2023 : NIGERIANS IN DIASPORA EXPRESS CONCERNS OVER ATTACKS ON INEC OFFICE.
US based socio-political activist and social critic, Hon Oladele Olatubosun who is also the Treasurer, National Coalition of Tinubu Support Group (NCTSG), Diaspora-USA, have expressed concerns over the recent attacks on the offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC in the country, Nigeria.
The Texas based grassroot politician whose political antecedent stems from Nigeria up to the United States expressed the worry while speaking at his 60th birthday party celebration organised by some of his friends and well-wishers.
According to Olatubosun, this portends grave danger to the 2023 elections.
He also condemned the multiple attacks on INEC offices and violent and verbal rivalry among political parties in the country.
Recall that INEC offices in Imo, Ebonyi, Ogun and Osun states were attacked by unknown persons.
According to INEC, about 41 attacks had been carried out against its offices in 14 states between February 2019 and November 2022.
Speaking at his birthday, Pa Oladele said the survival of democracy in Nigeria is critical to Africa and the world at large. Saying fears over the forthcoming election have heightened in Nigeria over the past few years even as he called on all stakeholders, particularly politicians and over-zealous social media commenters to commit to peaceful conduct before, during and after the elections.
Olatubosun said, “As we approach the polls come February this year, attacks on INEC facilities and personnel, violent clashes between opposing members of political parties or broader security challenges are all factors that threaten the peaceful and inclusive and successful execution of the elections.
“The largest democracy in Africa occupies a critical place in efforts to consolidate democracy elsewhere across the world. Credible, useful elections will deepen citizens’ trust and reinforce the foundations for democratic consolidation in Nigeria.”
According to the statesman, a peaceful environment enables people to cast their votes on election day, without fear of harm, intimidation, or coercion.
He pledged the support of himself and his group towards any initiative towards ensuring the smooth conduct of the elections and in sustaining her democracy through peaceful conducts.
He tasked political parties and their candidates to play by the rules for in his words, “the credibility of any government is determined by the credibility of the process that brings it to power.”
The Treasurer of the National Coalition of Tinubu Support Group (NCTSG Diaspora-USA) further called on the United States, United Kingdom and the rest of the international community to match words with action in their commitment to also support credible elections in Nigeria.
INEC Urges Media to Take Measures Against Fake News
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has urged media organisations in the country to take adequate measures against disinformation, misinformation and fake news as Nigeria prepares for the 2023 general elections.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, stated this at the Commission’s quarterly consultative meeting with the media yesterday in Abuja.
Prof. Yakubu, who urged the media to continue supporting INEC for successful elections in 2023, also stated that the media has a critical role to play in combating misinformation and fake news that could disrupt the elections.
“As the 2023 general election approaches, we shall continue to work together with the media. We will remain transparent and provide the required information to combat the triple menace of misinformation, disinformation and fake news as the commission does not support censorship”.
He added, “We believe that the best antidote to fake news is greater openness and greater transparency. So, we appeal to the media to help us fact check, particularly some of the postings on the new media intended to either delegitimise those who conduct elections or to delegitimise the institution that conducts elections, with the ultimate aim of undermining the process.
“As I said, we will always remain open and provide information. I know you’re all professionals in your own right, but I have also learned on this job for some time now that a professional journalist is as effective as the amount and quality of information available to him or her. We will continue to provide you with the information necessary for transparent and credible elections”.
Prof. Yakubu also called for media collaboration for the further clean-up of the country’s voter register and seamless collection of permanent voter cards.
In his remarks, the National President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Chris Isiguzo, commended INEC for the successful conduct of the Ekiti, Osun, and Anambra governorship elections, saying that the feats demonstrated the Commission’s readiness to conduct credible elections in 2023.
Represented by the Union’s National Treasurer, Mr Dele Atunbi, the NUJ President also commended INEC for the various technological innovations in the country’s electoral process, “which has now given the electorate the opportunity to truly choose their leaders.”
His words: “The introduction of technology in the process of conducting elections has shown that INEC has given the people a right to choose their leaders. With the leadership recruitment process in Nigeria under your watch and leadership, we can say authoritatively that it is now for the public to choose their leaders.
“You have done your own part in the leadership recruitment processes, and you have done so well. We are proud of it and we call upon Nigerians to seize this opportunity to protect democracy and their own interests.
He urged political actors to play by the rules and sell their party’s manifesto without tantrums, “which is not in the best interest of Nigerian politics.”
Comrade Isiguzo also urged the media to be professional in their practice to help combat fake news and the use of hate speech or unprintable words during campaigns.
Officials in Memphis, Tennessee, released dramatic body camera footage Friday of the fatal confrontation between Tyre Nichols and five police officers.
Nichols can be heard screaming “mom” several times during the gut-wrenching clips, which appear to show officers beating and pepper-spraying him after he ran from a traffic stop arrest.
Nichols died at the age of 29 on Jan. 10, three days after the violent confrontation.
The five Memphis Police Department officers involved in his arrest — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith — were fired and then charged with second-degree murder in connection with Nichols’ death.
‘We continue to urge caution,’ lawyer for one of accused in Nichols case says The attorney representing former Memphis Police Officer Desmond Mills, one of the five charged in Tyre Nichols’ death, released a statement saying the videos “produced as many questions as they have answers,” Blake Ballin, an attorney for Mills said.
“Some of the questions that remain will require a focus on Desmond Mills’s individual actions; on what Desmond knew and what he was able to see when he arrived late to the scene; on what Desmond knew and what he was able to see after he was pepper sprayed; and on whether Desmond’s actions crossed the lines that were crossed by other officers during this incident,” Ballin said.
“We continue to urge caution and patience in judging Desmond Mills’s actions. We are confident that the questions of whether Desmond crossed the lines that others crossed and whether he committed the crimes charged will be answered with a resounding no,” Ballin added.
Vice President Kamala Harris reacted to the footage of Nichols’ confrontation with police officers.
“Tyre Nichols should have made it home to his family. Yet, once again, America mourns the life of a son and father brutally cut short at the hands of those sworn to protect and serve,” she said in a statement. “The footage and images released tonight will forever be seared in our memories, and they open wounds that will never fully heal.”
Tyre Nichols’ family spoke exclusively with ABC News’ Elwyn Lopez following the release of the body camera footage of his encounter with police.
Rodney Wells, Nichols’ stepfather, said the footage justified that his son was not a threat to the officers.
For an individual to weigh 150 pounds and be brutalized by five officers, [it] is unheard of and we need the public to see it,” he told ABC News.
Wells also called for the prosecution of everyone who was seen in the video, including paramedics and other unidentified officers.
When asked about the part of the footage where Nichols was heard crying for his mother, RowVaughn Wells, she told ABC News that she wasn’t there for her son.
“I had this very bad stomach pain pit and I didn’t know what it was at the time that night,” she said. “I didn’t realize that I was feeling my son’s pain.”
Ben Crump, the attorney representing the family, said the video also raised more questions concerning the other officers who are seen confronting Nichols.
He also criticized the attitude of the first responders seen following the beating.
“They were so nonchalant about everything,” he said.
2 deputies at scene relieved of duties pending investigation Following the footage’s release, two Shelby County sheriff’s deputies who were at the scene of the police confrontation have been relieved of their duties pending an investigation, the county’s sheriff announced.
“Having watched the videotape for the first time tonight, I have concerns about two deputies who appeared on the scene following the physical confrontation between police and Tyre Nichols,” Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. said in a statement on Twitter.
Bonner said he has launched an internal investigation into their conduct “to determine what occurred and if any policies were violated.”
Both are relieved of duty pending the investigation’s outcome, he said.
On a perfect spring day, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Abidemi Rufai arrived at the international terminal ready for the long journey back home to Nigeria.
On his wrist, Rufai, 44, wore an expensive Cartier watch. Around his neck, he wore an 18-karat gold chain with a lion pendant. As he approached the check-in desk for his business class seat on the KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flight, Rufai had seven pieces of luggage, three smartphones, and seven debit and credit cards.
It was May 2021. A year earlier, Rufai had pulled off a spectacular heist of U.S. taxpayer money. The calm with which he moved through the airport belied the chaos he had left in his wake.
His brazen and repeated pilfering of coronavirus relief funds had helped freeze the entire unemployment system in the state of Washington, where he had obtained identifying information for unsuspecting residents. For months, state and federal officials struggled to get ahead of Rufai and other fraudsters, sparking investigations on two continents that culminated in a guilty plea. Eventually, they would discover in Rufai’s email accounts and phone the personal data of 20,000 Americans and voluminous stolen tax returns, as well as photos of Rufai with a powerful Nigerian governor and images of him dressed impeccably in dark sunglasses and royal-blue robes. In one, he sat on an ornate thronelike chair.
Rufai had managed to escape the United States for relative safety in Nigeria in late 2020, just months after his heist. Remarkably, he later returned. Now, as he approached the ticket agent, six law enforcement officers were positioned nearby, watching him.
Since the coronavirus pandemic hit in early 2020, the U.S. government has spent more than $5 trillion to respond to the crisis and stabilize the American economy. Much of that money helped families and businesses survive a dire economic shutdown. But billions of dollars were stolen, and no one is sure, even now, exactly how much has disappeared.
A former Nigerian government official was sentenced Monday to five years in prison for stealing more than $500,000 in pandemic relief benefits in the United States.
Abidemi Rufai was wearing a $10,000 watch and $35,000 gold chain when he was arrested at JFK International Airport in New York on his way to Nigeria in May 2021.
Rufai pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, Washington, in May to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges, and Judge Benjamin Settle issued the sentence Monday. The judge also ordered Rufai to pay more than $600,000 in restitution.
Prosecutors said the 45-year-old had a history of defrauding the U.S. government, including using stolen identities to file for emergency relief after hurricanes in Texas and Florida.
“When disaster struck, so did Mr. Rufai,” Seattle U.S. Attorney Nick Brown said in a news release. “Whether it was hurricane disaster relief, small business loans, or COVID unemployment benefits, he stole aid that should have gone to disaster victims in the United States.”
Such fraud was rampant in pandemic relief programs, according to the U.S. Labor Department’s inspector general, who said last week that $45.6 billion may have been paid out improperly in unemployment insurance from March 2020 to April 2022.
The Justice Department filed charges against dozens of people in Minnesota last week in connection with a $250 million fraud scheme that exploited a federally funded child nutrition program during the pandemic.
Rufai, of Lekki, Nigeria, has a master’s degree and is politically connected in his home country, prosecutors said. He had purported to run a sports betting company since 2016, his finances were opaque and his main source of income apparently was defrauding the U.S. government.
He was known as a prolific political fundraiser, and in 2019, he ran unsuccessfully for Nigeria’s National Assembly, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cindy Chang and Seth Wilkinson wrote in a sentencing memo.
Between April and October 2020, he used a cache of stolen identities – investigators found more than 20,000 of them, with birthdates and social security numbers in one of his email accounts – to file for pandemic-related benefits. He applied with the workforce agencies of at least nine states, including Washington’s Employment Security Department, in the names of at least 224 Americans.
A scramble, then an arrest In January 2021, investigators asked Google for the contents of the sandytangy58@gmail.com account and its associated Google Drive account. When Google provided the information in February, investigators were astonished.
The account contained over 1,000 emails from the Washington state unemployment agency, personal data for more than 20,000 Americans and “a very large volume” of Americans’ real personal tax returns. They also found evidence that Rufai had targeted U.S. businesses and that his frauds on the American government stretched back to at least 2017.
In a major misstep, Rufai also had stored photos of himself on the account.
The haul was “pretty shocking,” said FBI Special Agent Heidi Hawkins, one of the lead agents investigating Rufai. Investigators could now pinpoint him with some certainty as the perpetrator of the fraud.
As long as Rufai was overseas, however, he would be difficult to bring into custody. Nigeria has an extradition treaty with the United States, but such requests require far more work and coordination between U.S. government agencies than a typical prosecution, experts said. Rufai’s status as a serving government official affiliated with the ruling party would probably make the matter even more complicated.
Then came a breakthrough in May 2021. Federal agents had requested Rufai’s travel records and found to their surprise that he had flown back to the United States in March. They also discovered that he was due to get on an outbound flight on May 14.
They had just two days, or he’d be gone again, perhaps for good.
Rwanda Space Agency Director-General Colonel Francis Ngabo (L) and Nigerian Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Isa Ali Ibrahim (R) sign on to the Artemis Accords as NASA Administrator Bill Nelson (R) and Assistant Secretary of State Monica Medina watch, during the Space Forum at the U.S. – Africa Leaders Summit on December 13, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Image credit: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Nigeria, Rwanda become 1st African nations to sign Artemis Accords
The two countries are the 22nd and 23rd signatories of the NASA-led accords.
The Artemis Accords are a broad non-binding framework that lay out agreements for responsible and peaceful international exploration of the moon. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced the addition of Nigeria and Rwanda to this agreement on the first day of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington DC (Dec. 13 – Dec. 15), of which the inaugural space forum was a part.
The United States State Department later issued a statement(opens in new tab) commemorating the addition of Nigeria and Rwanda to the agreement. “Nigeria and Rwanda became the first African nations to sign the Artemis Accords. Participants in the Forum, which was part of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, discussed how to further shared goals through the peaceful exploration and use of outer space,” the statement reads.
The Accords were signed by Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Isa Ali Ibrahim on behalf of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and by Rwanda Space Agency CEO Francis Ngabo on behalf of the Republic of Rwanda, according to the statement.
“Signatories commit to principles to guide their civil space activities, including the public release of scientific data, responsible debris mitigation, registration of space objects, and the establishment and implementation of interoperability standards,” the State Department’s statement continues.
The Artemis Accords were launched jointly by NASA and the U.S. State Department along with eight nations in 2020 with the announced aim of advancing bilateral and multilateral space cooperation between signatories. Nigeria and Rwanda signing up to the moon coalition means there are now 23 signatories to the Accords, which sets of principles and best practices for exploration.
The Accords take inspiration for their name from NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to establish a sustainable human presence on and around the moon by the end of the 2020s.
The first countries to sign up were the United States, Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates, with South Korea in 2021 becoming the first of many to sign during the Biden administration. Other nations such as Russia and China have argued that the accords are far too U.S.-centric and represent a power grab by the U.S. and its allies.
AFTER 5 YEARS OF DELAYED JUSTICE PETER OBI DG GOES TO JAIL, TO SERVE 2 YEARS
The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Monday, jailed Doyin Okupe, for two years with an option of fine.
The court jailed Mr Okupe, who is the director-general of Peter Obi’s Labour (LP) presidential campaign council, for money laundering offences.
He was also a Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Media to former President Goodluck Jonathan.
Delivering the judgment on Monday, the judge, Ijeoma Ojukwu, held that Mr Okupe was guilty of contravening sections 16(1) and (2) of the Money Laundering Act, for receiving cash payments without going through a bank, in excess of the threshold statutorily allowed.
Mr Okupe was found guilty on a total of 26 counts – from counts 34 to 59 of the charges.
The judge sentenced Mr Okupe to two years in prison on count 34 with an option of a fine of N500,000.
The court also sentenced him to two years imprisonment on counts 35 to 59 with an option of a fine of N500,000. The option of fine is to run consecutively on each count while the sentence is to run concurrently.
The judge refrained from making any custodial order but said the convict is the property of the state.
In January 2019, the EFCC arraigned Mr Okupe alongside two companies – Value Trust Investment Ltd and Abrahams Telecoms Ltd, over allegations of N702 fraud.
He was charged with 59 counts bordering on “money laundering and criminal diversion of funds” to the tune of N702 million from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), which was headed by Sambo Dasuki.
While closing its case, an EFCC witness, Shuaibu Salisu, a former director of Administration and Finance at the ONSA, said in 2012, he was directed to make a payment of N50 million to him.”
He further said he was also directed by the ONSA ”to be paying N10 million monthly to Okupe for over two years”, which he said was reduced to a monthly N5 million towards the end of 2014 due to paucity of funds.
Also, Mr Salisu recalled paying another N50 million in cash to Mr Okupe on the orders of Mr Dasuki, who equally faces charges at the Federal and FCT High Courts in Abuja.
Mr Salisu told the court that “sometime in 2012, Chief Okupe came to the Office of the National Security Adviser, and after their discussion, I was directed to make a payment of N50 million to him.”
According to him, “Okupe provided his account details, where I paid the amount into the bank account of Value Trust Investment.”
PLS UNIFIES AMUWO ODOFIN ENTERTAINMENT LOVERS AS MAMMOTH CROWD VISITS FREE VIEWING CENTER
Have you ever walked by a group of people seating in front of a TV or a projector in an open space, yelling at the top of their voices in ecstasy and excitement and wondered to yourself how it made any sense why people will leave the comfort of your houses to sit in such a place to watch football. Well…you will never know until you experience it.
The above rightly captures the mood of residents of Amuwo Odofin Federal Constituency who trooped out in their numbers to the free Viewing centre donated by the Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu for the entertainment lovers in Amuwo Odofin Federal Constituency to watch the ongoing FIFA World Cup between France and Argentina which ended in favour of Argentina.
Push News 24 International reports that the initiative was well received and welcomed by members of the community as it became a place where every true football fan visited, and for the die-hards, every single experience is different, and for some its like watching the game live at the stadium.
Push News observed that the All Progressive Congress (APC), House of Representatives Candidate, Prince Lanre A. SANUSI ( PLS) who was physically present stressed that the establishment of the viewing centre is to enable residents of the FESTIVAL town have easy access to the FIFA games.
According to PLS, the centre was established with sponsorship from the Sanwo-Olu led administration. “It is part of our deliberate bid as a party and government to make entertaining a unifying link for our people ” PLS said.
According to the DG of PLS Campaign Organization, Hon Badmus, the viewing centres, which are adequately secured, are located at in a safe vincity in order to ensure comfort while viewing.
“The idea of bring entertainment closer to residents of Amuwo Odofin Federal Constituency, is to ease the tension in the political space while ensuring more fun and entertainment, as fans watch.”
“more importantly, to connect to each other as football cut across class, ethnic and religious affiliations.”
PLS in his response to the media said “Viewing Centres are a place for all, a place where people from all walks of life come to enjoy the beautiful game of football irrespective of the clubs they support. For men, woman, boys or girls, the viewing center has become a community where genuine relationships are built solely on the shared love for football”.
On the health benefits of sporting the legislative hopeful said ” it takes away stress viewing centres are therapeutic, they serve their purpose as places where you can go, and for those fun filled 90 minutes, your body, mind and soul is completely focused on the game and away from the day’s stress and worry. The viewing centre is a place that helps you “forget about your sorrows; albeit momentarily”.
Politically the Awori born said ” its a happy place Irrespective of the political party or aspirants you support or whether or not you win or lose, you never actually leave the viewing centre sad. The happiness and positivity that the viewing centre exudes is contagious. It further gave me the opportunity to interact with my constituents “
Re: Truckers Write Sanwo-Olu Over Four Missing Members: COMTUA, Punch Newspaper Spreading Lies.
By: Fashina Shakiru.
We are surprised and shocked with the news headlined ‘Truckers write Sanwo-Olu over four missing members’, published in the ‘Punch Newspaper Online’ dated Today, 14th December, 2022.
The news publication also falsely stated that, “Illegal possession of firearms, suspected murder, kidnapping, vandalism of properties, and break down of law and order when their members, Council for Maritime Truck Unions and Associations, (COMTUA) trying to ensure sanity in the movement of truck were attacked by hoodlums suspected to be ‘Ecomog Boys’.”
To set the record straight and rebut malicious allegations made by the COMTUA and erroneously published without proper investigation by a reputable Punch newspapers; There is NO group known as “Ecomog Boys” in Mile 2, but there is a body known under the state transport regulation called Lagos state park and garages management, (LASPGM) Amuwo Odofin Branch; There is NO element of truth in the said report, which is very alarming and ill motivate to cause chaos in the state.
However, what transpired on Tuesday, 13th December, 2022 at Mile 2 bridge, Apapa/Oshodi expressway, When A team of Nigeria Police from Area E, Festac Town division led Council for Maritime Truck Unions and Associations (COMTUA) members to the designated check point for trucks and heavy-duty containers accessing Apapa Port, Invoking purported ‘Order from the Lagos state, Commissioner of Police, CP Abiodun Alabi that LASPGM members should evacuate the road’. In respond to this, a member of the LASPGM, asked for the warrant or letter to that effect, whereas, NO LETTER OR WARRANT WAS PRESENTED OR PRODUCED.”
With NO record of violence, harassment or intimidation and video evidence to that effect, in a very diplomatic and friendly manner, both parties resolved that a proper warrant or letter addressed to the branch while copying the state chairman of the LASPGM whose activities is backed by the Lagos State Transport Regulation, is required for such order to be invoked.
It was a great shock and dismay to read in a publication this morning that ‘Truckers write Sanwo-Olu over four missing members’. We want to categorically state that, THIS IS A FALSE ALARM AND BLATANT FAKE NEWS. It seems the news was prepared based on perception and fabricated statement to cause uprise in the state and dent to the image of LASPGM members.
It is good to clear the air on these baseless and fallacious allegation levelled against our members; NO police officers was belittled and NO breakdown of law and order, as everyone was going on about their normal businesses; The police officers conducted themselves in a good professional manners to ensure that there is no breakdown of law and orders. The police who led the COMTUA members later urged them to WRITE A LETTER TO THE APPROPRIATE AUTHORITY to avoid any unrest.
We strongly protest the publication of such online newspaper and call the attention of the Lagos state, Commissioner of Police, CP Abiodun Alabi to investigate on the subject matter.
It is also interesting to note that, this group called COMTUA which is headed by one Prince Taofeek Adeyinka Aroyewun popularly known as YINKA is not a registered and recognized union under state laws in Lagos, therefore has no business on the state road; Claiming to ensure sanity on the road blocked, where there are state authority and stakeholders responsible to ensure free flow of traffic on the axis of Mile 2 bridge, Apapa/Oshodi expressway.
The head of COMTUA, Yinka, as fondly called is also a member of Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, (RTEAN) which was recently banned by the state government and a prominent member of People’s Democratic Party, PDP in Lagos state. He is a temerity of unscrupulous hustler and blackmailer who has been working for PDP Presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar with intentions to cause serious political havoc in the state.
It is categorically to state that, this is the period of electioneering, the public and state government should note that, COMTUA President, Prince Taofeek Adeyinka Aroyewun popularly known as YINKA should be held responsible for any unrest or attack on LASPGM Amuwo Odofin members, particularly Mile 2, Apapa/Oshodi expressway, because we have gathered with some evidence that he will lead clandestine attack on major grassroots mobilizers of All Progressives Congress, APC in the coming days which the service has been paid.
Finally, Our Members are law-abiding citizen, we therefore call on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Commissioner of Police Abiodun Alabi and Ministry of Transportation to look into matter as soon as possible.
FASHINA SHAKIRU Media for LASPGM Amuwo Odofin, Badagry division.
LASPGM: COMTUA and Punch Newspaper Caught Spreading Fake News
By: Fashina Shakiru.
We are surprised and shocked with the news headlined ‘Truckers write Sanwo-Olu over four missing members’, published in the ‘Punch Newspaper Online’ dated Today, 14th December, 2022.
The news publication also falsely stated that, “Illegal possession of firearms, suspected murder, kidnapping, vandalism of properties, and break down of law and order when their members, Council for Maritime Truck Unions and Associations, (COMTUA) trying to ensure sanity in the movement of truck were attacked by hoodlums suspected to be ‘Ecomog Boys’.”
To set the record straight and rebut malicious allegations made by the COMTUA and erroneously published without proper investigation by a reputable Punch newspapers; There is NO group known as “Ecomog Boys” in Mile 2, but there is a body known under the state transport regulation called Lagos state park and garages management, (LASPGM) Amuwo Odofin Branch; There is NO element of truth in the said report, which is very alarming and ill motivate to cause chaos in the state.
However, what transpired on Tuesday, 13th December, 2022 at Mile 2 bridge, Apapa/Oshodi expressway, When A team of Nigeria Police from Area E, Festac Town division led Council for Maritime Truck Unions and Associations (COMTUA) members to the designated check point for trucks and heavy-duty containers accessing Apapa Port, Invoking purported ‘Order from the Lagos state, Commissioner of Police, CP Abiodun Alabi that LASPGM members should evacuate the road’. In respond to this, a member of the LASPGM, asked for the warrant or letter to that effect, whereas, NO LETTER OR WARRANT WAS PRESENTED OR PRODUCED.”
With NO record of violence, harassment or intimidation and video evidence to that effect, in a very diplomatic and friendly manner, both parties resolved that a proper warrant or letter addressed to the branch while copying the state chairman of the LASPGM whose activities is backed by the Lagos State Transport Regulation, is required for such order to be invoked.
It was a great shock and dismay to read in a publication this morning that ‘Truckers write Sanwo-Olu over four missing members’. We want to categorically state that, THIS IS A FALSE ALARM AND BLATANT FAKE NEWS. It seems the news was prepared based on perception and fabricated statement to cause uprise in the state and dent to the image of LASPGM members.
It is good to clear the air on these baseless and fallacious allegation levelled against our members; NO police officers was belittled and NO breakdown of law and order, as everyone was going on about their normal businesses; The police officers conducted themselves in a good professional manners to ensure that there is no breakdown of law and orders. The police who led the COMTUA members later urged them to WRITE A LETTER TO THE APPROPRIATE AUTHORITY to avoid any unrest.
We strongly protest the publication of such online newspaper and call the attention of the Lagos state, Commissioner of Police, CP Abiodun Alabi to investigate on the subject matter.
It is also interesting to note that, this group called COMTUA which is headed by one Prince Taofeek Adeyinka Aroyewun popularly known as YINKA is not a registered and recognized union under state laws in Lagos, therefore has no business on the state road; Claiming to ensure sanity on the road blocked, where there are state authority and stakeholders responsible to ensure free flow of traffic on the axis of Mile 2 bridge, Apapa/Oshodi expressway.
The head of COMTUA, Yinka, as fondly called is also a member of Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, (RTEAN) which was recently banned by the state government and a prominent member of People’s Democratic Party, PDP in Lagos state. He is a temerity of unscrupulous hustler and blackmailer who has been working for PDP Presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar with intentions to cause serious political havoc in the state.
It is categorically to state that, this is the period of electioneering, the public and state government should note that, COMTUA President, Prince Taofeek Adeyinka Aroyewun popularly known as YINKA should be held responsible for any unrest or attack on LASPGM Amuwo Odofin members, particularly Mile 2, Apapa/Oshodi expressway, because we have gathered with some evidence that he will lead clandestine attack on major grassroots mobilizers of All Progressives Congress, APC in the coming days which the service has been paid.
Finally, Our Members are law-abiding citizen, we therefore call on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Commissioner of Police Abiodun Alabi and Ministry of Transportation to look into matter as soon as possible.
FASHINA SHAKIRU Media for LASPGM Amuwo Odofin, Badagry division.
$6M EMAIL FRAUD – FBI LIST NIGERIAN BORN OGUNSAKIN ON WANTED LIST DECLARES HIM INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT RISK
Nigerian, Alex Afolabi Ogunsakin born on February 23, 1983 believed to currently living in Nigeria has been list by the FBI as one of the most wanted by the US government on allegations bordering around Business Email Compromise fraud schemes.
The United States Department of Justice, also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United States.
Alex Afolabi Ogunshakin is wanted for his alleged involvement in a Business Email Compromise (BEC) scheme that defrauded over 70 different businesses in the United States resulting in combined losses of over $6,000,000 USD.
Ogunshakin allegedly provided bank accounts to Richard Izuchukwu Uzuh, and other co-conspirators Felix Osilama Okpoh, Abiola Ayorinde Kayode, and Nnamdi Orson Benson, that were used to receive fraudulent wire transfers. Ogunshakin allegedly also assisted in these schemes by sending spoofed emails to businesses used to solicit fraudulent wire transfers. Ogunshakin allegedly later conducted his own BEC schemes, learning from Uzuh and others. On August 21, 2019, Ogunshakin was indicted in the United States District Court, District of Nebraska, Omaha, Nebraska, on charges of Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud. On August 22, 2019, a federal warrant was issued for his arrest.
Business email compromise (BEC)—also known as email account compromise (EAC)—is one of the most financially damaging online crimes. It exploits the fact that so many of us rely on email to conduct business—both personal and professional.
In a BEC scam, criminals send an email message that appears to come from a known source making a legitimate request.
