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EFCC arraigns two over alleged unlawful supply of FCMB access credentials

Published

60 minutes ago

August 20, 2026

EFCC arraigns two over alleged unlawful supply of FCMB access credentials

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arraigned two men before the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, over the alleged unlawful supply of bank access credentials capable of providing access to the database of First City Monument Bank (FCMB).

The defendants, Gideon Bakpa Aghogho and Oscar Ebere Chukwuebuka, were arraigned on Wednesday by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the EFCC before Justice F.N. Ogazi on an eight-count charge bordering on the alleged unlawful disclosure and supply of access credentials to the bank’s computer system.

A third suspect, identified simply as Scott, was also named in the charges but remains at large.

The offences were brought under Sections 27 and 28(1)(b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc.) Act, 2015, as amended in 2024, according to the prosecution.

One of the counts alleged that the defendants, between July 24 and July 26, 2026, conspired to supply Aghogho’s access code to the FCMB system through a local administrative credential.

The EFCC alleged that the credential was capable of granting access to the bank’s Virtual Centre Platform and was supplied with the intention of using the access to commit an offence.

In another count, the commission alleged that Aghogho, sometime between April and May 2025, knowingly and without lawful authority disclosed sensitive credentials connected to FCMB’s systems.

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According to the prosecution, the information allegedly included the bank’s server IP and domain credentials, which could be used to gain access to the bank’s database.

The EFCC further alleged that the credentials were supplied in exchange for $15,000.

When the charges were read to the defendants, Aghogho pleaded not guilty, while Chukwuebuka pleaded guilty.

Following Aghogho’s plea, EFCC prosecution counsel Bilkisu Buhari asked the court to fix a date for trial and sought an order for his remand in a correctional facility.

In relation to Chukwuebuka, who entered a guilty plea, the prosecution requested an opportunity to review the facts of the case before proceeding with the matter.

Justice Ogazi subsequently adjourned the case until August 27, 2026, for review of facts and other proceedings.

The judge also ordered that both defendants be remanded in a correctional centre pending the next hearing.

The case centres on allegations involving the unauthorised disclosure and supply of privileged banking-system credentials, raising wider concerns about the security of financial institutions’ digital infrastructure.

Administrative credentials can provide elevated access to computer systems and, if improperly disclosed or used, may expose sensitive databases and other protected resources to unauthorised persons. The alleged conduct in this case is therefore being prosecuted under Nigeria’s cybercrime legislation.

The EFCC’s allegations, however, have not been established as facts by the court. The prosecution will be required to prove its case through evidence, while the defendants remain entitled to the presumption of innocence until otherwise determined by the court.

The case will return before Justice Ogazi on August 27 for further proceedings.

EFCC arraigns two over alleged unlawful supply of FCMB access credentials

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40 Feared Dead as Overloaded Boat Carrying Farmers and Children Capsizes in Sokoto

Published

25 minutes ago

August 20, 2026

Trends Admin

40 Feared Dead as Overloaded Boat Carrying Farmers and Children Capsizes in Sokoto

At least 40 people are feared dead after an overloaded wooden canoe carrying farmers and farm labourers capsized in Gorau town, Goronyo Local Government Area of Sokoto State, with many of the victims reportedly children aged between 10 and 15 years who had been brought along to assist with the rice harvest. The tragic incident occurred on Thursday morning, August 20, 2026, while the passengers were crossing a stream to access their rice farms on the opposite bank. An eyewitness reported that more than 70 people were aboard the vessel when it capsized shortly after departure, giving those on board little time to react.

A significant number of those on board were children aged between 10 and 15 years who had been brought along to assist with the rice harvest. The victims included both farm owners and hired labourers who had gathered to collect rice from farms across the waterway. Local journalist Sharhabilu Yahuza Kiliya, who was present at the scene, confirmed the devastating toll: “So far, we have recovered about 40 bodies, while six people, including the village head, were rescued.” The village head of the community was among those on board but survived the accident.

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Abdulkadir Yusuf, an area manager of the National Inland Waterways Authority, confirmed to Reuters that around 40 corpses of children had been recovered. “I can confirm that so far around 40 corpses of children have been recovered,” he said in a statement. Rescue operations are still ongoing, with local divers searching the waterway for those still missing and recovering bodies. “The canoe capsized shortly after take-off. Rescue operations are still ongoing, with local divers searching for those still missing and recovering bodies,” Kiliya added. Local resident Nasiru Gorau confirmed that “our local divers recovered the bodies and the search is still ongoing.” The final death toll has not yet been confirmed as search efforts continue. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and Sokoto State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) have mobilised response teams to the scene to assess the situation and coordinate rescue efforts.

40 Feared Dead as Overloaded Boat Carrying Farmers and Children Capsizes in Sokoto

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Security Forces Kill 24 Bandits, Foil Mass Abduction Plot in Katsina Community

Published

2 hours ago

August 20, 2026

Trends Admin

Security Forces Kill 24 Bandits, Foil Mass Abduction Plot in Katsina Community

At least 24 suspected bandits were neutralized and numerous kidnapped villagers rescued after a joint security operation successfully thwarted a mass abduction attempt in Gidan Bawa village, Kandarawa Ward, Bakori Local Government Area of Katsina State. The operation took place on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, and involved troops of the Nigerian Army, operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), members of the Katsina Community Watch Corps, and the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) from Guga camp. According to multiple security sources, the joint team acted on sustained intelligence that uncovered plans by approximately 40 armed men loyal to the notorious bandit kingpin, Isiya Kwashen Garwa, to invade the community and abduct numerous residents, with a particular focus on women and children.

Security agencies received intelligence indicating that the bandits intended to carry out a mass abduction similar to the recent kidnapping of residents from the Woro community in Kwara State. The plot was allegedly intended to embarrass the government and undermine ongoing efforts to combat insecurity in the region. Acting swiftly on this information, DSS operatives mobilized members of the Katsina Community Watch Corps and the CJTF from Guga camp to intercept the attackers. The security personnel strategically positioned themselves along the bandits’ anticipated route and successfully ambushed the group.

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During the ensuing gunfight, the joint security operatives neutralized 24 of the suspected bandits. Several villagers who had already been abducted during the attack were successfully rescued, though the exact number of rescued victims was not immediately confirmed. Security operatives also recovered 19 stolen cattle from the community during the operation. Efforts are reportedly ongoing to locate and apprehend members of the gang who managed to flee the scene during the confrontation.

In a separate but concurrent operation in the same Bakori Local Government Area on the same night, security operatives neutralized an additional seven bandits and rescued 34 abducted victims, including women and children. That incident occurred when suspected bandits attacked Gidan Bawa community and abducted approximately 45 people with the intention of moving them into the forest. Local hunters, Civilian JTF members, and Community Watch Corps operatives stationed at Guga camp ambushed the bandits, leading to a gunfight that resulted in the death of seven bandits and the rescue of 34 victims. Tragically, three of those targeted for abduction lost their lives during the crossfire, while five others remain missing.

The successful operations in Katsina come amid continuing insecurity in parts of the state. Recent data from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) showed that armed bandits attacked multiple communities in Katsina State on August 6 and 8, 2026, affecting 6,023 individuals across 862 households and displacing 3,509 people. The affected communities included Na’alma in Malumfashi LGA, Turare in Dutsin-Ma LGA, and Tsiga in Bakori LGA. Despite some community-led peace agreements with bandit groups in parts of the state, attacks have continued unabated in areas like Bakori, with hundreds of residents displaced and many losing their livelihoods. The successful intervention by security forces in Gidan Bawa demonstrates the growing importance of intelligence-led collaboration between conventional security agencies and community-based security formations in countering banditry and protecting vulnerable communities in Katsina State. Efforts are continuing to track down the remaining bandits who fled the scene, as security authorities maintain operations to prevent further attacks and kidnappings in the area.

Security Forces Kill 24 Bandits, Foil Mass Abduction Plot in Katsina Community

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‘Show Me the Law’: Lawyer Questions FG’s Reluctance to Defend Kanu’s Conviction

Published

7 hours ago

August 20, 2026

Trends Admin

leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu with some of his lawyers

‘Show Me the Law’: Lawyer Questions FG’s Reluctance to Defend Kanu’s Conviction

A lawyer and member of Kanu’s legal consortium has challenged the Federal Government to identify and defend the specific law under which the IPOB leader was convicted, arguing that the government cannot hide behind “public legal illiteracy” to justify a conviction that may have been based on a repealed statute, as Barrister Christopher Chidera, a member of the Global Legal Consortium to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has backed the Okwu-Kanu family’s call for the immediate hearing of Kanu’s pending matters before the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, with the challenge stemming from Kanu’s conviction and life sentence on November 20, 2025, by Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

Chidera based his argument on Section 36(12) of the 1999 Constitution, which provides that a person shall not be convicted of a criminal offence unless the offence and its penalty are defined in a written law, and he questioned the “extant written law” governing the offence and punishment at the time Kanu was convicted, arguing that if the law under which Kanu was convicted had been repealed, reliance on a savings provision could not, on its own, resolve the constitutional question. He emphasized that a savings clause is not a penal statute, does not create the offence, does not prescribe the punishment, and is not, by itself, the written criminal law contemplated by Section 36(12), while explaining that savings provisions generally preserve specified legal consequences, including proceedings, investigations or liabilities, subject to the precise wording of the relevant legislation, and maintaining that such a provision should not be interpreted as automatically transforming a repealed criminal statute into an extant penal law.

The defence team cited Section 97 of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022 (TPPA 2022), which provides for proceedings commenced under repealed legislation to be continued and completed under the 2022 Act, but Chidera maintained that the existence of such a savings provision should not end the constitutional inquiry, asking that if the answer is that a savings provision preserved the old proceedings, the next question remains: where is the extant written law satisfying Section 36(12) under which the conviction itself was entered. He further explained that Section 98(3) of the TPPA 2022 only preserves past actions such as arrests, searches, or charges, but does not preserve a repealed law or authorize a conviction under it, noting that the Terrorism Prevention (Amendment) Act 2013 was repealed in its entirety by the TPPA 2022, which came into force on May 12, 2022.

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Chidera identified questions he believes require judicial determination, including what law was in force when the conviction was entered, what written law defined the offence, and what written law prescribed the punishment, stating that these were not matters of public relations or political rhetoric but legal issues that should be addressed by the courts, and that they are not complicated questions but questions of law. The lawyer recalled that Kanu had raised similar questions during his trial, particularly through the demand, “Show me the law,” and said Kanu was now effectively asking the Court of Appeal to answer the same question, adding that if the Federal Government believes the answer is favourable to it, it should come to court and give that answer.

The Okwu-Kanu family has drawn local and international attention to what it described as the Federal Government’s unwillingness to join issues on proceedings seeking Kanu’s freedom, and in a letter dated August 18, 2026, the family expressed concern over the delay, saying Kanu has written to the Chief Justice of Nigeria and President of the Court of Appeal requesting immediate listing of his cases. The family disclosed that Kanu commenced proceedings before the Supreme Court on November 7, 2025, challenging the legality of the Supreme Court’s remittal judgment of December 15, 2023, and said the Federal Government was duly served but had not filed a substantive response or caused the case to be listed for hearing more than nine months later. Kanu also has a separate appeal before the Court of Appeal challenging his November 20, 2025 conviction and life sentence, with his Appellant’s Brief filed on June 5, 2026, and served on the Federal Government, but the prescribed period for filing the Respondent’s Brief had elapsed without one being filed.

The family based its demand on the Court of Appeal’s October 13, 2022 judgment, which discharged Kanu and quashed the criminal charges against him, and recalled that the Federal Government subsequently obtained a stay of execution on October 28, 2022—just 14 days after the judgment—preventing Kanu from regaining his freedom, stating that fourteen days were enough for a differently constituted panel of a functus officio Court of Appeal to deploy civil procedure against an acquittal-equivalent discharge, and that months cannot now be acceptable merely to list proceedings in which that same man’s liberty is at stake. The family stressed that Kanu was not asking the courts to rule in his favour, but to hear and determine his cases in accordance with the law, adding that if the Federal Government believes the Supreme Court remittal was lawful, it should appear and defend it, and if it believes the conviction and life sentence are lawful, it should file its papers and defend them.

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has claimed that the Federal Government, in its cross-appeal filed in response to Kanu’s appeal, admitted that Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court acted without jurisdiction in convicting and sentencing Kanu, with IPOB spokesman Emma Powerful stating that the government’s cross-appeal expressly admitted that Justice Omotosho acted without jurisdiction when it imposed the sentence of life imprisonment instead of death penalty. The separatist group argued that if the trial court lacked jurisdiction to impose sentence, then the same trial court lacked jurisdiction to produce the conviction from which the sentence arose, and stated that any attempt by the Court of Appeal to affirm the conviction while simultaneously accepting the Federal Government’s admission regarding jurisdiction would require the creation of an entirely new species of criminal jurisprudence unknown to Nigeria, unknown to the Commonwealth, and unknown to the common-law world. The family has disclosed plans to formally notify the United States Congress, Israeli Knesset and International Bar Association of what it described as an “unacceptable delay” in the handling of Kanu’s cases, saying the relevant chronology and court records would be presented to the international bodies for consideration.