted that the COVID -19 pandemic disrupted production, warehousing, marketing, processing, and distribution systems of agriculture and food productions, especially in the Northeastern part of the Country.

“The Harmonised Framework for Identifying Risk Areas and Vulnerability estimates that over 7,087,102 people are currently in difficult food situations in the country, including Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and children affected by malnutrition.

“The ECOWAS Commission has, therefore, decided to provide the support of the region through its Humanitarian Emergency Fund and the financial support of the European Union within the framework of the Regional Food Security Storage Support Project,” he said.

He added that food donations would assist vulnerable households to cope with the multiple crises while safeguarding their livelihoods.

According to him, ECOWAS Humanitarian Policy aims to prevent, mitigate, and provide durable solutions to the complex emergencies including natural and man-made disasters in the region.

It is also designed to complement the ECOWAS Disaster Risk Reduction Policy, focusing on disaster risk mitigation through viable interventions targeted at reducing risks as an obstacle to development.

- PM NEWS

NCDC clears air on sharing ‘COVID-19 funds’ to Nigerians

 

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has asked Nigerians to disregard any messages from some personality claiming they are beneficiaries of COVID-19 funds.

This week, several people shared screenshots of messages they received, asking them to claim up to N50,000 as palliatives from the federal government.

However, the NCDC in an SMS on Sunday, warned that it was a scam.

It read: “BEWARE OF SCAM: Disregard any message that you are a beneficiary of COVID-19 funds or your account has been credited by NCDC.

“Delete immediately and do not share.”

On Saturday night, the agency announced 601 new coronavirus cases.

It brings the current tally in the country to 51,905.

- DAILY POST

Cristiano Ronaldo’s babymama hints marriage plans

 

Georgina Rodriguez, supermodel and longterm girlfriend of famous Juventus player Cristiano Ronaldo has sparked speculations of their engagement and possible marriage plans.

The couple are currently having a nice time holidaying in the French Rivera with their children.

Ronaldo and Georgina posted the same photo on Instagram late Saturday evening with different captions. The five-time Ballon d’Or winner wrote ”Mi Amor” which means ”my love” in Spanish while Georgina captioned hers with ”Yesss”.

In the photo, the footballer is seen covering up his girlfriend’s wedding ring finger.

They met in June 2016 while Rodriguez was working as a shop assistant in Madrid and it was love at first sight, according to Georgina.

- PM NEWS

Hushpuppi’s alleged girlfriend dumps him for new man

 

Amirah Dyme, alleged girlfriend to Nigerian Instagram celebrity, Ramon Abbas, popularly known as Hushpuppi, has revealed her new boyfriend.

Miss Dyme and Hushpuppi were said to have been dating in Dubai where they met each other before the Nigerian alleged fraudster was arrested.

Dyme is also an Instagram model.

Hushpuppi was arrested in Dubai a few months ago for money laundering and internet fraud.

The alleged fraudster has since been transferred to a correctional facility in the US.

And a few days after he was apprehended, Amirah dyme threw a shade at him for “stealing” the money used to sponsor his extravagant lifestyle.

This sparked a lot of reactions from Nigerians

She has now dumped him as she displays her new man on Instagram.

She wrote, “I’d never make him choose between me and his PlayStation. I’m just gon hurt myself.”

Recall that an Illinois court in the United States, U.S., had given reasons for the continued detention of Nigerian Instagram celebrity, Ramon Abbas popularly known as Hushpuppi.

Hushpuppi was on June 10 arrested alongside some of his associate in Dubai by a combined team of Dubai police and operatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI.

The combined security team had on July 2, extradited Hushppupi and his

associate to the U.S. for trial.

Hushpuppi was, however, charged for alleged cyber fraud.

The Nigerian Instagram celebrity was initially held in the Metropolitan Correction Centre in Chicago but has been moved to Los Angeles.

However, the judge who denied him bail, Jeffrey Gilbert gave five reasons why Hushppupi would remain in detention.

- DAILY POST

Babachir Lawal: APC must allow Tinubu contest in 2023 if we don’t want wrath of God

 Babachir Lawal, former secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), says the All Progressives Congress (APC) must create an enabling environment for aspirants to contest for the presidency in 2023.

Lawal was sacked as SGF in October 2017 after he was indicted in a N544m grass-cutting scandal.

Speaking on the issue of zoning of the 2023 presidency in an interview with The Punch, Lawal said Bola Tinubu, a national leader of the APC, was instrumental to President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory in 2015 and should be given a chance in 2023.

“First of all, I want to declare that I am a Tinubu man. There’s no denying that there’s a Tinubu factor in the APC. Just like I was a Buharist and every time Buhari’s name was mentioned, I stood by it. But the crisis that started in the APC has nothing to do with 2023. It just had to do with the mismanagement of the party by those entrusted with that responsibility – namely the NWC,” Lawal said.

“One of our specific goals was to make Buhari the president. Tinubu was a colossus of south-west politics. If he had said there would be no merger, there wouldn’t have been any merger.

“By the time we went to the APC national convention, the north-west was not with Buhari. The north-west people were either for Atiku or Rabiu Kwankwaso; most of them, at least. The late Inuwa Abdulkadir and I continued to pile pressure on Tinubu, giving him the statistics.

“It became very clear that Buhari was going to win that primary election once Tinubu declared publicly his support for him and accepted that the south-west would vote for Buhari. Between Wednesday and Thursday (before the convention), it was clear Tinubu and Bisi Akande were going to support Buhari and the north-west had no choice but to support Buhari, otherwise, they were going to lose out.

“So if Tinubu had not conceded at that point, I think probably Kwakwanso would have won the presidential nomination of the APC. For that reason alone, you can see Tinubu’s contributions to the emergence of Buhari as president and his role in building the party.

“Therefore, except we want to bring the wrath of God on our heads, which we don’t want, the party must create an environment that is free and fair for anybody who wants to contest, including Tinubu, to do so. Allow the delegates, who must have emerged through a similarly free and fair process, decide who they want to vote for. It will be our duty as ‘Tinubu’s boys’ that time to say, ‘Let us vote for Bola’.”

Lawal said Tinubu rallied funding for the campaign when Buhari had no money to fund his election and brought in an agency from the United States that branded Buhari’s image.

“Everybody knows Buhari had no money and he doesn’t play money politics. So he won his presidential primary election without spending money. Also, Buharists didn’t have money; they only had ideas, zeal and fanaticism. And politics requires money,” he said.

“Tinubu, who had his tentacles spread across the corporate world, was the only man who knew where and how to raise the funds needed. He was the one that reached out to all the ‘big men’ who were at the time scared of the then President Goodluck Jonathan.

“At the time, Nigerians saw Buhari as just a wood. He had no emotions. People weren’t seeing him as a loving husband and father and doubted if he could be humane. It was Tinubu who brought in consultants from the US – the firm behind the successful execution of President Barrack Obama’s campaign. It helped to repackage Buhari to Nigerians.

“That was when you started seeing Buhari wearing a suit, and in Igbo, Yoruba and Kanuri attire. The strategy was to transform his image and show a humane, loving and trustworthy person. It helped us.

“Tinubu doesn’t like to take credit for what he does; he lives for politics, gets his money from politics and spends it on politics. He has no other interest except politics. The monies he spent out of his pocket that is unaccounted for outside of the party’s campaign finances are quite enormous. I know this because he’s my friend and because I am also involved in the Buhari government.”

- THECABLE

Insecurity: Zulum reveals Boko Haram now recruits IDPs

 

Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum has revealed that the internally displaced persons, IDPs, are being recruited by Boko Haram insurgents.

Speaking in an interview with the Hausa Service of BBC, the Governor noted that his government has been able to return displaced persons to Mafa and Kukawa, adding that plans were being made to return some of them to Kawuri.

He also stated that the Boko Haram sect is working on people to join them and it’s frightening because the IDPs are tired and bored of staying in the camps and would be forced to join them.

“Truly, the Boko Haram sect is working on people to join them. This is frightening. If the IDPs living in camps could not get what they are looking for, especially the opportunity to go back to their various towns and return to farm, they may be forced to join the Boko Haram sect.

“It is important that they go back to their various towns because no government can continue to be feeding them continuously.

“The sect members are hiding at the Lake Chad area and the Sambisa forest.

“There will still be problems unless they are traced to their hiding places.

“Chasing them away from their headquarters is one of the solutions towards ending insurgency,” he said.

He further explained that the best way to end Boko Haram is ensuring a good relationship between the military and civilians.

According to him, the military are doing their best in the fight against insurgency.

“One surest way to end Boko Haram is ensuring a good relationship between the military and civilians.

“I keep on saying wherever you go; you will see the military and vigilante together.

“But what I am saying is that the military should provide protection to the civilians to enable them return home and go back to their farms,” he added.

- DAILY POST

U.S. indicts 5 Nigerians in $300m fraud, Akintomide extradited from Canada

 

Five Nigerians, one of them extradited from Canada and three Americans have been indicted by the U.S. Justice Department for their role in a fraudulent “sweepstakes” or lotto scam with an intended loss in excess of $300 million.

The Nigerian extradited from Canada on Thursday is known as Harry Cole and he has several aliases, according to a statement by the Justice Department.

The 50 year-old Nigerian, normally resident in Canada, is known as Akintomide Ayoola Bolu, John King, Big Bro and Egbon.

He will now face federal charges for his alleged role.

A federal grand jury indictment, returned in September 2018, charges Cole with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud (Sweepstakes) and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Each count upon conviction calls for up to 20 years in federal prison.

Cole, who remains in federal custody, is one of eight defendants charged in connection with the scheme.

The others include: Nigerian Akintola Akinmadeyemi; Americans Joel Calvin and Clarence Barefield (aka CJ), both resident in Austin and Mesquite, TX, resident Donna Lundy.

Others are Nigerian citizens and Canadian residents Emmanuel Olawale Ajayi (aka Wale, aka Walata), Tony Dada Akinbobola (aka Lawrence D Awoniyi, aka Boss Tony, aka Toyin) and Bolaji Akinwunmi Oyewole (aka BJ, aka Beejay).

According to the indictment, the defendants carried out their sweepstakes scheme from 2012 to 2016.

Cole allegedly purchased lists from Lundy of elderly potential victims and their addresses. He and other conspirators based in the Toronto, Ontario Canada metropolitan area sent packages containing fraudulent sweepstakes information to conspirators residing in the U.S.

The packages contained thousands of mailers, which U.S.-based conspirators sent to victims notifying them that they had won a sweepstakes. Each mailer included a fraudulent check issued in the name of the victim, usually in the amount of $8,000, and a pre-addressed envelope.

Victims were instructed to deposit the check into their bank account, immediately withdraw between $5,000 and $7,000 dollars in cash or money orders and send the money to a “sweepstakes representative” to facilitate the victim collecting his or her prize.

By the time the victim was notified by the bank that the deposited check was fraudulent, the cash or money order had been sent by the victim and received by the defendants or conspirators.

The intended loss from this scheme was over $300 million, with an actual loss of more than $900,000.

The indictment also alleges that from June 2015 through June 2016, Emmanuel Ajayi led a Stolen Identity Refund Fraud (SIRF) scheme in which over 1,200 fraudulent Income Tax Returns were filed using stolen Personal Identifying Information (PII) requesting $25 million in tax refunds.

Ajayi used bank accounts involved in the sweepstakes scheme to receive refunds and funnel the money to conspirators in the U.S. An IRS analysis determined that this scheme resulted in the actual loss of approximately $3.4 million paid from the U.S. Treasury.

In order to acquire the money generated by the Sweepstakes and SIRF schemes, the conspirators operated a money laundering conspiracy in the U.S. That conspiracy employed knowing and unknowing participants to conduct financial transactions with the goals of moving the proceeds from both fraudulent schemes outside of the U.S. without detection by law enforcement.

Defendants Akinbobola, Ajayi and Oyewole are considered fugitives.

On March 9, 2020, Akinmadeyemi was sentenced to ten years in federal prison. On May 27, 2020, Barefield was sentenced to eight years in federal prison. Both were ordered to pay, jointly and severally, $111,870.25 in restitution.

Defendants Calvin and Lundy, who pleaded guilty to the money laundering conspiracy charge, are scheduled for sentencing in Austin on March 9, 2021, before U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel.

U.S. Attorney John F. Bash; Acting Special Agent in Charge Roderick Benson, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), Houston Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Shane Folden, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), San Antonio; and, Inspector in Charge Adrian Gonzalez, U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), Houston Division, announced Harry Cole’s extradition on Friday.

“If you defraud Americans, it doesn’t matter where you are in the world. The United States government will work tirelessly to find you, extradite you, and hold you accountable for your crimes,” stated U.S. Attorney Bash.

“Today’s extradition of Harry Cole demonstrates the power of the American judicial system,” IRS-CI Acting Special Agent in Charge Benton. “Despite the fact that Cole was living in Canada, special agents were able to track him because of our strong relationships with our international law enforcement agencies and bring him to justice.”

“HSI is committed to using our broad authority and global presence to bring international fugitives to justice,” said HSI Special Agent in Charge Folden. “Today’s extradition of Harry Cole demonstrates that HSI and our international law enforcement partners will be diligent in our efforts to locate and hold accountable those individuals who defraud U.S. citizens.”

“The U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) is charged with defending the nation’s mail system from illegal use, no matter where those crimes originate,” said USPIS Inspector in Charge Gonzalez. “This scheme targeted one of our country’s most vulnerable populations, the elderly. Postal Inspectors will continue to work tirelessly with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners to investigate these crimes and bring the perpetrators to justice.”

- PM NEWS