Nigerians Mourn Cab Driver Fatally Shot In North Carolina

Members of the Nigerian community in Raleigh, North Carolina are mourning the shooting death on November 8, 2016 of Cyril Efobi, a long time resident of the city who worked as a taxicab driver.

On the day of his fatal shooting, Mr. Efobi closed early in the evening in order to go home and watch the US presidential election. After exchanging banters with some colleagues at the taxi company office, he packed up his laptop and stepped out of the office. A few minutes later, one of his colleagues sitting near a television heard gunshots outside the building. He panicked and quickly called the police. Within a few minutes, police vehicles arrived at the neighborhood located southeast of Raleigh. Once he saw the blue lights from police vehicles in the parking lot, Mr. Efobi’s colleague rushed to the door, but as he pushed it, Mr. Efobi’s felled body pushed back. Finally forcing the door outward, the colleague saw Mr. Efobi’s body in a heap, in a pool of his own blood. Raleigh police officers who responded to the emergency call pronounced Mr. Efobi dead at the scene from gunshot wounds. He was 56.

The surveillance camera caught the alleged gunman during and after the attack. Raleigh police are still investigating. 

Mr. Efobi moved from Nigeria to Raleigh about 30 years ago to further his education. He graduated from Shaw University and made Raleigh his permanent home. Our correspondent could not ascertain whether the deceased, who lived alone, ever visited Nigeria again before his death. Friends said he had no wife or children and lived alone.  

Two weeks after his murder, the Nigerian community held a candlelight vigil in front of the office where Mr. Efobi was gunned down. Members of the Nigerian community in Raleigh are making plans to raise funds to return Mr. Efobi’s remains to his natal community in Nigeria for burial. 

Days after the gruesome murder, police released images of the suspected shooter from a surveillance camera. No arrests have been made.

Cyril Efobi

     

Government Officials, Dignitaries Desert Emeka Offor At Father’s Burial

Emeka Offor, one of Nigeria’s most controversial government contractors, finally buried his father on Friday, November 18, a whole nine months after the 88-year-old former policeman died in his hometown of Oraifite in Ekwusigo Local Government Area in Anambra State. The elder passed on after a minor scuffle with a female family member.
 
The burial, which was marketed to be a gathering of the world’s leaders and celebrities in solidarity with the businessman, was marked by the conspicuous absence of all those advertised as dignitaries to grace the occasion.
 
Six days to the burial, Nigerian newspapers like Vanguard and Herald had reported that Donald Trump, the American president-elect, would join President Muhammadu Buhari and “other African leaders” to honor the Offors. The reports were based on a press statement by one Tony Obi, described as the vice chairman of the Pa Bennett Offor Burial Committee, headed by former Senate President Ken Nnamani.
 
Offor had earlier at the All Saints Anglican Church at Irefi, Oraifite, announced at a service presided over by The Reverend Canon C. C. Igwenazor, that Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury, who is the primate of the Anglican Church worldwide, would officiate at his father’s requiem service. Addressing the congregation made up of mostly villagers, Offor asked Igwenazor to get him a list of 13 bishops who would join Archbishop Welby at the service.
 
“We are not surprised that these bishops did not come because no arrangements whatsoever were made for their participation, but we are shocked that no Federal Government officials, including those from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources or the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation where our brother has been doing multi-billion dollar businesses for decades attended our papa’s funeral,” said a member of the family to our correspondent. Not even Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State bothered to be at the event. Obiano managed to send his wife the following day to commiserate with Offor’s mother.

Among the few political figures who attended the burial were Governor  Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, Speaker Yakubu Dogara of the House of Representatives, former national chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Victor Umeh, and chief executive of Capital Oil, Ifeanyi Uba.

Club Manager Sodomises Teenage Players In Lagos - Claims He Only Raped 3

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a football club manager, Frank Darlington, for allegedly sodomising three of his teenage players in the Agege area of the state.

According to Punch, it was gathered that Darlington, the manager of Soccer Warriors Football Academy, Pen Cinema, was arrested last Thursday by the Elere Police Division, after one of the victims reported him to the police.

It was learnt that the club manager, who hails from Imo State, allegedly took three footballers to his house on separate occasions after training sessions, and sodomised them.

PUNCH Metro gathered that Darlington’s wife and only daughter, a three-year-old, lived in Imo State, after the two got divorced in March 2016.

The police said the suspect allegedly penetrated the victims’ anuses, and would be charged for sodomy.

Speaking with PUNCH Metro, 49-year-old Darlington confessed to the crime, saying he started to rape his players in February 2015.He added that he committed the act to derive pleasure.

The suspect said he, however, stopped molesting his teenage players since July 2016, knowing the implication of his indulgence.

He said, “I have a female daughter, and she is three years old. I manage the Soccer Warriors Football Academy in the Pen Cinema, Agege area. It was in February 2015 that the rape started. I usually had sex with my boys just to play with them. It was romance. We had fun together. The last one I did was in July 2016, knowing that it could get me into trouble.
“I slept with only three of my footballers. There was one of my boys that had not been coming for training since last week. When I asked after him, I was told that he was sick. I did not know that he had reported to his mother and she had told the police.
“I do not know what moved me to be sleeping with them. I have been coaching for about 12 years. My wife stays in the South-East. She left me in March 2016. The sex with the boys was not for any ritual. I only derived fun from it.
“I knew it was a crime and that was why I stopped this act since July. I pledged not to go back into this.”

One of the victims, Kehinde (pseudonym), told our correspondent that Darlington threatened him that he (Kenny) would die if he told anyone about the sodomy.

The 18-year-old said he was forced to tell his mother when Darlington made it a habit.

He said, “He always had sex with me and with most of us. He started last year. The first time he approached me was after a training session. We were on the football pitch and he said my performance was bad and I should meet him at home for a discussion.
“When I went, he and two boys were at home. His wife did not stay with him. He sent the two boys on an errand and asked me to come into his room. He then instructed me to remove my trousers, and he molested me.
“He did not use any protection. He did not give me any money, but he threatened that I would die if I told anyone. I cannot count how many times he had done this to me. I told my mother when I was tired of his abuse. My mother reported him at the police station.”

Another victim told our correspondent that a large number of footballers at the academy had withdrawn because “he always slept with two or three of us every week.”

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, who paraded the club manager, said the suspect would be charged to court at the end of investigation.

“There is no place for criminals to hide in the state. We enjoin the residents of Lagos to report suspicious movements and persons to the police,” he added.

Social Media Our Greatest Nightmare- Lai Mohammed

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has described social media as a nightmare to image makers because of its disinformation through fake and distorted news.

The minister who stated this on Monday in Lagos at the opening of the 4th Commonwealth Public Relations Congress, noted that image makers in both public and private sectors were victims of the trend.

He, therefore, charged PR practitioners to devise innovative ways to ensure a better, charged-way communication network between their employer and the people.

The event organised by the Management School, London and the Business Education Examinations Council, has the theme “Strategic Management of Reputation Risk in an Interdependent World.’’

“Today, anyone with access to a smart phone can put out any information, whether accurate or not, that could go viral in minutes.

“No fact-checking, no accuracy, no fairness, no rules. They just spread whatever information catches their fancy, and they have their own public that believes them.” he said.

The minister however said that the trend is global, affecting international and local affairs including the recent U.S. elections.

“To understand the seriousness of this, there is an on-going debate in the U.S. over the role that disinformation played in the recent presidential election.

“Some even accused the social networking site, Facebook, of helping to swing the election in favour of Mr. Donald Trump, through the fake and distorted news spread by websites belonging to those who call themselves Alt-Right, or Alternative Right.

“Of course Facebook has denied that. But then Facebook and Google have taken concrete action to check this by seeking to cut off the live wire to these fake news websites,” he said.

According to published reports, Google said it will prevent websites that misrepresent content from using its advertising network, while Facebook said its ban on deceptive and misleading content also applies to fake news.

The minister said, locally, the trend has also made the job of government image makers so daunting that it is denying them of sleep.

“Government image makers now sleep with one eye opened, that’s if we sleep at all, because while we are sleeping, the purveyors of distorted and fake news are busy cooking their stuff.

“I cannot count the number of times that I have been removed from the Information and Culture portfolio on the social media in the past year, or that ministers have swapped portfolios,’’ he said.

The minister seized the opportunity to refute the fake report that President Buhari gave $500 million to Hilary Clinton during the U.S. Electioneering Campaign.

“Even when the Presidency has denied this outrageous concoction, the so-called analysts and experts have continued to comment on it as if it is true,” he said.

In tackling the challenge, the minister said that in addition to radio, television, newspapers and the new media, his ministry revived an age-long practice of Town Hall Meeting to engage people directly and get their feedback on topical issues.

Mike Okereke, a public relations practitioners in a welcome address,

said the summit afforded the them (PR practitioners from the Commonwealth) opportunity to exchange ideas on best practices.

He urged participants to adopt positive attitude in the 

Quack Doctor Arrested In Lagos After 11 Years Practice

The police in Lagos State on Monday paraded an alleged quack doctor, Celestine Yolonfun, who was arrested in the Apapa area of the state.

Our correspondent gathered that 32-year-old Yolonfun had been practising as a doctor since 2005 after he dropped out of a nursing school in the Benin Republic.

PUNCH Metro learnt that Yolonfun was arrested on Wednesday by operatives of the State Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department, Yaba.

It was gathered that a pregnant woman, who was due for delivery, allegedly died in Yolonfun’s hospital, and her husband reported the doctor to the police at the SCIID.

Our correspondent was told that the police went to Yolonfun’s hospital – Be Well Hospital – on Liverpool Road, Apapa, and arrested him.

Yolonfun, who hails from Badagry, Lagos State, told PUNCH Metro that he had been practising since 2005 and only two patients had died in his hospital.

The suspect confessed that he paid a colleague N70,000 to obtain fake certificates of the Nigerian Medical Association and the University of Ibadan, Oyo State.

He said, “I have been practising since 2005. I did not attend any school in Nigeria. I went to the Benin Republic. I sat for the General Certificate Education two years ago. I wanted to attend a university in Nigeria to study Medicine. But my wife fell sick and I could not.

“I dropped out of a nursing school in the Benin Republic. I came back to Nigeria in 2004, and I started the hospital in 2005.

“Since I started the hospital, which takes care of general ailments, only two persons had died in the hospital. The first patient died in 2013.

“The second patient was that woman who died penultimate Saturday. The woman was pregnant. She also had high blood pressure. After giving her the initial treatment, I planned to refer her to a bigger hospital, but she died before I could move her. Her baby also died.”

The state Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, said the police had contacted all the medical associations the suspect claimed to be registered with and they had confirmed

him to be a fake doctor.

He said, “The suspect was arrested and was found to have been in this illegal practice since 2005. He operated a makeshift hospital in the Liverpool area of Apapa.

“We found a fake University of Ibadan MBBS certificate, a fake Dental and Medical Council of Nigeria certificate and a fake Corporate Affairs Commission certificate in his house.


“The professional bodies have been contacted by the police, and the suspect had been confirmed to be a fake medical practitioner.”

EFCC Re-Arrains Omokore, 3 Others Over $1.6bn Oil Scam

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, yesterday, dragged the Chairman of Atlantic Energy Brass Development Limited and Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Limited, Jide Omokore, before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, over alleged criminal diversion of over $1.6 billion belonging to the Federal Government under the guise of oil swap.

According to court papers, Mr. Omokore and the others claimed they had the expertise and the wherewithal to procure crude oil from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and process same and deliver the monetary equivalent of 5,652,227 barrels of crude oil to them by the corporation.

However, the prosecution is set to prove to the defendants that they intentionally defrauded the government by taking the crude and not delivering the money or the crude back to the government.

Omokore was arraigned along with Victor Briggs, Abiye Membere, David Mbanefo, Atlantic Energy Brass Development Limited and Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts Limited.

They were re-arraigned on a nine-count amended charge of criminal diversion of about $1.6 billion alleged to be proceeds of petroleum products belonging to the Federal Government.

They pleaded “not guilty” when the charges were read to them.

In view of their plea, prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), urged the court to fix a date for the commencement of trial, and to allow the defendants to enjoy the bail earlier granted them by Justice Binta Nyako.

Counsel to the defendants did not object to the request of Jacobs, urging the court to accede to his request.

Justice Dimgba, thereafter, fixed December 8 for hearing in the case, adding, “I, hereby, adopt the bail terms as mine.”

It would be recalled that Omokore and his co-defendants were first arraigned before Justice Nyako, on July 4, but the case file was afterwards transferred to Justice Dimgba by the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court.

Count one reads: “That you Olajide Jones Omokore, Atlantic Energy Brass Development Ltd, Atlantic Energy Drilling Concept Ltd and Kolawole Akanni Aluko (now at large) between May and October 2013, within the jurisdiction of this court, by false pretence and with intent to defraud, induced the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and the Federal Government of Nigeria to deliver to you 5,652,227 barrels of crude oil (Brass blend) amounting to the sum of US$616,013,615.27 through the medium of contract, which delivery was induced by the false pretence.”

Justice Ngwuta Hid N27m, 3 Cars In Ebonyi Home

The trial of suspended Supreme Court judge, Justice Sylvester Nwali Ngwuta commenced yesterday before a Federal High Court in Abuja with the judge being granted bail on self-recognisance.

The Special Prosecutor appointed by the federal government, Charles Adeogun-Philips, had earlier opposed the bail saying Justice Ngwuta hid N27 million in his bathroom and three exotic cars in his Abakaliki, Ebonyi State home.

Justice Ngwuta was arraigned on 16-count charge bordering on money laundering, concealment of property, and obtaining multiple travel passports. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Adeogun-Philips had also objected to the bail, arguing that the judge will interfere with evidence and potential witnesses in the trial.

But Justice John Tsoho in granting the judge bail on self-recognisance worth N100 million, held that the submissions of the prosecution were based on fear since there was no proof before the court that his administrative bail was revoked on account of such interference.

The prosecutor had narrated how Justice Ngwuta made a call to his associate in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State to remove the N27 million and the three exotic cars shortly after he was released by the Department of State Services (DSS) on October 9.

He said the judge was charged in count 10 with having multiple identities, since he was found with four valid passports, two of which are diplomatic passports. 

“The Immigration Office investigations showed that the defendant declared two of those passports lost,” he said.

“My lord, we are confronted with such acts of dishonesty while on administrative bail. He was using them concurrently and interchangeably. We object to the defendant being released on self-recognisance,” he added.

Arguing the bail application, defence counsel Kanu Agabi (SAN) pleaded with the judge to release the defendant on self-recognisance based on the provisions of Sections 32, 158 and 162 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 and because of his social standing.

“The defendant bears a title that nobody can take away from him. He is more anxious to take away the stain from his person,” Agabi said.

According to the charges filed by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Muhammed Umar Etsu, various sums including thirty five million, three hundred and fifty eight naira (N35, 358, 000.00) and twenty five million, nine hundred and fifteen British Pounds (£25, 915) were retained by the judge on October 8, 2016.

The prosecution further alleged that between 2014 and 2016, the judge transferred funds totaling $1 million in both Naira and US Dollars to one Linus Chukwuebuka, a building contractor.

The judge was also alleged to have made a false statement to the Passport Office of the Nigerian Immigration Service concerning his date of birth for the purpose of procuring an additional Diplomatic Passport.

The offences are contrary to Section 15 (2) (d) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2012 (as amended) and Section 10 (1) (a) of the Immigration Act 2015.

The case has been adjourned to December 7 for hearing.