EFCC: Lekki now hotbed of cybercrime… 402 suspects arrested in 3 months – Newstrends
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EFCC: Lekki now hotbed of cybercrime… 402 suspects arrested in 3 months

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says the Lekki area of Lagos is “the new hub of internet-related fraud”.

The anti-graft agency says its Lagos command has discovered that Lekki is the “preferred location” for cyber fraud syndicates.

Wilson Uwujaren, the EFCC spokesman, in a statement issued on Friday, said 402 suspects were arrested in Lekki for internet-related fraud in the second quarter of 2021.

The statement reads: “Between April and June, 2021, the Advance Fee Fraud and Cyber Crime Sections of the Command recorded a total of 402 internet-related fraud arrests. While the Advance Fee Fraud Section was responsible for 243 arrests, the Cyber Crime Section executed 18 sting operations which resulted in 159 arrests, from which 13 convictions have so far been recorded.

“Of the 159 suspects arrested by the Cyber Crime Section, 70 are from Lekki, comprising communities such as Ajah, Badore, Victoria Garden City, Sangotedo and Oniru.

“Ajah accounted for 24 suspects, while Oniru and Sangotedo had 14 and 13 suspects respectively. Badore had 8 suspects. Neighbouring Ikoyi and Eko Atlantic had 2 and one suspect each. Ikorodu and Alagbado on the Lagos Mainland make up the remainder.

“The suspects are mostly millennials, with 82 of them aged between 25-34 years, which speaks to the fact that most of the individuals arrested are either still in school, recent graduates or university drop outs.

“Sixty Four percent (64%) of individuals arrested are involved in romance scam, followed closely by “Middle Man Scam” and “Picking” which account for 8% and 7% respectively of those arrested.

“The 64% involved in the dating scam benefitted to the tune of N8, 310,000; $349,290 USD; £ 900; €10 and Cryptocurrency 0.17513.

“Other typologies of fraud identified include forgery, possession of fraudulent documents, spamming, credit card fraud, impersonation, rental scam, loan fraud, Business Email Compromise, Hacking, stealing, cheque scam, phishing, and money laundering.

“The data also reveals gift cards, at 39%, as the prevalent method employed by the suspects to access their illicit funds. It is followed by bank transfers at 27% and Cryptocurrency at 21%.

“A total of $12, 512.49USD was recovered from the e-wallet accounts of four suspects within the period.”

The anti-graft agency said the data from its cyber-crime section showed that the “dominant form of internet crime” is dating and romance scams.

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JUST-IN: I’ll resign if Yahaya Bello is not prosecuted – EFCC Chairman

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EFCC Chairman, Olanipekun Olukoyede

JUST-IN: I’ll resign if Yahaya Bello is not prosecuted – EFCC Chairman

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has vowed to follow the prosecution of former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, to logical conclusion.

Olukoyede disclosed this on Tuesday during an interactive session with media executives in Abuja

The anti-graft chairman sworn that he would resign as EFCC chairman if Bello is not prosecuted.

The EFCC boss said; “I called Yahaya Bello, as a serving governor, to come to my office to clear himself. I shouldn’t have done that.

“But he said because a certain senator has planted over 100 journalists in my office, he would not come.

“I told him that he would be allowed to use my private gate to give him a cover, but he said my men should come to his village to interrogate him.”

Olukoyede said the EFCC did not violate any law while trying to arrest the former governor from his residence.

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“Rather, we have obeyed the law. I inherited the case and I didn’t create it. Why has he not submitted himself to the law?” he asked.

“I have arraigned two past governors who have been granted bail now — Willie Obiano and Abdulfatah Ahmed.”

The EFCC chairman promised that anyone responsible for impeding Bello’s arrest from his home in Abuja will suffer the full force of the law.

“We would have gone after him since January but we waited for the court order,” Olukoyede said.

“As early as 7 am, my men were there. Over 50 of them. They mounted surveillance.

“We met over 30 armed policemen there. We would have exchanged fire and there would have been casualties.

“My men were about to move in when the governor of Kogi drove in and they later changed the narrative.”

He vowed that all those who have dipped their hands into the nation’s coffers would be investigated and prosecuted.

“If I can do Obiano, Abdulfatah Ahmed and Chief Olu Agunloye, my kinsman, why not Yahaya Bello?” Olukoyede concluded.

JUST-IN: I’ll resign if Yahaya Bello is not prosecuted – EFCC Chairman

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Tinubu approves palliative for traditional, religious institutions

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President Bola Ahmed Tinubu

Tinubu approves palliative for traditional, religious institutions

Vice-President Kashim Shettima has revealed that President Bola Tinubu has approved that 20% of palliative food intervention go through religious and traditional institutions.

Mr Shettima made this known while delivering the keynote lecture at a High-Level Dialogue of Faith Leaders on Nutrition in Nigeria, which was hosted at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Tuesday.

“The Imam of Bayero University (BUK) mentioned about the exclusion of the traditional and religious leaders in the distribution of palliatives.

”The President has approved that 20 per cent of the palliative in terms of food intervention be routed through our religious organisations and the traditional institutions.

“The Tsangaya schools, the mission schools will be specially targeted for such intervention,” Mr Shettima said.

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The Vice-President said that government was working out logistics through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to ensure smooth implementation of the intervention programme.

“This intervention will be anchored in the office of the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Sen. Abubakar Bagudu, and he is going to anchor the programme.

“We are going to provide the overall supervision towards the implementation of the programme.

“Also 20 per cent of the funds for the School Feeding Programme is going to be channeled through the office of the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning to the religious bodies.”

Mr Shettima stated that government had already commenced engagement and working out modalities for the intervention to ensure a very transparent disbursement, taken into cognisance of all tendencies in our system.

He added that the intervention would include Tsangaya and Mission schools.

Tinubu approves palliative for traditional, religious institutions

(NAN)

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Peter Obi was never a Labour person, LP just special vehicle – Doyin Okupe

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Peter Obi was never a Labour person, LP just special vehicle – Doyin Okupe

Former director-general of the Labour Party presidential campaign, Doyin Okupe has said the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, never believed in the ideologies of the party.

Okupe stated this while answering questions in an interview on Arise Television’s flagship programme, The Morning Show.

The Labour Part, according to Okupe was just a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the presidential election.

Okupe who resigned his membership of the Labour Party in January, on the grounds of ideological differences said his membership of the party ended the moment Obi lost the election.

“The LP for us — for Peter Obi and I — and those in the leadership of the movement… the party was a special purpose vehicle (SPV).

“I have never been a labour person, I have never operated on the left before but we needed a platform and this was the only platform readily available to us.

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“We thought that if we won the election… there are no fast and hard rules about ideologies. You can always find a shade between the left and the right. You can always move to the centre.

“We were hoping and praying that if we won we would find a way to come to some consensus with the labour.

“Peter Obi is not a labour person. He is not a leftist person, he is a trader, he is a businessman just like me. I am a liberal democrat, I believe in liberal democracy, I believe in free enterprise.

“I am not a social worker. As far as I’m concerned, my membership of labour expired the moment we lost that election.”

The former presidential aide said it was “unreasonable” for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to present a northerner as its candidate in the buildup to the 2023 election.

Peter Obi was never a Labour person, LP just special vehicle – Doyin Okupe

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