The Sokoto Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arrested two Chinese: Mr. Meng Wei Kun and Mr. Xu Koi for offering a sum of N50,000,000 (Fifty Million Naira only) as bribe to its Zonal Head, Mr. Abdullahi Lawal.
The suspects were arrested on Monday, May 11, 2020 in Sokoto.
The bribe was allegedly offered in a desperate bid to compromise ongoing investigations of a construction company, China Zhonghao Nig. Ltd, handling contracts awarded by the Zamfara State Government in the sum of N50,000,000,000.00 (Fifty Billion Naira) between 2012 to 2019.
The zonal office of the Commission is investigating the construction company, in connection with the execution of contracts for the construction of township roads in Gummi, Bukkuyun, Anka and Nassarawa towns of Zamfara state; and also the construction of one hundred and sixty eight (168) solar-powered boreholes in the 14 local government areas of the state.
Alarmed by the consistency and professionalism of investigation being conducted, the company reached out to Lawal with an offer of N100,000,000 (One Hundred Million Naira) as bribe to “bury” the matter.
In a grand design to trap the corrupt officials, Lawal played along, and on Monday, two representatives of the company Meng Wei Kun and Xu Kuoi offered him cash totalling fifty million naira in their office along airport road, Sokoto. The cash was offered as a first installment.
The Sokoto Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested two Chinese, Mr. Meng Wei Kun and Mr. Xu Koi, for offering a sum of N50 million as bribe to its Zonal Head, Mr. Abdullahi Lawal.
The N50 million bribe conveyed in a four cartons of table water, was the first installment of the N100 million offered as bribe to the EFCC officer.
A statement Tuesday by the Commission’s Head, Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, said the suspects were arrested on Monday in Sokoto.
The commission said the bribe was offered in a desperate bid to compromise ongoing investigations of a construction company, China Zhonghao Nig. Ltd, handling N50 billion contracts awarded by the Zamfara State Government between 2012 to 2019.
The statement read:
“The zonal office of the Commission is investigating the construction company, in connection with the execution of contracts for the construction of township roads in Gummi, Bukkuyun, Anka and Nassarawa towns of Zamfara state; and also the construction of one hundred and sixty eight (168) solar- powered boreholes in the 14 local government areas of the state.
“Alarmed by the consistency and professionalism of investigation being conducted, the company reached out to Lawal with an offer of N100 million as bribe to “bury” the matter.
“In a grand design to trap the corrupt officials, Lawal played along, and on Monday, two representatives of the company Meng Wei Kun and Xu Kuoi offered him cash totalling fifty million naira in their office along airport road, Sokoto. The cash was offered as a first installment.”
The statement said the suspects were promptly arrested with the cash as evidence.
The commission said the investigation of the construction company was informed by an intelligence on alleged conspiracy, misappropriation of public funds, embezzlement, official corruption, abuse of office, stealing and money laundering obtained against the Zamfara State government through inflated and uncompleted contracts awarded to the company.
It added that investigations had so far revealed that China Zounghao Ltd had received payments of over N41 billion from the Zamfara State government, out of which about N16 billion, equivalent to over $53 million, was allegedly diverted and traced to some bureau de change operators
The statement said the suspects would soon be charged to court.
The women’s Under-17 World Cup, due to be held in India in November, has been postponed for three month, FIFA said on Tuesday, adding to a growing list of sporting events hit by the pandemic.
The tournament, to be played in five cities across the country, will now start February 17, football’s governing body said.
India is looking to boost its international standing as a host of top sporting events after holding the men’s Under-17 World Cup in 2017.
“All the host cities have put in a lot of effort and commitment so far, and we are happy that the new dates will allow them to make up for the lost time and provide momentum going forward,” the local organising committee said after the FIFA announcement.
FIFA also unveiled new dates for this year’s U-20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica and Panama. It will now be played from January 20 to February 6, 2021.
The 2020 FIFA Futsal World Cup in Lithuania has been pushed back to September 12 next year.
Meanwhile, the 70th FIFA Congress, which was due to be held in Addis Ababa, will be run as an online event on September 18.
The coronavirus has brought the international sport to a standstill, but some football leagues are restarting — albeit behind closed doors.
South Korea’s K-League came back to life last Friday and Germany’s Bundesliga football championship is to restart this weekend in empty stadiums.
Ex-Presidential aide, Dr. Doyin Okupe and his beautiful wife, Aduralere, have been discharged from a COVID19 isolation centre in Ogun State.
They tested positive for coronavirus on April 23 and underwent treatment.
They were discharged this morning.
Shortly after leaving Isolation centre, he thanked the State Governor, Commisoner of health and staff at the centre.
He tweeted: “On the 23rd of April my wife aduralere and I tested positive to covid19 virus. To the Glory of God we were discharged this morning after obtaining 2 negative reports.
‘’I thank Almighty God for His Mercies. I thank Gov Dapo Abiodun,d hon com of health dr Coker & staff of d centre.’’
One of Africa's popular smartphone brands TECNO Mobile has officially announced the unveiling of it lastest Spark 5 Series. The unveiling was made on their various social media channels as the device is said to be a game changer for budget smartphones.
The Spark 5 combines a large 6.6-inch display with 5 AI powered cameras and a powerful 5,000mAH battery capacity.
The device is a successor to the SPARK 4 that was released last year. SPARK 5 will be running on TECNO Hardware Independent Operating System HIOS powered by Android Q for seamless performance.
The Spark 5 series are camera centric mid-range devices specifically designed to target the youths. The Spark 5 series with be coming in three different variants Spark 5 Pro, Spark 5 and Spark 5 Lite.
Brief Specifications
TECNO SPARK 5 PRO
6.6" Dot-in Display
64GB ROM + 4GB RAM
16MP AI Quad Camera with Quad Flash, Apeture F/1.8
5000mAh Battery
Octa-Core Processor
8MP Front Camera with Dual Flash，Aperture F/2.0
16MP Quad Rear Camera with Quad Flash,Aperture F/1.8
Price: Not Available Yet
TECNO SPARK 5
6.6" Dot-in Display
13MP AI Quad Camera with Quad Flash, Aperture F/1.8
AI Selfie Dual Flash
5000mAh Battery
32GB ROM + 2GB RAM
8MP Front Camera with Dual Flash，Aperture F/2.0
13MP Quad Rear Camera with Quad Flash，Aperture F/1.8
Price: 49,000
TECNO SPARK 5 AIR
32GB ROM + 2GB RAM
8MP AI Selfie Camera with Dual Flash，Aperture F/2.0
13MP AI Dual Camera with Quad Flash，Aperture F/1.8
5000mAh Battery
8MP Front Camera with Dual Flash，Aperture F/2.0
13MP Quad Rear Camera with Quad Flash，Aperture F/1.8
Oh we are proud! Queen Salawa Abeni's son, Big Sheff who also has a career in rap has shed a lot of weight and WE ARE PROUD. He revealed his massive weight loss on instagram and his followers including DJs who are as big as he used to be applauding him and showing him massive love.
Big Sheff with real names as Sheriff Ilori is son to Kollington Ayinla and ofcus you all know his mom -- Waka Queen -- Ms Salawa Abeni. Check out his old photos below...
A warrant for the release of a former Director Finance and Account at the Abia Government House, Ude Udeogu, who was convicted alongside former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu, has been issued.
According to The Cable, the Supreme Court issued the warrant for release of Udeogu from Kuje prison, in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
It was learnt he may be released any moment from now by the Correctional Service.
But Kalu’s fate remains uncertain without a warrant of release for him.
More than 1,000 people queued up to get free food parcels in Geneva, highlighting the impact of the coronavirus epidemic on the working poor and undocumented immigrants even in wealthy Switzerland.
The line of people stretched for more than 1 km (half a mile) outside an ice rink where volunteers were handing out around 1,500 parcels to people who started queuing as early as 5am.
Currently Switzerland has 30,305 confirmed cases of coronavirus and has recorded 1,830 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
Patrick Wieland, from the Doctors Without Borders group, said: 'In Geneva, one of the richest cities in the world, there have always been people living precariously, especially all the people who work as housekeepers, in agriculture, on construction sites or in hotels, and they found themselves overnight without a job because of COVID-19.'
One illegal immigrant who called himself Fernando said he lost his restaurant job during the crisis and had no pay.
'I'm very grateful to receive this help and if the situation changes for me, I am committing to do the same thing that they are doing for me,' he said.
'At the end of the month, my pockets are empty. We have to pay the bills, the insurance, everything,' said Ingrid Berala, a Geneva resident from Nicaragua who works part-time. 'This is great, because there is food for a week, a week of relief...I don't know for next week.'
In a nation of nearly 8.6 million, 660,000 people in Switzerland were poor in 2018, the charity Caritas says, particularly single parents and those with a low level of education unable to find work after losing a job.
More than 1.1 million people were at risk of poverty, which means they have less than 60% of the median income, which was 6,538 Swiss francs ($6,736) for a full-time job in 2018.
Ex-Presidential aide, Dr Doyin Okupe and his wife, Aduralere, have been discharged from an isolation centre in Ogun State.
They tested positive for coronavirus on April 23 and underwent treatment.
Okupe was Special Assistant to Former President Obasanjo (Media & Publicity) and Senior Special Assistant to former President Jonathan (Public Affairs).
They were discharged this morning.
Shortly after leaving Isolation centre, he thanked the State Governor, Commisoner of health and staff at the centre.
He tweeted: “On the 23rd of April my wife aduralere and I tested positive to covid19 virus. To the Glory of God we were discharged this morning after obtaining 2 negative reports.
‘’I thank Almighty God for His Mercies. I thank Gov Dapo Abiodun,d hon com of health dr Coker & staff of d centre.’’
Mauritius has become coronavirus-free with no active case for 15 days, the country’s ministry of health has revealed.
The coronavirus is an ongoing global pandemic which has infected over four million people across the globe, and killed over two hundred thousand.
The virus has touched every continent, with US being the worst hit. The North American country has recorded over 1.3 million cases alone.
In Africa, Mauritius becomes the first country on the continent to become virus free, while Lesotho is the only country on the continent not to have recorded a case of COVID-19.
The island nation’s official COVID-19 page said 322 people had recovered out of the 332 confirmed cases so far. 10 people have since died.
It added that all 220 recently repatriated citizens from abroad were still under quarantine.
With a population of 1.2 million people, Mauritius is known for its beaches, lagoons and reefs.
May 11 marked the fifteenth consecutive day that the no new case was recorded in the country. A lockdown however remains in place to contain possible spread of the virus.
Mauritius is the second Africa country to have declared virus-free status after Mauritania.
Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu has condemned what he described as ‘raging hypocritical voices of righteous indignation’ over the recent demolition of two hotels in Rivers State by the state governor, Nyesom Wike.
He queried the rationale behind such outrage on the demolition of only two structures whereas there was silence while buildings were being pulled down during the reign of the Kaduna State governor, Nasiru El-rufai as FCT minister.
In a statement from IPOB Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, titled, “Wike Hotel Demolition & all the Furious Sanctimonious Humbug”, Kanu argued that the current FCT Minister, Mohammed Bello and his predecessor, El-Rufai demolished far more expensive buildings in Abuja belonging to Biafrans than that destroyed in Igweocha by Wike.
He however explained that Wike’s overreactions was not to be applauded, stressing that operators of the establishment risked the lives of thousands of people in the State and beyond.
He said, “When El-Rufai the midget Islamic terror mastermind was busy terrorising and pauperising thousands of Biafran businessmen by demolishing their hotels, bars, restaurants and homes in Abuja, some of the raging hypocritical voices of righteous indignation we are hearing today were never heard.
“They never uttered a word, nor made a sound because they were and still are afraid of the murderous tendencies of their Fulani masters who are still demolishing legitimate Igbo businesses in Abuja.
“In fact, El-Rufai went on to become the governor of Kaduna State from where he openly admitted to paying his fellow killer Fulani terrorists that decimated the non-Fulani populations of Southern Kaduna. Today he is being touted as the next president of the #Zoo by the same people condemning Gov. Nyesom Wike.
“Current FCT Minister Bello Mohammed has simply carried on from where his predecessor El-Rufai stopped and has been busy demolishing far more expensive buildings in Abuja belonging to Biafrans than that destroyed in Igweocha by Wike.
“Does it mean I condone or excuse Wike’s administrative overreach? Of course NOT! I do not condone it because he went too far. But we must understand that operators of that very establishment risked the lives of thousands of people in Rivers State and beyond.
“Potentially, they could have brought infections and death to thousands of people, either through Coronavirus infected Alimajiri or by inadvertently providing accommodation to Fulani killers streaming into our towns and villages from the God forsaken North.
“Either way, the proprietors of the hotel placed thousands of lives at risk, whereas the Igbo businessmen and families whose livelihoods were taken away by El-Rufai and Bello Mohammed in Abuja committed no offence known to law.”
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, has been appointed the new Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari. With his appointment, he replaces Mallam Abba Kyari, who died last month of COVID-19.
Gambari, 75, is currently the Special Adviser on the International Compact with Iraq and Other Issues for the Secretary-General of the United Nations and was the Minister of External Affairs between 1984 and 1985 before he became the chairperson of the African Union Commission as Joint African Union-United Nations Special Representative for Darfur effective in January 2010.
On March 4, 2013, Ibrahim Gambari was appointed the pioneer Chancellor of the Kwara State University, the ceremonial head that presides over convictions to award degrees and also supports the vision of the institution.
The Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency (TRACE), on Monday, intercepted a truck loaded with 30 Northern youths, at Sango Ota area of the state.
The IVECO truck was stopped for search by the operatives of the agency where it was discovered that 30 persons were hidden behind baskets of pepper.
The truck which was reported to have been covered with tarpaulin, was turned back by the officials of the road management control manning the Joju junction in the town.
Tribune Online gathered that the truck was turned back and led to the tollgate between Ogun and Lagos states.
When contacted, TRACE Public Relations Officer, Babatunde Akinbiyi, confirmed the developement, saying the truck and its occupants were travelling to an unknown destination.
The Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has ordered the probe of the Chairman, Five Star Music, Emeka Okonkwo aka E-Money, over his flamboyant lifestyle and flagrant abuse of police escorts.
Okonkwo, who is the brother to musician, Kingsley Okonkwo aka K-Cee, was said to have drawn the ire of the police boss for using policemen like domestic servants.
An order, it was learnt, was immediately issued to the Lagos State Police Command to withdraw the six policemen attached to E-Money.
A top police officer said, “We received a signal from the Force headquarters on Monday that the police detail of music executive, E-Money, be immediately withdrawn and an investigation into the man be launched.
“The IG was surprised that policemen were attached to him in the first place and were being used like domestic servants, carrying umbrellas, opening doors, and doing menial jobs for him.
“The policemen were discovered to be attached to B Operations at the command headquarters and not MOPOL which is the usual practice. So, we have withdrawn his policemen and we are inviting him for questioning. The policemen will also be interrogated.”
According The Punch, E-Money, who also claims to be a clearing and forwarding agent, is known for his flamboyant lifestyle.
He boasts of two Rolls Royce, two Mercedes Benz G Wagons and other Sports Utility Vehicles worth billions of naira.
The socialite is often seen on social media shaking hands with Very Important Persons including governors, senators, monarchs, ministers, and other top government officials.
When contacted on the telephone, an associate of E-Money, Chidozie Dike, said he was not aware of the development and he believed it was not true.
“I am not aware and I don’t think this is true,” Dike said.
The probe into E-Money comes less than a year after that of an Instagram celebrity, Ismaila Mustapha aka Mompha, who was also known to show off his ostentatious lifestyle on social media.
Sources told The Punch that more social media celebs are also on the radar of the police and other law enforcement agencies.
The Lagos State Police Command spokesman, Bala Elkana, said he would find out when he was contacted for comment while the Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, had yet to respond to a text message as of press time.
Lagos Police Commissioner, Hakeem Odumosu today distributed face masks to violators arrested for not keeping to the laid down precautions against the Corona Virus.
He thereafter urged them to take their health seriously, maintain social distance & always wear a mask. #BeSafe.
When you talk about heavy loaded young men of our generation who aren't just rich but love to be stylish, then E-Money comes fast to mind.
Lagos has eased it's lockdown and business is almost back to normal, so business men are already stepping out. E-Money shared photos of himself to his numerous fans on social media showing how stylish he could rock an outfit with a facemask. More photos below...
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, said it has returned $4,040 to one Debora Moreira, a Brazilian victim of internet fraud.
It also said Moreira has acknowledged the receipt of the money, which was recovered on her behalf by the Port Harcourt Zonal Office of the anti-graft agency.
EFCC spokesman, Dele Oyewale, affirmed this in a statement made available to newsmen.
Part of the statement reads, “Moreira lost the money to Emmanuel Tope, a convicted fraudster, in a romance scam. EFCC commenced investigation of the scam in March 2019 and successfully recovered the money, prosecuted and got the fraudster convicted.
“The proceeds of crime was remitted into the victim’s account with Bank Itau S/A, Rua Ameirico Brasiliense, through the Central Bank of Nigeria.”
The founder and General Overseer of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), Prophet T. B. Joshua, has said events like the novel Coronavirus occur once every 100 years.
The cleric said God revealed to him that hard times will follow immediately after the lockdown, advising everyone to cut their coat according to their cloth.
He said to survive, some may have to “withdraw from the city to a rural life or to do away with some of your properties”.
Joshua, who spoke during a live service on Emmanuel TV, said those who adjust to the new condition of things will be able to overcome while those who fail to do so may “go down with the times, either by disappointment, failure, death”.
But he urged people not to give up, saying: “Sometimes God allows situations like this – I mean disappointment or something more serious – so that you can take your proper position and possessions.
“Ask your family members to cut their coat according to their cloth. If any of them was living big before, they have to prepare to adjust now to the situation that is coming. Check your store and bring out the things you may need to sell. Right now, you need to be living modestly.
“…Something must happen every 100 years to affect the whole world. This is what has happened in our own lifetime. It has been like that for generations.
“Those who respond to the demands of the age will end up as overcomers, victors, winners. However, those who fail to respond to the demands appropriately will eventually go down with the times, either by disappointment, failure, or death. It is unchangeable; it must happen.”
According to him, the prophecy will begin to manifest from June.
“By the end of June to the first week of July, this will begin to become a point of reference: ‘This man said this; that man said it’ but it is God that said it,” Joshua added.
