Alleged Suspects Involved In Ebonyi Bullion Van Robbery Were Dismissed Soldiers ...Nigerian Army

The Nigerian Army has reacted to the news that some of its personnel allegedly involved in the bullion van robbery and killing of four policemen in Ebonyi State have been arrested .

The Army through a press statement (below) stated that though the suspects were once in the military but were dismissed from the force 

See full statement 

RE: POLICE NAB SOLDIERS  OTHERS FOR BULLION VAN ROBBERY                            

The attention of Headquarters 82 Division Nigerian Army  has been drawn to  online publication on the unfortunate Bullion Van Robbery incident at Abakaliki Ebonyi State on the 29 July 2020 which led to the arrest of two suspected dismissed soldiers and other gangsters involved  in the act.

It is necessary to inform  the public  that the  so called  soldiers in the report are not personnel of the Nigerian Army since 2015 and 2018;  when both Corporal Ayeni Samuel and Corporal Emeka Harrison were dismissed. Available record shows that Dismissed 03NA/53/088 Corporal  Ayeni Samuel was dismissed in 2018 for desertion and pipeline vandalism at 174 Battalion..

The dismmised soldier was attached to 174 Battalion from  Command Day Secondary School Ikeja for United Nations mission in the year  2013. Dismissed Corporal Ayeni desserted the Unit and was later arrested for pipeline vandalism at Ikorodu in 2018. 

In line with Nigerian Army extant rules and regulations, Ayeni  was officially tried and awarded dismissed regiment as a Corporal and not Sergeant; as claimed in the story.  

Also  dismissed Corporal Emeka Harrison was tried and dismissed regiment from 7 Division Garrison Maiduguri since 2015.. 

Colonel Aliyu Yusuf      

Deputy Director Army Public Relations 82 Division

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EFCC Re-arraigns Ex AGF Adoke And Co-Accused Abubakar, Amends Charges Against Them

The Abuja Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Tuesday, August 4, 2020 re-arraigned former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Mohamed Bello Adoke and Aliyu Abubakar before Justice I.E. Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on a 14-count amended charge of money laundering to the tune of over Six Million United States Dollars ($6,000,000).

Count one of the new charges against Adoke read: “That you Mohammed Bello Adoke, sometime in September 2013, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, made a cash payment of the sum of $2,267,400.00 (Two Million, Two Hundred and Sixty-Seven Thousand, Four Hundred United States Dollars) to one Rislaundeen Muhammed, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to the combined effects of Section 16(1) (d) and of Section 1(a) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2011(as amended) and punishable under Section 16(2)(b) of the same Act.”

A new charge against Abubakar read. “That you Aliyu Abubakar, sometime in September 2013, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, accepted a cash payment of the sum of $4,000,000.00 (Four Million United States Dollars) from Farmans Holdings Limited, through Abdulhakeem Uthman Mustapha, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to the combined effects of Section 16(1)(d) and of Section1(a) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act 2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section 16(2)(b) of the same Act.”

Both defendants pleaded not guilty to all the charges, following which counsel to the second defendant, Akin Olujimi, SAN, made an oral application, challenging the jurisdiction of  the court to sit on the case while courts in the country are on vacation.

Justice Ekwo in response advised the counsel to make his application formal so that he could rule on it. While reminding Olujimi that he could exercise his discretion as it pleased him in his court, he warned that a consequence of his application may be the revocation of the bail of his client.

Olujimi,   for the interest of his client’s liberty, beat a hasty retreat and withdrew the oral application.
The judge adjourned the case till August 11, 12 and 13, 2020 for commencement of trial.
It will be recalled that the defendants were arraigned on a seven-count charge before Justice Binta Nyako, on March 1, 2020, re-arraigned on June 17, 2020 on the same number of charges before Justice Ekwo  and re-arraigned again, August 4, 2020 on 14-count charge before the same judge.

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EFCC Secures Final Forfeiture Of N827.6m From NDDC Contractors (See Banks Details)

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC has secured the final forfeiture of N827, 679,098.32 (Eight Hundred and Twenty-Seven Million, Six Hundred and Seventy-Nine Thousand, Ninety-Eight Naira, Thirty-Two Kobo) from Flank Power Resources Limited and GMFD Ventures Limited, both of whom are  firms  linked to  contractors with the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.  Matthew Edevbie is the Chief Executive Officer of Flank Power Resources Limited.

The forfeiture followed the order of Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, sequel to an affidavit deposed to by an EFCC investigator, in which the Commission prayed the court for the forfeiture of the sum to the federal government of Nigeria, being proceeds of unlawful activity, traced to some contractors’ accounts with Zenith Bank.

A breakdown of the recovery shows that N616, 679, 098.32 (Six Hundred and Sixteen Million, Six Hundred and Seventy-Nine Thousand, Ninety-Eight Naira, Thirty-Two Kobo) was recovered from Flank Power Resources Limited, while N211million (Two Hundred and Eleven Million Naira) was recovered from GMFD Ventures Limited.

It was discovered that between 2018 and 2019, Flank Power Resources Limited received the funds from the NDDC, through its account number:1015642852 , while GMFD received through account number: 1014657819 both of which are domiciled in Zenith Bank Plc for desilting contracts which aside being inflated, were not executed, but diverted and laundered.

The sum of N616, 679, 098.32 recovered from Flank Power Resources Limited was facilitated through 62 Zenith Bank drafts in favour of the EFCC Recovered Funds Account with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, while the N211million from GMFD came through 22 Zenith Bank drafts in favour of the same account.
The EFCC secured the interim forfeiture of the money on  June 8, 2020 and its final forfeiture was granted by the court on June 29, 2020.

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I Raped And Impregnated Two Teenage Girls In Lagos With The Consent Of Their Father...Suspect Alleges

A 28-year-old man that the Gender Unit of the Lagos State Police Command said was arrested for allegedly raping and impregnating two teenage sisters has said he did the act with the permission of the girls’ father.

Sources at the Ikotun police division, which is handling the matter, alleged that the suspect, one Nduka Anyanwu, had been having carnal knowledge of the girls, 13 and 17 years old, since they were in primary school.

Interrogators at the station said that, Anyanwu, however, said he engaged the sisters in sex with the permission of their father, Christian Onyechi. The suspect was said to have been arrested yesterday after a pregnancy test that the girls’ mother insisted must be done on them showed they were pregnant.

The police said the girls told them Anyanwu had been sexually molesting them since they were in primary school. The girls’ father was understood to have been arrested. Efforts to get confirmation proved abortive as the Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Bala Elkana, did not pick calls put through to him just as he did not reply a message sent to him.

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Petrol May Sell For N149 In Few Days As FG Increases Depot Price

The Federal Government has fixed ex-depot price of petroleum at N138.62, an increase of N6 from its previous N132 – N133. This means a litre of petrol may be increased from N143 to N149.

The new ex-depot price was contained in an internal memo by the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company seen by our reporter yesterday night.

Though the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency met with oil marketers Tuesday afternoon, it neither announced new pump price of petrol nor the ex-depot price of Premium Motor Spirit. In the PPMC memo dated August 4, 2020 with reference number PPMC/CSD/DOM/0136 titled PPMC Petroleum Products Prices for August 2020, the agency also fixed Liquefied Natural Gas ex-depot price at N110.

The memo which was signed by the PPMC sales manager, Mohammed Bello, also fixed ex-coastal price of petroleum at N113.70. The president of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) Chinedu Okonkwo, confirmed the new prices to Daily Trust last night.

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30 Stranded Trafficked Nigerian Ladies Rescued In Lebanon

The 30 Nigerian girls trafficked to Lebanon have been rescued by the Nigerian Mission in Lebanon and relocated to a conducive apartment.

They will be part of the other 150 trafficked Nigerian girls in Lebanon who would be evacuated back to Nigeria on August 12.

The 30 ladies had in a video appealed to the Federal Government for rescue.

An official of the Media, Public Relations and Protocol Unit, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Gabriel Odu, in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday, said the Lebanese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Houssam Diab, has discussed the evacuation plans with the NiDCOM Secretary, Dr Sule Yakubu Bassi, who visited the Embassy in Abuja.

The statement titled, ‘30 stranded Nigerians in Lebanon rescued; 150 awaiting evacuation,’ said Diab gave the assurance that the 150 girls would be returned home in batches, adding that the first batch of 110 will leave Beirut, Lebanon, on August 12 to Lagos while the second batch would be returned to Abuja on August 16.

The statement read, “The diplomat commended the efforts of the Lebanese community and the Oyo State Government who is sponsoring the return of 55 of the girls.”

A break down showed that 41 of the girls hailed from Oyo State; Ogun, 21;Lagos, 12; Ondo, 18: Osun, 26; Imo, 3; Kwara,9; Ekiti, 6; Delta 3 while Enugu, Kogi, Edo, Ebonyi, Benue, Abia, Akwa Ibom and Anambra had one each.

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Illegally Activities:Police Denies Allegations Levelled Agaisint IGP Mohammed Adamu

The Nigerian Police Force on Tuesday condemned a report accusing the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, of illegal activity.

On Monday, an online publication, Sahara Reporters, published a report with the heading: ‘Exclusive: How Nigeria’s Inspector-General of Police, Adamu, Illegally Raised Millions of Naira for Construction of Training School in Nasarawa’.

In a statement, police spokesman, Frank Mba said the report was “published in the tradition of Sahara Reporters to blackmail and impugn the credibility of strategic leaders of the country in an apparent attempt to advance their ignoble and unpatriotic intentions.”

Mba said the training school in Nasarawa had been built with the support of the State Government and several corporate partners.

“Also, the insinuation that the IGP sited the facility ‘in his hometown of Endehu in Nasarawa State’, is also utterly misleading,” Mba said.

“For the avoidance of doubts, Endehu is not the hometown of IGP Adamu. He is, on the contrary, from Lafia.”

Mba added that the police have “instructed its legal team to initiate legal actions against” the online publication over what it sees as “the defamatory and libelous components of the report.”

 

Below is the full police statement:

    PRESS RELEASE

    HOW SAHARA REPORTERS MALICIOUSLY MALIGNED THE NIGERIAN INSPECTOR GENERAL OF POLICE

    The attention of the Nigeria Police Force has been drawn to a misleading report published on the Sahara Reporters online platform on August 03, 2020 under the heading ‘Exclusive: How Nigeria’s Inspector-General of Police, Adamu, Illegally Raised Millions of Naira for Construction of Training School in Nasarawa’. In the report, spurious allegations were made to the effect that the Inspector General of Police, IGP M.A. Adamu was ‘involved in a multi-billion Naira fraudulent scheme’. The publication which referenced several unnamed and unverifiable sources alleged, essentially, that the IGP ‘used his office to unlawfully compel and in fact threaten Mobile Police Commanders into generating millions of Naira monthly through illegal means for the purpose of establishment of a MOPOL Training School in his home town of Endehu in Nasarawa State’.

    2. The Force wishes to state unequivocally that the publication in its entirety is false and baseless. It was published in the tradition of Sahara Reporters to blackmail and impugn the credibility of strategic leaders of the country in an apparent attempt to advance their ignoble and unpatriotic intentions.

    3. While being conscious of the need not to glorify the falsehood contained in the reportage, it is considered expedient and in national security interest to put the facts straight. In this regard, it is to be clarified as follows:

    i. The establishment of the Police Mobile Training School in Endehu, Nasarawa State, North Central Geopolitical Zone of Nigeria was informed by overriding national security consideration on the need to strengthen the operational capacity of the special forces of the Nigeria Police Force.
    ii. Also, the insinuation that the IGP sited the facility ‘in his hometown of Endehu in Nasarawa State’, is also utterly misleading. For the avoidance of doubts, Endehu is not the hometown of IGP Adamu. He is, in the contrary, from Lafia.
    iii. The allegations that the IGP used his office to threaten Mobile Police Commanders into generating Millions of naira monthly through illegal means for the establishment of the institution is also totally false. It is on record that the parcel of land where the institution was sited was donated to the Police with the full complement of the Certificate of Occupancy which the Executive Governor of Nasarawa State publicly presented to the Nigeria Police. The acquisition of the land was, therefore, without any financial commitment by the Police.
    iv. Furthermore, the construction of the facility was achieved with the support of the Nasarawa State Government and well-meaning corporate bodies within the context of their Corporate Social responsibility (CSR). In all instances, all the support so extended were not in cash but in form of donation of materials. The only involvement of some Squadron Commanders was to ensure the delivery of some of the construction materials so donated by the corporate bodies. Hence, the allegation that the IGP ‘had each Squadron Commander cough out nothing less than N500,000 monthly for the purpose of erecting different structures in the training school’ is a preposterous and feeble attempt to discredit the innovative reasoning that engendered the successful implementation of the critical national security asset that the facility represents.

    4. The construction of the project through corporate intervention is a demonstration of the commitment of the Force leadership to meet its obligation to citizens in terms of their safety and security and in furtherance to the Reform agenda of the Nigeria Police Force. It was not established as a personal asset of the IGP. Rather, it is a national security legacy project. It is worth mentioning that this is not the first time that corporate organisations and governments at all levels are assisting the police to bridge operational and infrastructural gaps. Dangote Foundation, the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria Bankers’ Forum, State Governments, Police Community Relations Committee (PCRC), and well-meaning individuals among others have in the past donated fleets of vehicles and have rendered other supports to the Police.

    5. The attempt by Sahara Reporters to malign the Force leadership shall not in any manner impact on the firm determination of the Nigeria Police Force to advance its strategic plan and to continue to adopt innovative reasoning in changing the policing narratives in Nigeria towards stabilizing the internal security order. While members of the public are called upon to discountenance the content of the publication in its entirety, it is to be noted that the Nigeria Police Force has instructed its legal team to initiate legal actions against Sahara Reporters to address the defamatory and libellous components of the report.

    DCP FRANK MBA
    FORCE PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER
    FORCE HEADQUARTERS
    ABUJA

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