Desperate migrants lured to Moscow by fake job adverts are used to bolster Putin’s depleted invasion forces
The advert for a job in a Russian shampoo factory looked like just what Jean Onana needed.
Out of work in the Cameroonian capital of Yaounde and struggling to support a wife and three young children, he leapt at the chance to earn a solid pay packet, he later told Ukrainian interrogators.
The 36-year-old saved up for his ticket and flew to Moscow in March, joining many young Africans who end up in Russia to study or seek work.
However, far from offering the answer to his financial predicament, his trip instead pitched him into the crucible of Ukraine’s eastern front, an ordeal he only narrowly survived.
Mr Onana had barely arrived when he was detained along with 10 others from Bangladesh, Cameroon, Zimbabwe and Ghana.
The men were told they would not be working and instead would sign a one-year contract to join the Russian military and serve on the front lines of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Onana is only one of what are estimated to be hundreds, or even thousands, of Africans who have found themselves fighting on the front lines.
Many more have been recruited into factories to keep the Kremlin’s war machine running.
Africans and others from developing countries elsewhere are being pressed into service as Russia looks for huge numbers of recruits to sustain horrific casualty rates in its grinding three-year offensive.
Nearly one million Russian troops have been killed or wounded since the assault began, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a US-based think tank, said last week.
While the great majority of recruits are still poor Russians, the relentless need for new manpower has led the Kremlin to recruit elsewhere, as well as import 10,000 soldiers from North Korea.
Africans have been lured by the promise of money or have been duped or forced into signing contracts, according to accounts and intelligence reports seen by The Telegraph.
Cameroon’s government is so worried about the numbers of soldiers thought to be deserting its army and travelling to Russia that in March it tightened restrictions on military personnel leaving the West African nation.
Many African recruits have not returned, becoming victims of suicidal infantry tactics which are currently seeing Russian forces take an average of more than 1,100 casualties each day for only small territorial gains.
One tally of Cameroonian social media obituaries suggests the country has already seen more than 60 men killed in the war.
Promised a hefty wage and pressured to sign, Mr Onana was then given five weeks of training in Rostov and Luhansk. There were around 10 other foreigners in his training unit, from Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Brazil.
During training he was able to call home, but on his way to the front his phone and documents were taken away.
His military career ended almost as soon as it began when he and eight others were told to occupy a bunker at the front in early May. The bunker was shelled and everyone killed except Mr Onana, who lay wounded in the debris for six days. He eventually made his way out and was soon captured.
Another recently captured African, 25-year-old Malik Diop from Senegal, this week told a Ukrainian military interviewer that he had been studying in Russia when he met recruiters in a shopping centre. They told him he could sign up to wash dishes in Luhansk, away from the front, for $5,700 (£4,215) a month.
After only a week, however, he was given a weapon, grenades and a helmet and then driven to the front near Toretsk. Recalling the walk to the front line, he said: “We started to see dead people in the forest. Lots of dead people in different buildings. It really affected me.”
As soon as he could, he threw away his uniform and weapons, and deserted. After two days of walking, he was captured.
Many are not so fortunate.
Cameroonian social media channels have in recent months seen many posts purporting to be from people seeking information about relatives who had joined the Russian military and then stopped communicating. The messages are often accompanied by photographs of African men in Russian uniforms.
“My friend went to Russia to join the Russian army, and for nearly four months we haven’t heard from him,” explained one typical recent request. “We’d like to know if he’s still alive or dead.”
Some posts are then updated to explain that the missing relative has been killed. One prominent account collating tributes to soldiers this week estimated 67 Cameroonians had been killed.
Messages also gave accounts of relatives being detained at the airport and forced to sign military contracts.
The gap between Cameroon’s meagre military wages and the promise of hefty Russian pay is thought to have worsened a long-standing problem with desertion in the Cameroonian military.
A second-class Cameroonian private’s basic monthly salary is around £67, while Russia is said to be offering Cameroonian recruits around £1,500 per month.
In one recent social media post, a Cameroonian soldier held up his pay slip and said “here’s why we prefer to go die in Russia”.
Raoul Sumo Tayo, who has researched the issue for the Institute of Security Studies, a Pretoria-based think tank, said: “They say it’s better for us to go to fight where we earn enough money to save something for our families.
“I don’t think it’s about supporting Russia, it’s more about what they earn.”
Africans recruited by Russia are not only fighting on the front.
Last month, a report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime said a Russian firm was recruiting hundreds of young foreign women, mostly from Africa, to manufacture Iranian Shahed drones.
The women had been recruited to the company in the Alabuga special economic zone, an industrial park in Yelabuga, east of Moscow, with promises of good salaries and educational opportunities.
They were not told the nature of the work, the report said, nor that the factory had been a military target.
Several African workers at the factory are reported to have been wounded in an attack by Ukrainian drones in April 2024.
Where are you getting your news from? Mall shopping is booming in America, Europe, India and China.
It's particularly big in Gulf Emirates like Dubai and Abu Dhabi because of duty free shopping.
The only place where it is not thriving is in the poorest countries on earth like Nigeria
Jakumo: Shopping malls world wide are going the way of the phone booth and the VHS video machine. In other words, shopping malls are dying a natural death because the world is turning to online shopping and mail-order delivery.
Shoprite Nigeria is still the best place to meet hot single women, so I certainly hope that the franchise survives in the long term.
Jakumo: Shopping malls world wide are going the way of the phone booth and the VHS video machine. In other words, shopping malls are dying a natural death because the world is turning to online shopping and mail-order delivery.
Shoprite Nigeria is still the best place to meet hot single women, so I certainly hope that the franchise survives in the long term.
How did Abacha stashed such huge amounts in France, UK, USA etc when there was sanctions on Nigeria by most European countries without any restriction?
Nigerian Population Commission Website Unsafe, Redirects Visitors to Foreign Gambling Site
The website of the (NPC), National Population Commission, the custodian of Nigeria’s population statistics, is unsafe and currently redirects visitors to an Australian betting site.
On Saturday, FIJ found that the NPC website’s Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate had expired since April 22.
Upon visiting the page, a prompt reads that attackers could steal users’ vital information.
“Attackers might be trying to steal your information from nationalpopulation.gov.ng (for example, passwords, messages or credit cards),” the warning reads.
SSL Shopper showed that it’s been 46 days since the website’s security certificate expired.
Also, FIJ discovered that the Rapid SMS Page on the website redirects visitors to PayID Pokes, an Australian casino betting platform.
An archived page of RapidSMS from 2016 showed that the original page was to provide real-time information on health and development projects across Nigeria using short messaging services.
“RapidSMS is a data tracking tool that collects and collates real-time information using Short Messaging System (SMS) or text messaging for practical analyses, which enables expedited informed decisions, consensus building and response,” the page reads in part.
This project was launched in January 2011, and it was meant to ensure instant birth registrations across all local government areas in Nigeria.
On the other hand, the hacked page provides extensive details about Australian casino games.
“The introduction of PayID pokies transformed internet betting in Australia by providing an easy way of playing real money games that are secure,” the page reads in part.
BIRTH AND DEATH CERTIFICATES CAN BE MANIPULATED BY HACKERS
The compromise of the NPC’s website puts vital statistics and population policy at risk, as the agency plays a crucial role in census planning, birth and death registration, and demographic analysis.
Also, the expired SSL certificate makes the site vulnerable and could be exploited to host malicious software or redirect users to more dangerous sites.
The presence of a betting page from a foreign gambling company further indicates that a portion of the NPC’s web pages may have been hacked or left open to unauthorised edits.
This implies that important data like birth certificate applications, death certificate data, national census data and other statistics on the website are vulnerable and can be manipulated by hackers.
The United States, Canada, Australia and Brazil are not multi ethnic colonial outposts like Nigeria.
They are immigrant countries settled and developed by Europeans.
They're not like Nigeria which has over 400 different ethnic groups that were forced to live together as one country without the consent of the people.
China is dominated by one ethnic group, the Han Ethnic group which makes up 95% of the country's population. The other 6 ethnic groups share the remaining 5% of the population.
India has had a continuous existence either as a country or an empire for thousands of years. India is even mentioned in the Old testament of the Bible. They have a common language which they have spoken hundreds of years called Hindi and they have a common religion they practice which is older than Christianity which is called Hinduism.
So these countries don't meet the criteria for disintegration like Nigeria does.
Try and find examples of diverse countries that have stayed together. It won't be an easy task because there aren't very many.
There are more examples of countries separating and disintegrating than uniting.
Sudan and South Sudan
Ethiopia and Eritrea
India and Pakistan
Czechia and Slovakia
The Soviet Union fracturing into 20 different countries
Yugoslavia fracturing into 4 countries:
Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro
Difrent: Na lie. Na only when una person no dey government we dey hear all this kind nonsense
Don't you get it? Nigeria isn't going to break up because the things holding it together are more than what wants to divide it. Is Nigeria the most diverse nation on earth? Of course not. For other diverse nations to exist and united means Nigeria can too
What you have described is not science. It is nothing more than artisan work.
The scientific process, is a systematic approach to acquiring knowledge and understanding the natural world. It involves making observations, forming questions, conducting research, developing hypotheses, designing experiments, analyzing data, drawing conclusions, and communicating findings
Kemetian: We know it is the oldest because no other site has been carbon-dated to an earlier date.
Secondly, you seem to be confusing mining with iron smelting.
Mining is the extraction of minerals from deep in the Earth, and was pioneered in Swaziland and carbon dated to 43,000 years ago.
So Africa is also the birthplace of mining.
Here is what Iron Smelting is.
Iron smelting is the process of extracting metallic iron from iron ore, a process that is both chemically and physically more complex than smelting other metals like copper or tin. It involves heating the ore with carbon in a furnace, reducing the iron oxides to metallic iron, and separating the iron from the remaining impurities (slag).
Here's a more detailed breakdown:
1. The Process:
Furnace: Iron smelting typically occurs in a blast furnace or a bloomer, a simpler, ancient type of furnace.
Iron Ore: Iron ore, which is a compound containing iron oxides, is the starting material.
Carbon: Carbon (in the form of charcoal, coke, or other carbonaceous materials) is used to reduce the iron oxides.
Heating: The furnace is heated to high temperatures (around 1600-1700°C) to initiate the chemical reactions.
Reduction: The carbon reacts with the iron oxides to form metallic iron and carbon dioxide (CO2).
Slag Formation: Impurities in the ore, like silica and other minerals, react with fluxes to form a slag, which is a molten waste product that floats on top of the molten iron. (That is what you see in the Lejja images)
Iron Separation: The molten iron is separated from the slag, either by allowing the slag to float off or by tapping the furnace.
2. Ancient Iron Smelting (Bloomery): Ancient iron smelting was done in bloomeries, furnaces built of clay and fired with charcoal. The process involved layering iron ore and charcoal in the furnace and burning them. The slag would be released, and a sponge-like mass of iron and slag, called a bloom, would form. The bloom would then be hammered and shaped into wrought iron.
......
So yes. Your ancestors were Scientists.
Thousands of years before the word 'science' existed.
China is experiencing a remarkable surge in Christianity, positioning it to become the world's largest Christian nation by 2030.
Projections by experts, including Dr. Fenggang Yang of Purdue University, estimate that China's Christian population could reach approximately 247 million by 2030, surpassing countries like the United States, Brazil, and Mexico.
This doesn't say it is the oldest. Secondly, manufacturing has more to do with technological innovation and engineering rather than simple mineral extraction, which seems to be the dubious claim you're making here.
Kemetian: Sorry, Elon Musk is a white supremacist from apartheid South Africa and his Grok platform has been rejected globally for its white supremacist propaganda.
Here are Lejja findings as revealed on ChatGPT AI.
..............
The Lejja archaeological site is one of Africa’s most compelling and underappreciated proofs of early technological sophistication. Located in Nsukka, Enugu State, southeastern Nigeria, Lejja is home to one of the oldest known iron-smelting sites in the world, dating back to at least 2,000 BCE.
Key Highlights of the Lejja Site:
🔥 Massive Iron Slag Blocks At the heart of the site are huge iron slag blocks, some weighing several tons. Over 800 slag blocks have been found, indicating industrial-scale smelting activity. These are the waste products from iron production—clear evidence that smelting wasn't just experimental or symbolic; it was a major technological and economic activity.
🔬 Advanced Metallurgy Archaeologists, including Nigerian scholar Prof. Felix Chidozie Okafor and others, have noted that the furnaces at Lejja were technically advanced for their time. The smelting process involved high temperatures and careful control of air flow—techniques not seen in many parts of the world until much later.
🏛️ Cultural Significance Iron production was not merely a utilitarian process; it had spiritual and ritualistic importance. The blacksmiths were highly respected figures in Igbo society, often associated with divine powers due to their control of fire and transformation of raw earth into tools and weapons.
📍 Archaeological Findings The Igbo-Ukwu sites nearby also show a highly developed material culture, with bronze casting and elaborate artifacts dating back to the first millennium CE. Together, Lejja and Igbo-Ukwu form a technological corridor of innovation in West Africa.
🌍 Global Impact Lejja’s smelting tradition challenges Eurocentric narratives about the origins of technological advancement. While places like Europe and Asia are often credited with early metallurgy, Lejja proves that Black African civilizations were pioneering metal technology independently—possibly earlier than anywhere else on Earth.
Why It Matters Today: Lejja is not just an archaeological treasure—it is a symbol of African scientific genius. It’s a reminder that the roots of global industrialization stretch deep into African soil. Every time we use a piece of metal technology, we echo the brilliance of ancient Lejja.
It’s time to put sites like Lejja in the global spotlight—not as exotic footnotes, but as birthplaces of the modern world.
Lejja, Nigeria (ca. 2000 BCE, debated): Some claims suggest iron smelting in Nigeria’s Nsukka region could date back to 2000 BCE, based on radiocarbon dating of charcoal from slag sites. However, these dates are controversial due to potential inconsistencies in dating methods and lack of corroborating evidence.
Elon Musk deletes tweet claiming Trump was 'in the Epstein files' in first sign of feud de-escalation
WASHINGTON — Elon Musk has taken down his tweet claiming President Trump was implicated in the still-unreleased “[Jeffrey] Epstein files” in a first sign of de-escalation since the titanic blow-up between the powerful men this week.
“Time to drop the really big bomb,” Musk, 53, had posted Thursday on X to his more than 220 million followers after a multi-day tirade against the president’s spending bill working its way through Congress.
“@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files.That is the real reason they have not been made public,” he alleged. “Have a nice day, DJT!”
Photo of Donald Trump, Melania Knauss, Jeffrey Epstein, and Ghislaine Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago. Jeffrey Epstein’s former lawyer came out on Thursday to dispel any rumors that the president was implicated. Getty Images
In February, the DOJ released more than 100 pages of Epstein’s phone contacts and flight logs related to sex trafficking charges against the financier, once a friend of powerful politicians like former President Bill Clinton, businessmen such as Bill Gates and Trump himself.
Epstein’s former lawyer came out on Thursday to dispel any rumors that the president was implicated. Explore More
“I was hired to lead Jeffrey Epstein’s defense as his criminal lawyer 9 days before he died,” attorney David Schoen posted on X. “He sought my advice for months before that. I can say authoritatively, unequivocally, and definitively that he had no information to hurt President Trump. I specifically asked him!”
White House aides have noted the president’s association with Epstein will likely resurface in a fuller release of files but don’t believe any alleged wrongdoing by Trump will be revealed.
“This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful Bill because it does not include the policies he wanted,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday. “The president is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again.”
Illustration of side-by-side social media posts by Donald Trump and Elon Musk. “@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files.That is the real reason they have not been made public,” Musk alleged. “Have a nice day, DJT!” REUTERS
On Friday, Trump speculated that the world’s richest man had “lost his mind” as evidenced by the tweeting spree.
Epstein and the future president were photographed and videotaped together attending parties in the 1990s, and Trump told New York magazine in 2002 that his acquaintance was a “terrific guy” who “likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
That was six years before Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges of soliciting prostitution and soliciting sex from a minor, for which he was sentenced to 18 months in prison in a cushy plea deal cut with Florida authorities.
Donald Trump pointing at Elon Musk in the Oval Office. White House aides have noted the president’s association with Epstein will likely resurface in a fuller release of files but don’t believe any alleged wrongdoing by Trump will be revealed. AFP via Getty Images
Trump had reportedly banned his former associate from Mar-a-Lago in 2007 over an incident with a club member’s teen daughter.
On the 2024 campaign trail, he also said he’d have “no problem” releasing more official files related to Epstein if elected — including the deceased pedophile’s so-called “client list.”
“I don’t think — I mean, I’m not involved,” Trump said in September 2024. “I never went to his island, fortunately, but a lot of people did.”
A source familiar with the spat between the tech billionaire and the president noted: “If Elon truly thought the President was more deeply involved with Epstein, why did he hangout with him for 6 months and say he ‘loves him as much as a straight man can love a straight man?’”
The DOJ files do not contain any new revelations as Trump was already known to have flown on Epstein’s private jet at least seven times between October 1993 and May 1994.
Those flight logs — contained in what’s been referred to as the “little black book” — became public during the trial of the trial of Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell in 2021.
Elon Musk speaking at a press conference. On Friday, Trump speculated that the world’s richest man had “lost his mind” as evidenced by the tweeting spree. Molly Riley/White House / SWNS
Another version of the book is currently being auctioned off and contains at least five entries “highlighted in yellow,” one of which is Trump and all of which “are well-recognized financial and industrial figures,” according to the online webpage of Alexander Historical Auctions.
Internet sleuths have speculated that some of Epstein’s high-powered clients may have also taken trips down to the financier’s private island Little St. James in the Caribbean, where young women and underage girls were allegedly abused.
Epstein exploited more than 250 underage girls at his homes in New York, Florida and other locations, according to the Justice Department, before his arrest on federal sex trafficking charges in July 2019.
Elon Musk and Donald Trump walking together. Once among the closest allies to Trump, Musk left behind his cost-cutting efforts at (DOGE) just before reaching the 130-day deadline for his position as a special government employee. Getty Images
Prison guards later found him dead, with bedsheets around his neck, in a New York City federal detention center on Aug. 10, 2019. Investigators later ruled the death a suicide.
Once among the closest allies to Trump, Musk left behind his cost-cutting efforts at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) just before reaching the 130-day deadline for his position as a special government employee.
Musk had indicated a desire to speak with the president Friday after the kerfuffle, but a White House spokesperson later confirmed no phone call between the onetime allies was planned.
yinkus6750: It's now obvious this statistics has no sense. Price of foreign rice has drastically dropped within the past few weeks. Currently sold at 58-60,000 in Ogun State. The rate was even a slight increase which is attributed to Sallah celebration.
1. He quits politics entirely and focuses his energies only on running his many businesses
2. He quits the Republican Party, but remains in politics and decides to create a 3rd party or support an independent candidate (something he has spoken of doing before and something which another Billionaire called Ross Perot tried in 1992 and it cost Republicans the Presidency which they lost to Bill Clinton)
3. He plays the long game and reconciles with Trump in anticipation of throwing his weight behind his own preferred Republican candidate in the 2028 U.S Presidential Elections.
I personally think he'll go for option 3, but nothing is guaranteed at the moment.
For one thing, he can never become a Democrat because they have spent the past decade demonising him as a Nazi, calling him a white supremacist and destroying Tesla car dealerships all over the United States.
Musk himself is forbidden from running for the Presidency of the United States because he is a first generation immigrant.
Under the American Constitution, a first-generation immigrant cannot run for the office of U.S. President.
The U.S. Constitution (Article II, Section 1) requires that the president be a "natural born Citizen" of the United States. This means the person must have been born a U.S. citizen, typically by being born on U.S. soil or to U.S. citizen parents abroad. First-generation immigrants, who are born outside the U.S. to non-citizen parents and later become citizens, do not meet this requirement.
Elon Musk may speak to Trump; aides in push to calm feud
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk may speak to White House aides Friday in an effort to calm his ongoing feud with President Donald Trump, Fox News has learned.
Musk and Trump have been arguing over social media in recent days. The blowup came after Musk started "wearing thin" on Trump for about a month, Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy reported Friday.
White House aides told Doocy they are not expecting Trump and Musk to speak to each other today, but that Trump administration staffers might try to talk to Musk.
Doocy also reported that a red Tesla vehicle that Trump bought during a Tesla demonstration on the South Lawn of the White House grounds earlier this year is now expected to be given away or sold off. The vehicle with Florida tags, as of Friday, remains parked near the White House.
Musk màde allegations on Thursday that Trump was in the Jeffrey Epstein file.
"@RealDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files," Musk wrote on X. "That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!"
Musk followed the post with another, saying, "Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out."
"This is an unfortunate episode from Elon, who is unhappy with the One Big Beautiful BIll because it does not include the policies he wanted," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said. "The President is focused on passing this historic piece of legislation and making our country great again."
On Truth Social, Trump wrote Thursday that "Elon was ‘wearing thin,’ I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!"
"The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn’t do it!" Trump also said.
Actually, any virile young man who has served in the North has a different story to tell😂
But they are very good at hiding or covering up sexual indiscretions for fear of stoning to death.
Nadingo: Northern Nigerian women are no doubt the most, pious, humble and decent of all Nigerian women. I don't agree with the stats for South East. Theirs should be around 70%.
Inside details of multi-billion naira subsidy fraud that got oil marketer 104-year jail term
When stories of the petrol subsidy fraud appeared on the pages of newspapers, they were told mostly with sketchy details, with the crux of the narrative centring on the trials and convictions of the indicted oil marketers. But little was known about the gravity and tricky details of the fraud that milked the nation’s treasury.
In his new book, ‘The Shadow of Loot & Losses: Uncovering Nigeria’s Petroleum Subsidy Fraud’, Abdulrasheed Bawa, the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), reveals inside details of the massive fraud that marred the Petroleum Support Fund (PSF) scheme.
Bawa served as the chairman of the anti-graft agency from February 2021 to June 2023.
In the book, he detailed how the petrol subsidy scheme was used to syphon public funds, drawing from his experience as a key investigator on the EFCC’s special team that probed the 2012 subsidy fraud.
The case of Rowaye Jubril, the managing director of Brila Energy Limited, is unusual and intriguing.
Just like Oluwaseun Ogunbambo his fellow oil marketer and managing director of Fargo Petroleum and Gas Ltd, who was also indicted in the scam, Jubril was found to have forged several documents.
But what makes his case peculiar is how he orchestrated the fraud through ‘Remain on Board (RoB)’.
RoB is the material remaining in vessel tanks, void spaces, and/or pipelines after discharge. It includes water, oil, slops, oil residue, oil/water emulsions, sludge, and sediment.
WITH RoB, JUBRIL KILLED TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE
Jubril did not import petrol, but used forged documents submitted to the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to claim subsidy payment of N963.7 million.
The mother vessel, MT Overseas Limar, which he claimed to have used to import the product from Brazil in November 2010 was nowhere near the African coast at the time.
So, what did Jubril and his company do?
Brila Energy claimed to have imported and discharged 13,155 metric tons (equivalent to 17,700,573 liters) of PMS at Obat Oil Depot, Apapa, Lagos state, in March 2011.
The company alleged that MT Limar moved the product into its chartered vessel, MT Delphina (13,271 metric tons), offshore Cotonou and later transferred it into MT Dani (13,245 metric tons), and then discharged in Obat depot (13,155 metric tons).
Investigations, however, showed that MT Dani received 10,302 metric tons of PMS from three different vessels, with the following breakdown: MT Aidin 3,952 metric tons; MT Gavros: 3,119 metric tons; and MT Delphina: 3,234 metric tons.
Simply put, MT Dina only got 3,234 metric tons from MT Delphina as against Brila’s claim of 13,245.
Afterwards, MT Dina discharged its content to three other depots and Obat only got 6,911 metric tons as against Brila’s claim of 13,155.
“These findings indicate a complex set of transactions that directly contradicts the claims made by Brila Energy Limited regarding the discharge volumes and the sourcing of the product.” Bawa wrote in his book.
“The volume discharged was significantly lower than the claim made by Brila Energy Limited. The actual recorded discharge was 6,911.970 metric tons instead of the claimed 13,155.807 metric tons. The inquiries revealed other significant discrepancies.
“MT Delphina received Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) from MT Gavros, rather than from MT Overseas Limar. It subsequently discharged the product into three different vessels.
“The investigation into the operations of Brila Energy Limited revealed that the activities were basically a purchase of Remain on Board (ROBs) as opposed to a mere inflation of volumes. According to the documentation submitted by Brila Energy Limited, there. There was no genuine importation that took place. The trader that was engaged in the transactions raised suspicions that the mother vessel was never present in Africa, and the claimed STS transfer was fraudulent.
“Unlike in other cases where companies purportedly imported a lesser volume, such as 5,000 metric tons, the forged documents indicated a larger import of 10,000 metric tons. ROBs were purchased to cover the stated import. The fraud, in this case, was multifaceted. It primarily involved the nefarious acquisition of ROBs without any legitimate import.”
Following EFCC’s prosecution, on March 16, 2017, a Lagos state high court sentenced Jubril to 10 years imprisonment and ordered the company to pay N963.7 million in restitution to the federal government.
BUT IT DIDN’T END THERE…
Jubril and his company also helped another company to defraud the federal government of N1.1 billion from the subsidy fund.
In 2011, the PPPRA gave Alminnur Resources Limited, owned by Saminu Rabiu, permit to import 10,000 metric tons of PMS, but the company asked Brila Energy Limited to carry out the importation on its behalf.
All the documents involved in the transaction of the alleged petrol import from Amsterdam were forged while the vessels claimed to have been used were “dead”.
On April 7, 2017, a federal capital territory high court convicted and sentenced Jubril to 104 years imprisonment over the N1.1 billion subsidy fraud. Rabiu died during the trial.
Published by Cable Books, an imprint of Cable Media and Publishing Ltd, ‘The Shadow of Loot & Losses: Uncovering Nigeria’s Petroleum Subsidy Fraud’ is now available for purchase online via and on
Ozekhome slams Supreme Court for affirming death sentence on Adamawa Christian farmer who defended himself against killer herdsman
Constitutional lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mike Ozekhome, has slammed the Supreme Court over its recent ruling that affirmed the death sentence of Adamawa Christian farmer Sunday Jackson for defending himself against a killer herdsman.
In a ruling on March 7, 2025, the apex court upheld a lower court decision sentencing Mr Jackson to death by hanging for killing a Fulani herdsman, Ardo Bawuro, in an altercation on his farmland over 10 years ago, sparking widespread outrage over what the defence and critics said was a self-defence act.
Mr Ozekhome, who is currently representing the embattled leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, in his high-profile terrorism case against the Nigerian government, has now become the latest public figure to criticise the Supreme Court’s verdict condemning Mr Jackson to the death penalty.
In his analysis of the apex court’s verdict, Mr Ozekhome said the conclusion of the Supreme Court raised serious concerns about fairness and the fundamental right of every Nigerian to defend themselves.
He stated that justices were unrealistic to determine Mr Jackson should have fled after subduing his attacker.
“The facts surrounding the case raised significant questions about fairness, judicial reasoning and the fundamental right to self-defence,” Mr Ozekhome said.“The court reasoned that having seized the dagger, Jackson no longer faced an imminent threat and should have fled instead of retaliating with deadly force.”
He added, “This position has been widely criticised as unrealistic and disconnected from the realities of violent encounters.”
Mr Ozekhome also noted that Mr Jackson has maintained consistent claims of the incident, arguing that the defendant was right to instinctively react in the heat of the moment to defend himself against his attacker, which subsequently resulted in his death.
He insisted that the stabbing that resulted in the death of Mr Bawuro occurred during a physical struggle, and the justices’ notion that Mr Jackson had the opportunity to flee to safety while in a confrontation against an armed attacker was impossible.
“Jackson’s claim was consistent and straightforward; he acted instinctively to preserve his life in the face of sudden, life-threatening danger. The stabbing occurred during a physical struggle,” Mr Ozekhome argued.
“The notion that he had a clear and safe opportunity to flee while entangled in a fight with an armed opponent is, at best, speculative and, at worst, a dangerous oversimplification of a clear and perfect danger to his life. The apex court appeared to construct a simplistic mental narrative that did not align with the raw, chaotic nature of real-life violence.”
The senior lawyer added that the apex court erred in its handling of the case, stating that it violated the constitution by delivering judgment 167 days after the close of the argument, when it had a maximum of 90 days.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has declared two suspects wanted in connection with the alleged N1 billion cryptocurrency scam linked to Crypto Bridge Exchange (CBEX).
In a on Wednesday, the commission identified the wanted persons as Folashade Odelana and Bamidele Ayodele Abiodun.
According to the notice, the last known address of the suspects is No. 17 Oremeta Street, Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos.
The anti-graft agency urged members of the public with useful information on their whereabouts to contact any of its offices nationwide.
This latest development brings the number of individuals declared wanted in connection with the CBEX fraud to 10.
In April 2025, CBEX users raised alarm after they were unable to access or withdraw their investments.
The incident, which affected many Nigerians, sparked public outrage as several people claimed to have lost significant amounts of money to the failed cryptocurrency platform.
Earlier, the EFCC declared eight individuals wanted in connection with the case. They are Adefowora Abiodun Olanipekun, Adefowora Oluwanisola, Emmanuel Uko, Seyi Oloyede, Johnson Okiroh Otieno, Israel Mbaluka, Joseph Michiro Kabera, and Serah Michiro.
The commission also secured arrest warrants for six of the suspects, namely, Olanipekun, Oluwanisola, Uko, Oloyede, Avwerosuo Otorudo, and Chukwuebuka Ehirim.
Ola Olukoyede, chairman of the EFCC, assured victims of the financial scam that the commission is making progress in the investigation and recovery efforts.
He said “a reasonable amount” of funds has already been recovered and some arrests have been made.
The EFCC chairman said the commission committed to bringing all those involved in the alleged scam to justice and recover as much of the stolen funds as possible.
Sapphire Egemasi, a Nigerian tech enthusiast, is facing potential prison sentence of over 20 years in the United States following her arrest by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
She was arrested in connection with a large-scale fraud scheme that targeted multiple US government agencies.
A programmer, Egemasi, who operates a Devpost account, was arrested around April 10, 2025, in Bronx, New York, alongside other co-conspirators, including Samuel Kwadwo Osei, who appeared to have led the syndicate.
Their arrest stems from a federal grand jury indictment filed in 2024, charging the suspects with multiple counts of internet fraud and money laundering for crimes said to have occurred between September 2021 and February 2023.
Egemasi and her Ghanaian co-defendants allegedly conspired to defraud the city of Kentucky of millions of dollars.
Her role, investigators say, involved designing spoof websites impersonating official US government domains to steal login credentials and facilitate the transfer of stolen funds.
Before her arrest, Egemasi was reportedly based in Cambridge, United Kingdom, although authorities believe she previously lived in Ghana, where she likely established ties with her co-conspirators.
She allegedly served as the syndicate’s tech lead, orchestrating the creation of fake sites and overseeing wire transfers to accounts under the gang’s control.
Text message records show that in August 2022, the syndicate rerouted $965,000 stolen from Kentucky into a PNC Bank account.
In a separate transaction around the same time, $330,000 was funnelled into an account with Bank of America.
To conceal the origins of her wealth, Egemasi reportedly claimed to have held multiple roles, mostly internships, at major multinational companies, including British Petroleum, H&M, and Zara.
Widely known online as ‘tech queen’, Egemasi assumed a polished digital persona, especially on LinkedIn, where she showcased her skills and “flaunted a luxurious lifestyle”.
Her social media profiles featured photos of lavish vacations to destinations like Greece and Portugal, funded, according to prosecutors, through illicit proceeds.
Egemasi and her co-accused are currently in federal custody and are being held pending trial in Lexington, Kentucky.
If convicted, each faces up to 20 years in prison, significant financial penalties, and eventual deportation to their home countries upon completion of their sentences.
President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday received Tunde Bakare, founder of the Citadel Global Community Church, at his Lagos residence.
Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to the president on information and strategy, a photo of the visit via his official X account.
Bakare was among the aspirants in the 2023 presidential primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC). He scored no delegate votes as Tinubu won the election with 1,217 votes.
Speaking in an interview with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) after meeting with Tinubu, Bakare said his lifelong vision is to see a functional and prosperous Nigeria.
“My life, personal vision, is to see a nation that works in my lifetime. And those things I’ve discussed with Mr President,” he said.
“They’re not hidden things, but I’ve learnt that when you discuss with the person in charge, you leave it with him to do whatsoever he wills with what you’ve suggested.
“So, I’ve had a private conversation with Mr President, and I’m glad that he received me well. And I trust that God will help our nation.”
On what specific areas he discussed with the president, Bakare said the details would remain confidential.
“God guiding him and giving him wisdom will help this nation not to slide or go down the drain, but to bounce back so that he can leave a mark that cannot be erased,” he said.
When asked what he hopes to see in the next two years of the administration, Bakare listed peace, unity and meaningful progress.
“I’d like to see a peaceful nation. I’d like to see Nigerians being their brothers’ keeper,” he said.
“I’d like to see a good collaboration between the best of the north and the best of the south to steer Nigeria in the right direction.
“I’d like to see predictable progress in our nation. We have danced around some subjects for too long a time. It’s time to take concrete action to ensure that the masses of our country do not live in abject poverty.”
On April 20, Bakare asked Tinubu to accept and “stop playing God”.
During his state of the nation broadcast in Lagos, Bakare said the president should implement a “coordinated programme” to steer Nigeria out of its current crisis.
The cleric also condemned the senate’s suspension of Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the Kogi central senator, the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers by Tinubu, and the subsequent ratification by the national assembly.
In response, the senate leadership said Bakare’s remarks on the national assembly’s role in the declaration of emergency rule in Rivers state and suspension of Akpoti-Uduaghan were
Yemi Adaramodu, chairman of the senate committee on media and public affairs, said the red chamber was compelled to respond to Bakare’s comments, describing the remarks as “crossing the line”.
Describing Bakare as a cleric and political voice, Adaramodu said the senate acknowledged the cleric’s past contributions to national conversations but noted that his statement was laced with “contempt and unsubstantiated claims”.
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