Tuesday 30 April 2013

How 21 Year-Old Man, Tadafe Egwolo Kidnapped, Raped and Demanded N10Million from a Female Senior Staff of the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) | See One Shocking Photo!



 
Troops of Sector 1, Operation Pulo Shield, Effurun Nigerian Army Barracks, last Thursday, acting on a tip-off, rescued a female senior staff of the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Effurun, at PTI Junction, Delta State, from the hands of suspected kidnappers cum rapists. EBENEZER ADUROKIYA reports the claims and counterclaims that ensued during their parade.

The story of a 21-year-old boy, who comfortably rides on a Lexus car worth N4.5 million at Effurun, tells more about a generation needing redemption.

The young man, Mr Tadafe Egwolo, was last Thursday, arrested by troops of Sector 1, Operation Pulo Shield, Effurun, along with his friend, Mr Kelvin Uvwie, for kidnapping, raping and demanding N10 million ransom from a 53-year-old woman.



The woman, who was allegedly raped by Egwolo at Room 602, Casa De Perdro Hotel located at Effurun, last Tuesday, was subjected to a dehumanizing state. She was, according to the senior staffer in PTI, at gun point, picked up from PTI junction at Effurun and taken to a hotel room, where she was stripped naked and violated in the presence of Egwolo’s friend, Uvwie; who in turn, acted as a paparazzi. She was not only sexually molested, but subjected to a bestial state of sucking the penis of her traducer during the forced sex bout.

Thereafter, the mother of two, whose first daughter got married few months back, was requested to produce N10 million in few hours or face blackmail and/or death if she failed to concur.

The woman, while speaking with journalists on Saturday, said apart from being a worker at PTI, she was a children’s teacher in one of the churches in Warri, adding that she had never met the suspects before, let alone having a romantic affair with them.

It was, however, gathered that apart from being single, she lived with her two daughters before one of them got married few months ago.

But Egwolo, whose father said he was 21 and not 25 years old as earlier claimed during interrogation by journalists, hinted that the case between him and the woman, was one of love gone sour, over his unpaid monthly salary arrears. The agreed monthly payment was N150, 000, for bringing sexual satisfaction to the woman.

While giving the genesis of the relationship, the gigolo, Egwolo, insisted, “I’m here because of somebody I’ve been dating for one year and eight months. Her name is Jully Momoh (not real name). I’m 25 years old and we met when I paid a visit to PTI. I was wearing dreadlocks then, so she saw me and said that she liked me. She said that I looked handsome and gave me her address, asking me to meet her in her office. Before we started dating, she said she would pay me monthly and since we started dating, we used to meet at different hotels.

“The last sex we had which turned sour, was at Room 602, Casa De Pedro. Sometimes she would pay me between N1, 000 and N2, 000, but she later promised to increase my payment,” he explained.

Egwolo, who claimed to be a Business Administration student at the Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State, said he and his lover agreed on N150, 000 monthly for his services. According to him, the centre could no longer hold when she was not fulfilling her own part of the bargain and was rather promising him to wait till November this year, for his arrears.

Unsatisfied with the arrangement, Egwolo said he decided to set her up by taking her to the hotel room while he had arranged with his friend, Uvwie, to hide in the wardrobe and take snapshots of them. He said he intended to use the photographs to intimidate her to redeem her pledge.

“Sometimes she takes very good care of me and she promised to pay me N150, 000 per month. But she kept deceiving me every time I went to her office and yet she still expected me to continue to please her sexually. Later, I was worried and I confided in one of my friends on what to do. So we agreed on taking snapshots of me having sex with her, as a tool to retrieve the money from her,” Egwolo, who said he had lost his fiancée to the incident, lamented.

Mr Uvwie, on his part, did not take part in the actual purported rape, but joined his friend to take the snapshots of the sex scenes. He denied ever being promised any amount for his job, claiming initially that he was a student of University of Abuja, studying an non-existent course, before he later said he was also into dredging, having finished studying Oil and Gas in India.

Egwolo, however, begged for pardon while swearing before press men that her victim was the first ever sugar mummy he had ever dated, appealing to youths to beware of such fast business as the end may not be as envisaged.

“I would advise Nigerian youths not to do such things, because what you never planned for is what you would get. But I never wanted to blackmail her, I just wanted to threaten her so as to get my money.  I threatened her that I would show the photographs to her children if she did not give me my money. I did not kidnap her. She paid the hotel bill herself. Though she begged me to wait till October to collect my money, I was not ready for such bargain,” Egwolo affirmed.

Meanwhile, afraid of being blackmailed or even killed, after the threats, the woman reported the case to the Joint Task Force (JTF) and was asked to play along. The JTF laid an ambush for the culprits when they came to the woman’s office at PTI to collect the ransom she claimed they demanded and the suspects were nabbed.

Preliminary investigations, according to Commanding Officer, 3rd Battalion, Nigerian Army, Effurun, Lt. Col. Otu, while briefing the press after the parade of the suspects on Saturday, showed that the duo had confessed to committing the crime.

According to Lt. Col. Otu, the suspects came in a Lexus car with registration number; Delta EFR 02AA which belongs to Egwolo to PTI where they were to pick up their ransom.

While informing that more investigations would still be carried out on the case, Lt Col Otu gave other items recovered from them to include one Blackberry, two Nokia phones and one LG phone, saying that the suspected toy gun used for the action was yet to be retrieved.

He added that the suspects would be handed over to the appropriate quarters for prosecution after the JTF was through with them.
Culled from Nigerian Tribune

N1.5Billion Scam: EFCC Did Not Force Ikuforiji’s Aide to Make Statement



The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Monday, April 29, 2013, denied allegation by Mr. Oyebode Atoyebi, Personal Assistant to the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji that he was forced to volunteer statement to the EFCC.
Counsel to the EFCC, Rotimi Oyedepo, while leading the first prosecution witness Sergeant Hycient Obinna in evidence, told a Lagos High Court presided over by Justice Deborah Oluwayemi that neither
Atoyebi nor Olayinka Sanni wrote any statement under duress. Sanni and
Atoyebi, are standing trial in a case of conspiracy, stealing and forgery amounting to about N1.5billion.
Sanni, a chartered accountant and operator of SIDAW Ventures, a bureau
de change, was alleged to have fraudulently transferred various sums
of money from more than seven customers of the former Intercontinental
Bank into the account of SIDAW Ventures owned and operated by him
without the customers’ consent; while Atoyebi was docked for allowing his passport-sized photograph and name to be used to open an account by SIDAW Ventures Limited in the name of Akanmu Babatunde. With this fictitious name,
Sanni brokered many shady deals and duped many innocent people.
 At the resumed hearing of the case on Monday, Obinna was
asked by the EFCC counsel to identify the statements written by Oyebode and Sanni. He identified the statements and the dates they were obtained.
But defence counsel, A.T. Abdulsalam alleged that the
statements were written under duress and that “duress can be anything”.
 “My lord, duress can be a promise of secrecy or a promise of
letting you go”. 
 This submission prompted Oyedepo to request the prosecution witness to explain to the court what happened on the day the statements were taken. The witness told the court that the two suspects were well-received on the day they responded to the allegations imputed to them by their petitioners. They were taken through the normal procedures of writing statements under caution and they complied.
Counsel to Atoyebi, Abiodun Onidare, however countered that his client was intimidated in the course of writing his statements because the statements were written with two different pens and in two different handwritings, suggesting that the statements may not have been voluntarily written.  

Oyedepo, in his response, asked the witness whether any force was applied on the defendants while taking their statements.  “We  are operatives in EFCC and we do not handle guns, I was just with my pen and the statements form while taking their statements”, the witness said.

Justice Oluwayemi adjourned the case to May 9, 2013, for cross-
examination of the prosecution witness.
Wilson Uwujaren
Ag. Head, Media & Publicity


EFCC Press Release




N33m Fraud: Two Bag 7-Year Jail Term
Justice M. L. Shuaibu of the Federal High Court, Kaduna has sentenced two persons, Ifeanyi Echebiri and Sylvester Okoli to seven years imprisonment each for obtaining money under false pretence.
The accused persons were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on May 13, 2011 on a 21-count charge of obtaining money under false pretence contrary to Section 8(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.
The accused pleaded not guilty to the charge. In the course of the trial, the EFCC called eight witnesses and presented several documents which were admitted as exhibits.  
After over two years of trial, Justice Shuaibu delivered judgment on April 26, 2013 and convicted the accused persons on 17 of the 21 counts. The accused persons were sentenced to seven year imprisonment on each of the counts but the sentence is to run concurrently.
 The court also ordered that the accused persons make restitution to the complainant. However, this order will only be carried out sequel to a thorough and satisfactory investigation into the source of the complainant’s money, that it was not acquired illegally.
The convicts’ journey to prison began when on May 13, 2011 one Usman Falalu, a 31-year-old engineer who works with a construction company in Kaduna petitioned the Commission, alleging that that he was swindled of the sum of N33million by a syndicate of fraudsters through a phony contract to supply Power Voltage Rings worth N132 million to Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN.
Wilson Uwujaren
Ag. Head, Media & Publicity

EFCC arrests Ifeanyi Ubah over Fuel Subsidy Scam



Ifeanyi Ubah
By SaharaReporters
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested the managing director of Capital Oil and Gas Industries Limited, Mr Ifeanyi Ubah.
Sources at the agency told Saharareporters that Mr. Ubah was arrested by a team of operatives at his Maitama home in Abuja.
A detective at the agency revealed that Mr. Ubah had ignored earlier invitations to the EFCC to voluntarily submit to interrogations regarding his role in the  multi-billion dollar oil subsidy scam.  Ubah is currently undergoing interrogation at the Abuja offices of the EFCC.
So far the EFCC has arraigned some 40 persons in connection with the scam.

Sunday 28 April 2013

How JTF killed notorious Boko Haram leader, Mohammed Chad


The notorious Boko Haram operative, Mohammed Chad, was yesterday evening killed in a gun battle with JTF. The fight occurred at Ruwan-Zafi area of Maiduguri metropolis when the officers of the JTF’s Operation Restore Order and operatives of the State Security Service confronted Boko Haram fighters.
Mohammed has been on the top list of the most wanted Boko Haram leaders. Intelligence sources told Saharareporters  that Mohammed was involved in the planning and execution of various terrorists attacks in and outside Borno state. He was allegedly the mastermind of the March 18th Boko Haram’s attack on Sanda Karami Secondary School at Ruwan-Zafi in which a teacher and three female students were killed.
Mr. Mohammed is believed to be the successor to Ba'ana Assalafi , a Boko Haram commander who was killed in a gun battle with security agencies in Sokoto.

Saturday 27 April 2013

Supervisory Counselor arrested over attack on PHCN workers

Emeka Ibemere
 Supervisory Counselor for Labour in Ikotun Council of Alimosho Area in Lagos State has been arrested by the local policemen from Ikotun Division for allegedly taking laws into his hands and attacked local electricity workers.
Daily Newswatch gathered that the suspect hired 30 miscreants to attack local electricity workers on Abaranje Road at Custom bus stop on the morning of Thursday, 25 April 2013, forcing the officers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), in the area to close work.
A senior staff of the organization said the man; a supervisory counselor for Labour stormed the office of the PHCN with 30 miscreants and armed to the teeth attacked the staffers of the organization in military style.
 It was gathered that by the time the attackers left the office, over 12 workers had sustain several degrees of injuries, including a policeman who came for their rescue.  Clutching machetes and broken bottles; the rag-tag ‘area boys’ as they are fondly called in Lagos, stormed the working place of the electric workers and left their victims in pains with machete cuts.
The counselor, nick-namely known as Arizona was said to owe PHCN of over N25, 000 bills and that his light was cut by the PHCN workers on debt drive but that the man illegally reconnect ted his light back without having to pay PHCN. However, when the PHCN revisited the residential house of the counselor next week, they equally cut the light the second time and took the wires.
On returning back to his house and seeing that the light had been cut off again, he hired his thugs in Ikotun and yesterday morning, stormed the Abaranje office of the PHCN and allegedly attacked them with dangerous weapons.
It was gathered that the glass Almaco windows and doors of the office were smashed and their chairs broken into pieces before disappearing into thin air.
When contacted, the Divisional Police Officer DPO, in Ikotun was not on seat to confirm the incident but a woman police on the desk confirmed the incident but requested not to mention her name in the story.
She said the counselor has been arrested while his thugs are on the run. According to her, the injured policeman is receiving treatment in an undisclosed private hospital in Ikotun.
She said the counselor would be prosecuted for attacking a policeman on duty and for allegedly destroying PHCN office while causing harmful injuries on government workers who were carrying out their national responsibility.


Friday 26 April 2013

Jonathan Approves N5.7b for Victims of 2011 Post Election Violence

President Goodluck Jonathan has approved the release of a total sum of N5,747,694,780.00 to nine states of the federation for direct disbursement to those who suffered losses of properties, means of livelihood and places of worship in the post election violence of 2011.

According to a statement from the Office of Special Adviser Media and Publicity to the President, Dr Reuben Abati, the approval was based on the submission of the Sheik Ahmed Lemu’s panel and its adoption by the Federal Executive Council.

Following the post election violence and civil disturbances in some states after the April 2011 elections, President Jonathan set up a Panel of Enquiry headed by Sheik Ahmed Lemu to among other things, identify the spread and extent of losses suffered across the country.

The Federal Ministry of Lands and Housing was later mandated to assess the reported losses and damage to properties in all affected states.

Consequently, President Jonathan has approved the release of funds to nine of the 14 affected states as follows: 1. Bauchi - N1,574,879,000.00 2. Sokoto - N55,888,506.00 3. Zamfara - N93,253,485.00 4. Niger - N433,375,875.00 5. Jigawa - N208,667,634.00 6. Katsina - N1,973,209,440.00 7. Kano - N944,827,000.00 8. Adamawa - N420,089,840.00 9. Akwa Ibom - N43,504,000.00 Total - N5,747,694,780.00

President Jonathan has also directed that an Implementation Committee for the disbursement of the funds to beneficiaries in the nine states be constituted as follows: 1. Executive Governor or Deputy Governor - Chairman 2. Representative of State Government - Member 3. Secretary of the Sheik Lemu Panel - Member 4. Representative of the OSGF - Member 5. Representative of the FMLH&UD - Member

Inspection and assessment of damages and losses suffered are yet to be carried out in Borno, Yobe, Gombe, Kaduna and Nasarawa states as modalities and further instructions for the exercise are still being expected from the state governments.

Funds to cover the losses sustained by victims of the post election violence in theses five states will be approved and released at the conclusion of the assessment exercise.

Thursday 25 April 2013

Tsav hails Jonathan on Boko Haram Committee




Emeka Ibemere
President Goodluck Jonathan has received praises following the inauguration of 26-man Committee on Dialogue and Peaceful Resolution of Security Challenges in the North.
The Committee is chaired by the Minister of Special Duties, Kabiru Tanimu Turaki.
But reacting on the Committee, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, former Lagos State Commissioner of Police in an interview with Daily Newswatch congratulated the President for his gentleman leadership by revisiting his earlier comment that there won’t be amnesty for the killer Islamic sect.
Jonathan had earlier ruled out amnesty for the goons when he described the group as ghosts. But fortnights ago, the president inaugurated committee for amnesty    programme for the sect and gave them 90 days to carry out their assignment.
Tsav tasked the committee to work with fear of God in the discharge of their responsibilities.
“I congratulate Jonathan for inaugurating Boko Haram Amnesty committee. I wish the committee will work with the fear of God in the discharge of their assignment”, Tsav said.
“Many people especially hardliners in the Christian community and beneficiaries of the insurgency are against amnesty program. This group misled President Jonathan into describing Boko Haram as ghosts and refused granting them amnesty”.
According to the ex-Cop, it was gratifying to note that Jonathan had now realised that without peace, there could be no development and urged the President not to pay attention to the utterances of the so-called men of God.
“Those Christians who advised Jonathan against amnesty to Boko Haram have not read and understood the Bible. These are misguided persons who are using the name of Christ for prosperity”.
The human right activist cum Cop also lampoon men of God who owns Private jets and properties all over the country to stop giving wrong counsels to political leaders but be ambassadors of Christ whom they profess His name. He tasked them to take care of their sheep and for their salvation rather than delving into politics.
“The Bible says on the last day, “Many shall come and say, Lord did we not prophesy in thy name and in thy name cast out devils and Christ will tell them, depart from me I never knew you, you workers of iniquity’’. Tsav said.