Nigerian businessman arrested for allegedly fleecing top media firm of millions of dollars

A Nigerian businessman, Mohammed Gobir, has been arrested for allegedly fleecing an advertising agency of millions of dollars.

Mr. Gobir allegedly defrauded Afromedia, a popular Nigerian outdoor advertising agency, of the money in a scheme that started in 2008 when both parties met.

The mega heist fetched Mr. Gobir $3.5 million, N514 million, and 51,000 Pounds at various times, officials of the anti-graft agency, EFCC, believe.

Mr. Gobir, a 55–year-old father of two, was arrested by EFCC operatives in the early hours of Saturday at his Ikoyi residence and is still being interrogated at the Lagos office of the anti-graft agency as at press time.

The suspect allegedly defrauded the advertising company through a phony investment deal.

The suspect was allegedly introduced to Afromedia sometime in 2008 by their private placement consultants, Synergy Capital Advisory Limited as a high-net-worth investor who was willing to inject N1 billion into the company, through the acquisition of shares.

Based on his touted pedigree as potential investor, Mr. Gobir became close to the management and in no time became chairman of the Business Development Committee of the board of directors of the company, a position he would later use to his advantage.

Having earned the trust of the company owners, Mr. Gobir started demanding large sum of money which he termed business expenses to international consultants, Royal Exchange Burue in the United Kingdom, to facilitate and secure investments from his bank in the UK, NATWEST BANK LONDON, officials say.

The company reportedly gave Mr. Gobir $1 million in cash and also paid for his travel expenses on a first class return ticket to the UK where he would meet with the purported investors, which investigation later revealed never existed nor were the meetings ever held.

Once after the suspect had collected several sums of money and made several trips to the UK to meet with the purported investors, the Group Managing Director of Afromedia accompanied him to the UK for another round of meetings ostensibly to close the deal.

But as soon as they landed in the UK, Mr. Gobir made a telephone call in which his travel companion overheard him scream aloud, saying his asset were seized by UK anti-money laundering authorities. He even showed the GMD an email sent to him for the alleged seizure.

The suspect confessed to the MD of Afromedia that his money ($250 million) was seized by the British Authorities five years earlier over allegations of money laundering and that he was currently financially handicapped and needed a bailout of $3.8 million to get the European Union Money Laundering Waiver Certificate.

The suspect later presented a “waiver certificate” to the company and promised to pay them all the monies he had collected.

Up till the time of his arrest, the suspect had not refunded any money to Afromedia.

The EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, who confirmed the arrest, said the agency was still investigating the matter.

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The Nigerian military destroyed all known Boko Haram terrorists’ camps and cells in the North East.

The Nigerian military on Wednesday said it has destroyed all known Boko Haram terrorists’ camps and cells in the North East.

The Defence spokesperson, Rabe Abubakar, said this at his maiden news conference, adding that the camps were destroyed by troops operating in the region.

Mr. Abubakar said the terrorists have been “so militarily defeated and weakened” that they can never hold any part of the territory in that part of the country.

He said, “These terrorists have been subdued. Even if they are adopting other means and as they are re-strategising, we are also doing same.”

The defence spokesperson said the military had been coordinating air and ground assault to make sure that terrorists’ hideouts are completely decimated.

“As I am speaking to you, all the terrorists’ camps have completely been wiped out. So, right now they are completely in disarray, having no command and control of where to plan. We have even taken over the camps that most of them have even abandoned their bases and blended within towns and communities,” Mr. Abubakar said.

He also said some of the terrorists had been apprehended.

“We are making a lot of headways and a lot of achievements and people should know that Boko Haram is no longer strong enough to hold ground. Very soon this issue of whether they are in control of any territory in Nigeria or not will come to the open,” he said.

Mr. Abubakar, a colonel, assured Nigerians that no territory in the country will be taken captive by the insurgents.

He also said that significant progress has been made due to various strategies including morale boosting of troops by the chief of army staff, Tukur Burutai.

Mr. Abubakar said, “the issue of desertion, complaints of non-equipment and lack of morale and motivation are now things of the past”.

He noted that emphasis are now placed on credible training and retraining on the sanctity of human rights and protection of the combatants in the battle fields.

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Buhari withdraws diplomatic, official passports from ex-governors, ministers, senators, others

The Nigerian Immigration Service has directed former Nigerian public office holders to immediately surrender official and diplomatic passports issued to them while they were in office.

The action, officials say, is based on the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The categories of officials affected by the directive are former governors, former ministers, former senators, former members of the House of Representatives, and former members of state Houses of Assembly.

Others are former commissioners, former special advisers/special assistants, former chairmen/deputy chairmen of local government areas, all retired heads of parastatals and retired public servants.

“These categories of persons are hereby informed that these passports which were previously held by them have been revoked and should return them to the Nigeria Immigration Service Headquarters Sauka Abuja with immediate effect,” the Comptroller-General of the Immigration Service, Martin Abeshi, said in a statement Monday.

“Failure to comply with this directive will amount to an offence under the Immigration Act 2015. Such unauthorized possession will be impounded at our control posts on arrival or departure.”

The Federal Government had on August 24 directed the Immigration Service to retrieve all valid diplomatic and official passports from all persons not entitled to hold such documents.

“The attention of the Federal Government has been drawn to the fact that some Nigerians who are not entitled to hold diplomatic and official passports are in possession of these documents,” a statement by Yusuf Isiaka,the Director of Press, Federal Ministry of Interior, said at the time.

According to the statement, the measure was intended to protect and promote Nigeria’s integrity in the comity of nations in addition to ensuring law and order.

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Bauch State Stolen Aircraft Found in Morocco

According to Premiumtimesng news, Governor Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi State has disclosed that his Public Property Recovery Committee discovered an aircraft belonging to the state but hidden in Morocco.

Mr. Abubakar stated this on Saturday night in Bauchi in a broadcast marking 100 days of his administration.

The governor, who did not substantiate further on the aircraft, said the plane would be received by the state government in a few days at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa International Airport, Bauchi.

He said the aircraft was recovered by the committee set up by the government and headed by Ahmed Tijjani-Baba, a retired Air Commodore.

“I wish to announce the fruitful efforts in locating the state owned “Embraer 145. Aircraft in Morocco and soon it will land at the Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa international Airport in a matter of days,” said the governor.

He added that “the committee will now beam its satellite on the ministry for local affairs and the State Basic Education Board to see how billions of naira allocated to them were spent.

“Such examples are the N2 billion micro loans and others that were allocated them but carelessly spent leaving our pupils to study under the trees”, he added.

Mr. Abubakar assured that the state government would soon embark on the construction and reconstruction of some rural roads in the state to ease transportation problems.

He said the government has refurbished five trucks belonging to the State Fire Service as part of safety measures.

He added that 420 youths have been engaged as street cleaners by the government under its youth employment scheme to curb youth restiveness.

He also said water supply, especially within Bauchi metropolis, has improved following the government’s intervention such as regular payment of electricity bills and upgrade of electricity gadgets at Gubi Dam.

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Presidency discloses details of Buhari, Osinbajo’s assets

“Documents submitted by President Muhammadu Buhari to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), show that the retired General has indeed been living an austere and Spartan lifestyle, contrary to what many might expect of a former Head of State of Nigeria and one who has held a number of top government positions, such as governor, Minister of petroleum and the head of the Petroleum Development Trust Fund (PTDF).

“The documents submitted to the CCB, which officials say are still being vetted and will soon be made public, show that prior to being sworn in on May 29, President Buhari had less than N30 million to his name. He also had only one bank account, with the Union Bank. President Buhari had no foreign account, no factory and no enterprises.

“He also had no registered company and no oil wells.

“The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) who had been a successful lawyer before his foray into politics declared a bank balance of about N94 million and 900,000 United States Dollars in his bank accounts.

“President Buhari declared however that he had shares in Berger Paints, Union Bank and Skye Bank.

“This is entirely unlike what one might expect from a former head of state of a country like Nigeria.

“The documents also revealed that President Buhari had a total of five homes, and two mud houses in Daura. He had two homes in Kaduna, one each in Kano, Daura and in Abuja. One of the mud houses in Daura was inherited from his late older sister, another from his late father. He borrowed money from the old Barclays Bank to build two of his homes.

“President Buhari also has two undeveloped plots of land, one in Kano and the other in Port Harcourt. He is still trying to trace the location of the Port Harcourt land.

“In addition to the homes in Daura, he has farms, an orchard and a ranch. The total number of his holdings in the farm include 270 heads of cattle, 25 sheep, five horses, a variety of birds and a number of economic trees.

“The documents also showed that the retired General uses a number of cars, two of which he bought from his savings and the others supplied to him by the federal government in his capacity as former Head of State. The rest were donated to him by well-wishers after his jeep was damaged in a Boko Haram bomb attack on his convoy in July 2014.

“As revealed by the same forms, highlights of the Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo’s asset declaration include his 4-bedroom residence at Victoria Garden City, Lagos and a 3-bedroom flat at 2 Mosley Road, Ikoyi. The Vice President also has a 2-bedroom flat at the popular Redemption Camp along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and a 2-bedroom mortgaged property in Bedford, England. Aside from these, the Vice President has no other landed properties on the form.
“Apart from his law firm, known as SimmonsCooper, the Vice-President also declared shareholding in six private companies based in Lagos, including Octogenerium Ltd., Windsor Grant Ltd., Tarapolsa, Vistorion Ltd., Aviva Ltd. and MTN Nigeria.

“According to details shown on the form, the Vice-President has about ninety four million naira, nine hundred thousand US dollars and nineteen thousand pounds in Nigerian Banks with the foreign currencies kept in local domiciliary accounts. His personal vehicles are one Infinity 4-Wheel Drive SUV, one Mercedes Benz and a Prado Jeep.

“As soon as the CCB is through with the process, the documents will be released to the Nigerian public and people can see for themselves.”

Signed :

Garba Shehu
Senior Special Assistant to the President (Media and Publicity)
03-09-15

NIMC Shifts Deadline For Use Of National Identification Number

The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), has shifted the deadline for the mandatory use of the national identification number to January 9, 2016.

The development was disclosed on Monday by the Director General of NIMC, Mr Chris Onyemenam, at a press conference in Abuja.

The Commission had earlier fixed September 1 for all transactions by all relevant government institutions involving the identification of individuals or bodies to be carried out with the number.

Such transactions include application for and issuance of international passport, opening of individual or group bank accounts, voter registration and payment of taxes.

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Chad executes 10 Boko Haram suspects by firing squad

According to Vanguard News online...Chad executed 10 alleged members of Nigeria-based Islamist group, Boko Haram, by firing squad Saturday, a day after they were found guilty of a double suicide killing that left 38 people dead in the capital N’Djamena.

A picture taken on August 26, 2015 shows suspected members of Nigeria-based Islamist group Boko Haram sitting in court in N’Djamena, during the opening of the trial of ten suspected Boko Haram members. Ten suspected Boko Haram members went on trial in Chad on August 26 over their alleged roles in twin attacks that killed 38 people in the capital N’Djamena in June. AFP PHOTO / STRINGER

“They were executed this morning on a shooting ground north of N’Djamena,” a judicial source told AFP. The report was confirmed by a security source who asked not to be identified.

The 10 were condemned to death Friday in the country’s first trial of presumed members of the Islamist group. The hearings opened Wednesday.

Nigeria’s neighbours Chad, Cameroon and Niger have all suffered attacks by Boko Haram and earlier this year they announced a regional force to end the militants’ insurgency that has claimed more than 15,000 lives since 2009.

The defendants were accused of criminal conspiracy, killings, wilful destruction with explosives, fraud, illegal possessions of arms and ammunition, as well as using psychotropic substances.

The accused include Nigerian national Mahamat Mustapha, also known as Bana Fanaye, who according to Chadian authorities masterminded the June 15 suicide attacks that struck a school and a police building in N’Djamena, killing 38 people and injuring 101.

On July 12, a fresh attack in the Chadian capital claimed by Boko Haram left at least 15 dead and 80 hurt after an assailant dressed as a woman blew himself up in the central marketplace.

Shortly after Fanaye’s arrest in late June, Chad’s top prosecutor Alghassim Kassim said the suspect was the “ringleader of a network smuggling weapons and munitions between Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad”.

A picture taken on August 26, 2015 shows suspected members of Nigeria-based Islamist group Boko Haram sitting in court in N’Djamena, during the opening of the trial of ten suspected Boko Haram members. Ten Dsuspected Boko Haram members went on trial in Chad on August 26 over their alleged roles in twin attacks that killed 38 people in the capital N’Djamena in June.

Chad has beefed up security in response to the bloodshed.

The regional force against Boko Haram is expected to number some 8,700 troops and police, but it has yet to go into action

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