budaatum:


And UK is God, right?

CaptainStephen:
Elements of three divisions are in one state in the North alone, what do you know about manpower?

Take your sensationalist rubbish to the gutter!

The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, has said that the United Kingdom Government is hopeful that President Muhammadu Buhari will sign the amended electoral act into law.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of a civil society, YIAGA Convergence, the British envoy said she was in Zimbabwe where she observed elections and had also recognised how powerful the civil society could be.

Laing averred that the world was watching to see if the 2023 election in Nigeria would be secured and conducted “relatively well”, and if the electorate would accept the results and rally round the new leadership.

She said, "We honestly really believe for Nigeria, for Africa, for the world that the outcome of this election and the conduct of this election is massively important.

"It has been a little bit of a rocky road for Nigerian democracy since 1999 but the country has stuck with it.

“Speaking for my government and the new US administration, we are very conscious; we need to build a coalition of democracies.”

Laing further added that they were hopeful the Independent National Electoral Commission would deliver “a good election and the Electoral Act, hopefully, will be passed soon by the President for the electronic transmission of votes”.

She, however, reiterated that the electorate needed to register to participate in the election.

There have been calls on Buhari by various civil society groups to sign the electoral bill into law, even as it seemed the President was weighing his options and those of his political party and associates before passing the law.


http://saharareporters.com/2021/12/11/2023-uk-government-asks-buhari-sign-amended-electoral-act-have-electronic-transmission

At least nine worshippers have been reported killed in an attack by suspected armed bandits in Ba’are in Mashegu Local Government Area of Niger State.

The police commissioner in the state, Bala Kuryas, told reporters on Thursday that nine people were killed in the attack which occurred on Wednesday.

Mr Kuryas said security have been beefed up in the affected community.

But residents of the area said 16 people were killed and 12 others injured in the attack.

The attackers invaded the mosque in the early hours of Wednesday when residents were performing the dawn congregational prayers, a resident said, asking not to be named for security reasons.

The source said the injured were taken to the Kontagora General Hospital for treatment.

The latest mosque attack followed an earlier one in October in Maza-Kula in the same council area where 17 worshippers were reportedly killed.

In that previous attack, many people were also abducted and many others injured.

In Niger State, armed bandits have in the last few years killed hundreds of people and displaced thousands of others.

The state government says at least over 151, 380 people, mostly peasant farmers, were displaced in the last two years in the state.

In Mashegu Local Government Area where the latest attack took place, over 2,010 residents have been displaced in the last two years.

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/500034-nine-worshippers-killed-in-another-mosque-attack-in-niger-state.html

A housewife simply identified as Salamatu has been reportedly shot dead while eight other residents were abducted by gunmen at Piri community in the Kwali Area Council of Abuja.

It was learnt that the kidnappers stormed the community between Tuesday and Wednesday.

According to Daily Trust, a resident, Yakubu Saidu, said the kidnappers first invaded two houses and whisked away two persons amid sporadic gunshots.

According to Yakubu, the kidnappers targeted a car dealer identified as Sadauna but since they could not get him, they went away with two of his brothers, on Tuesday night.

They were said to have returned to the community on Wednesday when Salamatu was killed.

The deceased, who was the senior wife of Yusuf Maigunwa, a yam seller in Kwali, attempted to escape through the back door when she was shot dead.

“The husband of the deceased woman was at home when the kidnappers came, but they couldn’t locate where he was hiding, as they whisked away his second wife and two others inside the house.

"Some gangs of the kidnappers, who positioned themselves at strategic places within the community, invaded two houses and whisked away three residents.

"The late woman have been buried in accordance with Islamic rites," he added.

http://saharareporters.com/2021/12/09/gunmen-break-homes-abduct-eight-kill-housewife-abuja

Once again Nigeria’s image problem rears its ugly head, only this time, it has to do with how little care is taken by other countries before stepping on the toes of Africa’s proverbial giant. On December 6, 2021, Nigeria joined seven other African states on the United Kingdom’s red list, which essentially bans Nigerians from entering the UK as a result of ‘rising’ cases of the omicron variant. This is even though Nigeria has only 3 recorded cases; a figure that is far less than the number of cases in countries with continuous access to the UK such as the Netherlands (19), Portugal (19), or even Germany (13), albeit with negative Covid-19 test results.

As the World Health Organization announced, there is no conclusive scientific evidence suggesting that omicron causes severe illness or is more transmissible. This is as the number of recorded cases in the UK, which is currently put at 246, significantly surpasses figures in Nigeria. Even if these are necessary precautionary measures, targeting only African states while sparing their European counterparts, calls into question the integrity of this policy. To call it what it is; it is duplicitous and dubious.

For what it is worth, not all of us expect the UK to relate with Africans in the same way it does with Europeans. It is foolhardy to even idealize the existence of an equal and reciprocal relationship between African states and their western counterparts. If anything, these travel restrictions reinforce the subordinate, peripheral, and quite frankly, inconsequential status of most African states, especially Nigeria, in the comity of nations. More importantly, it sustains the argument that when a country demonstrates a heightened level of ‘anyhowness’ or carelessness in the way it manages its domestic affairs, treats its citizens, and conducts its external affairs, others will treat it anyhow.

It is ok for Nigerians to frown at the UK because this decision stinks of disrespect. It reinforces prevailing sentiments that Africans don’t matter. However, the reality is that in the committee of nations, countries are self-interested and prioritize some geostrategic relations over others. This traditional practice, which has consistently characterized COVID-19 international politics, is simply the dictate of power relations that restricts countries like Nigeria to the fringes of international interactions. Beyond these, any country with an acute sense of responsibility to its people will take steps to protect them, no matter how discriminatory and duplicitous these steps may appear. That Nigerian leaders lack this basic understanding is by no means the fault of No. 10 Downing Street.

Consequently, it is misplaced aggression for Nigerians to condemn the UK for projecting its interests while forgetting to call out successive political leaders that have consistently failed to assert Nigeria’s role in the world and project the image of a country in constant ascendancy. Bearing in mind that how a country is perceived by others is very instrumental in how it is treated, for decades Nigerian leaders have demonstrated a high dose of inferiority, subserviency, and ineptitude to the global public as evidenced in the cataclysmic failures that characterize domestic governance, and the lack of foresight and strategy that is presently the bane of Nigeria’s global influence.

The UK’s travel ban may be the latest, but the practice of countries discounting Nigeria’s interests is nothing new. If in doubt, look no far from the case of Late Itunu, who was imprisoned unjustly in Cote d’Ivoire, or the attacks on Nigerian traders in Accra in 2020. These are not Western countries, they are African, with strong historical and bilateral relations with Nigeria. What then is expected of a country with a legacy of slavery, colonialism, discrimination, and racism under its belt, and a strong sense of understanding of the retaliatory limitations of Nigeria?

The reality is that save, perhaps, for the Obasanjo administration, successive Nigerian leaders have continuously perpetuated the image of a country in constant decline, both through their docile foreign policy posture and the embarrassingly incompetent manner domestic governance has been handled. Nigerian oil, as we know it, no longer carries the leverage it once did in international relations. It can no longer be bandied about to acquiesce others. That giantry status that was once expected of Nigeria is now a pipe dream, at least to those who hold an unsentimental or unbiased view of the current trajectory of things. Insecurity, economic decline, rising inequality and poverty, corruption, and increasing cases of human rights violation are some of the challenges bedeviling Nigeria that are readily obvious to the global public.

The extent to which these realities shape global perceptions of Nigeria and its citizens are not readily obvious to the eyes and may be anecdotal, at best, without empirical backing. However, policies of this nature, with detrimental effects to the interest of Nigeria, are useful proxies to suggest that Nigeria’s global reputation and standing in the committee of nations may be dwindling.

In essence, while there are enough reasons to be angry at the UK, perhaps some of that energy should be channeled at Nigerian political elites for their nonchalant approach to governance and consistent demonstration of ‘anyhowness’ in conducting foreign policy. In the current trajectory of affairs, Nigerian leaders are sadly failing in their duty to position the country as a relevant player in international interactions armed with sufficient retaliatory force to deter discriminatory policies.

https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2021/12/08/the-uks-travel-ban-why-nigerians-must-look-towards-their-leaders/

A Nigerian man, Osagie Aigbonohan, was on Friday convicted by the Southwark Crown Court, United Kingdom over his involvement in a romance scam in which he conned several women out of thousands of pounds.

This was made known in a statement issued on Saturday by the National Crime Agency.

The 40-year-old Nigerian was said to have used a number of aliases to contact women online through dating and social media sites, and in one case cheated a woman out of nearly £10,000 (about N7.5million at the parallel market).

According to the statement, Aigbonohan used the name ‘Tony Eden’, after which he struck up a ten-month relationship with the victim in 2020, via a dating site and persuaded her to lend him money to buy machinery for his business overseas.

The victim reportedly made nine transfers into various accounts operated by the Nigerian under fake identities, with the money eventually being sent into a personal account held by Aigbonohan, which he used for everyday spending.

Also, data recovered from Aigbonohan’s phone showed that he received money from at least eight other victims and had been in contact with over 670 people in total.

The statement said one of the victims was terminally ill, but Aigbonohan continued to pursue her even after she had passed away.

He was arrested in July 2021 and a false driver’s license was found on him at the time. Also it was discovered that he had no legal right to be in the UK, having overstayed his visa from two years ago.

Records showed that despite living in Abbey Wood, London, the Nigerian will spend victim’s money in locations across London, Manchester and Glasgow.

NCA officer’s conducted a search on the culprit's residence where they found a footwear he had purchased with store vouchers that could be linked back to one of the victims.

Aigbonohan was said to have appeared before Southwark Crown Court on Friday, where he pleaded guilty to charges relating to fraud and money laundering.

He will remain in custody until he is sentenced at the same court on 14 January 2022.

Dominic Mugan, NCA Operations Manager, said: “Romance fraud is a particularly cruel crime that impacts victims both emotionally and financially, with victims often feeling like they’re the ones to blame.

“Aigbonohan showed total disregard for the victims in this case and was happy to commit further fraud by moving money between various fraudulently held accounts.

“It’s possible that he contacted more people than we know about, if you think you may have been a victim, or may be a victim in a similar case, we would urge you to report the details to Action Fraud.”

http://saharareporters.com/2021/12/05/uk-court-convicts-nigerian-involved-romance-scam-targeting-over-670-people

ba7man:
Bandits, boko haram and IPOB are in the same WhatsApp group and deserve the same treatment.

Jakumo:
Theoretically, if any nation's seat of power is overrun by insurgents, democratic political power is imperiled and liable to transition at gunpoint from the hands of legitimately elected officials to those of hardened battlefront soldiers with a murderous mindset who are free from all constraints enshrined in The Geneva Contention, as they conquer and occupy farm-land, villages, and towns caught up in their rapacious infestation.

It is therefore an EXTREMELY alarming revelation if true, that Islamic terrorist hordes, very possibly trained and copiously armed by Libyan or Algerian outlaws, have now swarmed to within mortar-shell range of Nigeria's federal capital, Abuja. Will the might of the feared Presidential Guard be sufficient to withstand a coordinated onslaught by company-strength formations of fundamentalist terrorists armed to the teeth?

Is the Nigerian Airforce ground-attack aircraft inventory up to the task of addressing the invaders before they can become a major peril to an entire national capital city?

SlyDev:
The South East have the highest unemployment rate in Nigeria

The South West have the lowest unemployment rate in Nigeria

Niger state has been wracked by banditry for years. Now jihadists have moved in to communities just a few hundred miles from the capital, Abuja.

They ordered everyone to come around, saying if you run, if you cry, you will die,” said Bala Pada, recalling the moment in April when jihadists rounded up people at a market in his home town of Kaure to witness the execution of two alleged vigilantes.

Hundreds of jihadists have settled over the past year in Kaure and other remote communities in Niger state in Nigeria, according to displaced residents and local government officials. They began to arrive in November 2020, hoisting flags and declaring the communities under their control.

“They said this is what will happen to anyone that tries to stop them,” Pada said from a classroom in the Central primary school in Gwada, where he, his family and about 400 others displaced by violence now live. “Everyone was made to watch it but no one was allowed to react at all or they would face the same fate as the vigilantes,” the 45-year-old said. “Then they sprayed them with bullets.”

Fighters from competing Islamist terror groups linked to Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province have gained a foothold across Niger state by easily displacing an often feeble government or security presence. The development has caused increasing concern in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, just over three hours by road from towns and villages where jihadist flags fly and other armed groups have settled.

Residents and local officials have for years and with growing desperation raised the alarm about the domination of armed groups – called bandits – in much of Niger state. The arrival of jihadists in this often ungoverned space has made the situation more complicated, and even more dangerous.

Many of the jihadists arrived from Nigeria’s north-east, where they were engaged in fighting with the Nigerian army. They have found a haven in and around the same mineral-rich forests of the north-west that provided a fertile breeding ground for bandit gangs.

The militants in Niger state have terrorised communities by carrying out public executions, abducting young girls to be “wives”, forcibly recruiting young boys to be child soldiers, and decreeing that state schools close.

Alarmed officials in the state have pleaded for military reinforcements. They say their warnings are being acknowledged at the federal level but go largely unheeded.

“The problem is that insecurity is everywhere in the country,” said Suleiman Chukuba, the chairman of the Shiroro local government area. From his office in the state capital, Minna, he explained how Shiroro, one of the worst-affected areas in Niger state, had been left without adequate help. “We really need more manpower in the army, and better weapons,” Chukuba said, echoing sentiments expressed across the country that areas suffering violence have been abandoned by the central government.

Swathes of Niger state were already being subjected to what was in effect an insurgency waged by heavily armed bandit gangs before the jihadists turned up. The bandit gangs are made up of various ethnic groups, but dominated by mostly young ethnic Fulanis. Many of the Fulani armed groups have emerged from historic and complex conflicts over land between largely Fulani herders and farmers from other ethnic groups. In recent years these conflicts have worsened dramatically, killing thousands and becoming the most pronounced of the many security threats facing Nigeria.

The bandit groups have overpowered local police and army units, killing civilians and prolifically carrying out kidnaps for ransom – especially targeting school students – from the dense forests that span north-west Nigeria and stretch into the Sahel.

The ransom money has bolstered the bandits’ capabilities, said Chukuba. “They have general purpose machine guns, they have AK47s, they have ammunition,” he said. “They are at times better armed than the army.”

The bandit crisis created a vacuum of governance and security into which the jihadists have stepped. Twelve of Shiroro’s 15 wards have been overrun by armed groups, and jihadists are thought to be at large in at least five. Other local government areas in Niger state such as Rafi have been similarly affected.

“Two weeks ago they [jihadists] went to Korebe,” Chukuba said of a ward in Shiroro. “They saw a girl less than 14 and they kidnapped her and took her to their camp in the forest. Then they came back to the parents, to the father, with their arms, and they said, ‘we want to marry her and we’re here to pay the dowry.’”

In another incident, a seven-year-old boy was taken. “Again they went back to the parents and said, ‘don’t worry the boy is with us. We’re going to teach him the Islamic way of living’,” Chukuba said. “It’s a very desperate situation. They ‘[the jihadists] come to you and tell you ‘we have your child and they’re carrying weapons’. People are living in a state of fear.”

Chukuba said 70% of Shiroro’s school are no longer operational either because of kidnappings by bandit groups or decrees from jihadists forbidding education.

In some areas the jihadists are positioning themselves to locals as being able to offer a more reliable protection from banditry than the government. “What we’re seeing is them coming in and preaching to people that they are on their side,” Chukuba said.

But in others, the jihadist and bandit causes have aligned. Gambo Isiaku, the headteacher of the Central primary school in Gwada, said school kidnappings were increasingly an area where alliances were being formed. “The bandits get what they want which is ransom money and so they kidnap the children, while Boko Haram get what they want which is an end to western education.”

As the insecurity worsens, accounts of acts of terror have multiplied.

According to Isiaku, people across Shiroro have reported armed groups and jihadists committing mass rapes of women and girls in front of their families. “It’s so bad, it’s hard to even imagine,” he said.

In a briefing to journalists last week, a secretary to the Niger state governor said jihadists were setting up a caliphate in the state, and lamented that there were just 8,000 police officers trying to protect the state’s population of roughly 4 million people.

In recent days the army has told people in several communities in Shiroro and other areas in Niger state to leave their homes before a possible impending military offensive. Yet in a largely impoverished state, where many people rely on their farmland for food and income, leaving means abandoning livelihoods.

Pada now does odd manual labour jobs in the area close to the school to make ends meet. He was born and grew up in Kaure, but cannot return, he said. “We want to go back home but we don’t have a choice.”

Chukuba described Shiroro as a peaceful place before the violence that has reshaped it.

A day after explaining what had befallen residents in his jurisdiction, he learned his brother and other members of his family has been abducted by a bandit group. “They recently told all those living in the town to leave, but he was staying there because he didn’t want to abandon our farm,” he said over the telephone. “Inshallah [God willing], we will be able to rescue them.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/08/nigeria-niger-state-jihadists-boko-haram-abuja-banditry

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says 29 of the 85 countries that were malaria-endemic accounted for about 96% of malaria cases and deaths globally while Nigeria accounted for 27% of deaths.

The organisation disclosed this in its 2020 World Malaria report released on Monday.

“About 96% of malaria deaths globally were in 29 countries. Six countries – Nigeria (27%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (12%), Uganda (5%), Mozambique (4%), Angola (3%), and Burkina Faso (3%) – accounted for just over half of all malaria deaths globally in 2020.

In the data provided, the WHO noted that while Africa had a total of 602,000 deaths out of the estimated 627,000, Nigeria accounted for 31.9 per cent of the malaria deaths on the planet, which was followed closely by the Democratic Republic of Congo with 13.2 percent.

It also added that Sub-Saharan Africa had the heaviest malaria burden, accounting for about 95% of all malaria cases and 96% of all deaths in 2020. About 80% of deaths in the region are among children under 5 years of age.

Commenting on the report, the Head, Global Malaria Programme, WHO, Dr Pedro Alonso, said there was a potential malaria crisis.[quote]

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is alarmed by repeated attacks in Nigeria which forced more than 11,500 people to flee across the border into neighbouring Niger in November.

Armed groups, locally called “bandits,” have repeatedly attacked villages in Sokoto State in Nigeria’s Northwest in recent weeks. The violence comes against the backdrop of intercommunal clashes between farmers and herders as competition increases for dwindling resources, aggravated by the climate crisis.

We are deeply concerned by the surging violence in Northwest Nigeria and call for concerted and massive support to address the growing humanitarian needs of the affected population, ranging from protection services to food, shelter kits, kitchen utensils, blankets and other non-food items.

Most of the November arrivals have taken shelter with local communities in 26 villages across Bangui, a rural commune in Niger’s Tahoua region which was already hosting 3,500 Nigerian refugees since September.

Women and children make up the majority of the recent arrivals and describe killings, kidnappings for ransom, and the looting of their villages.

In coordination with Nigerien authorities, UNHCR is registering new arrivals, providing emergency assistance, and identifying the most vulnerable. But the need for shelter, food, water, and healthcare is rising rapidly.

We are also strengthening local health and education infrastructure in Bangui, including building latrines for 12 schools, and water access for six others. The main health centre in Bangui will be connected to water and electricity and five smaller health centres will be provided with staff.

Niger now hosts more than 200,000 Nigerian refugees, including more than 57,000 refugees from Northwest Nigeria in Maradi region and 15,000 in Tahoua region.

UNHCR commends Niger as an example of solidarity and generosity in a region grappling with escalating crises. It has given shelter to 600,000 refugees and internally displaced people, despite violence at its border regions, economic hardship, social challenges, and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Central Sahel countries of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger are at the epicentre of one of world’s fastest-growing displacement and protection crises. More than 900,000 refugees and nearly 2.5 million internally displaced people are hosted in the region.

UNHCR urges the international community to step up efforts and expand support to Sahel states beyond security and renews its urgent call on warring parties in the Sahel to end the violence affecting civilians.

In Niger, humanitarian efforts to respond to the emergency are dangerously overstretched. UNHCR’s operation, which requires US$110.7 million for 2021 is 64 per cent funded. Continued and increasing support is needed for UNHCR to continue providing life-saving assistance.

https://www.unhcr.org/afr/news/briefing/2021/12/61a9d8964/killings-kidnappings-looting-force-11500-nigerians-flee-niger.html

- Buhari's failure to implement 2014 confab report has been described as a great disservice to the nation
- According Jerry Gana, non-implementation of the confab report was largely responsible for some of the growing agitations in the country - However, Gana said he believed strongly in a united Nigeria, where justice and fairness were served to everyone irrespective of political or religious inclinations

A former Minister of Information and Culture, Professor Jerry Gana, has described the failure of President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to implement the 2014 National Conference report “as a terrible mistake”. Gana, who said the non-implementation of the confab report was largely responsible for some of the growing agitations and disunity across the country, however, said Nigerians were better off together as a people and country.

Gana, who spoke on Sunday in Uvwiamuge, Agbarho, Delta State, during the thanksgiving service to conclude activities marking the 90th anniversary of the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) Worldwide, said there would hardly be peace in the absence of justice and fairness in any society.

The elder statesman, however, maintained that, he did not share sentiments of persons, who were clamouring for the balkanisation of the country, saying he believed strongly in a united Nigeria, where justice and fairness were served to everyone irrespective of political or religious inclinations.

“We, in the middlebelt of Nigeria, are great lovers of peace, justice and fairness. The last administration convened a national conference in 2014 and we agreed on some certain fundamentals to ensure justice and fairness. Unfortunately, when this government came in, they made a terrible mistake. They never touched that report and that is the problem. “That’s why we are now saying we should start that conversation. We should talk to one another and assure one another of justice and fairness, because without equity, there can’t be peace. Without equity, we cannot be together. Let me appeal to the federal government to promote peace, equity and justice. Let me also appeal to those people, who are agitating that there’s tremendous power in being united. Let’s not fight to scatter and divide Nigeria. We are better being together,” he stated.

He congratulated the Urhobo Nation on the 90th anniversary of UPU, stressing that Urhobo people had played prominent roles in stabilising and promoting the unity of Nigeria.

The former minister, had at an earlier engagement, said the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) would be swept out of office in 2023, because it had committed a lot of injustices against humanity, adding that Nigerians were fed up with their leaders. Gana said this at the weekend in Effurun, near Warri, Delta State, while delivering a lecture titled: “Raising 21st Century Leaders for Nigeria” at Youth Arise Conference 2021. The Youth Arise Nigeria Conference with large turnout in attendance from within and Outside Delta was put together by Advocates of Paradigm Shift in Governance. They included Deacon Chris Iyowaye, Hon. Gibson Akporehe, Phillip Adu-Odogwu, Cogent Owhe and Lady E Ejiro Umukoro with the goal of raising the civic and political consciousness of youths in how they engage governance, get their PVC as a civic duty while volunteering and investing their time in being useful citizens rather than be purchaseable electorate.

https://www.legit.ng/politics/1446616-jerry-gana-blasts-buhari-implementing-2014-confab-report/

Rexwalters1:
Shameless thing, they are in the South East because it is now a war zone because of Miscreant minded vandals like you?

Nigerian Charged To US Court For Duping Americans Of Over N200Million In Romance Scams

In a press release by the United States Attorney Office on Friday, the federal indictment alleged that Obafemi was involved in an internet fraud and money laundering from March 2016 to June 2018.

A federal grand jury in Springfield, Missouri has charged a 39-year-old Nigerian, Badetito O. Obafemi, a resident of Dallas, Georgia on a 14-count indictment on July 29, 2021.

In a press release by the United States Attorney Office on Friday, the federal indictment alleged that Obafemi was involved in an internet fraud and money laundering from March 2016 to June 2018.

"The federal indictment alleges that Obafemi participated in a wire fraud conspiracy and a money-laundering conspiracy from June 1, 2016, to March 2018.

"The indictment also charges Obafemi with 11 counts of money laundering and one count of operating an illegal money transmitting business.

"Obafemi was the owner of Easy Tickets, LLC, and Goeasy Logistics, LLC, with offices for both companies listed at his residence," the statement read partly.

It revealed that the culprit had defrauded his victims, mostly the elderly through internet by using romance and relationship-based issues

"Romance scams target people, some of them elderly, in search of companionship or romance through online websites such as Facebook, Our Time, and Go Fish. The perpetrators of the romance scams created several profiles on online dating sites and social media sites.

"The conspirators then contacted individuals throughout the United States, including at least one individual in Taney County, with whom they cultivated a sense of affection and romance.

"Having established relationships with the victims, the indictment says, the perpetrators of the romance scams requested money for various untrue purposes, including equipment, business project expenses, other business expenses, hospital and other medical expenses, construction costs, travel expenses, taxes, and loans.

"The conspirators directed the victims to wire transfer or deposit money into various accounts, including accounts established and maintained by Obafemi. When he received the money, Obafemi allegedly withdrew some of the proceeds in cash, utilized some of the proceeds for his own benefit, and transferred some of the proceeds to other accounts in the United States and overseas.

"According to the indictment, the Taney County victim was contacted via Facebook by an individual claiming to be 'Kevin Condon' in May 2016. Following several conversations by email, phone, and Facebook, 'Condon' convinced the victim to send him money for expenses related to his overseas business project and various medical issues.

"Conspirators stole a total of $27,460 (about N15 million using parallel market rate of N560 to $1) from the Taney County victim. 'Condon' also attempted to convince the victim to deposit $40,000 (N22.4 million) into an account controlled by Obafemi, purportedly to pay a court in South Africa for his release from jail.

"The indictment also specifically refers to a victim in Minnesota who sent Obafemi and his co-conspirators $230,000 (N128,800,000) after meeting on an online dating site, and a victim in New Jersey who sent conspirators $54,000 (N30, 240,000) after meeting on an online dating site.

"The indictment also contains a forfeiture allegation, which would require Obafemi to forfeit to the government any property derived from the proceeds of the alleged offences, including a money judgment of $311,460 (about N174 million), " the statement said.

The charges contained in these indictments are simply accusations and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

These cases are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Casey Clark. They were investigated by the Department of Defense, Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, the Citrus County, Fla., Sheriff’s Office, the Belle Meade, Tenn., Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI and the Northfield, Minn., Police Department.

http://saharareporters.com/2021/12/06/nigerian-charged-us-court-duping-americans-over-n200million-romance-scams

Nigeria’s inclusion on England’s red list after cases of the Omicron Covid variant were linked to travel from the country has been condemned as “travel apartheid”.

People arriving in the UK from Nigeria have to spend 10 days in hotel quarantine at a cost of £2,285 and have two negative PCR test results, as part of measures that came into force from 4am on Monday.

The Department of Health said 21 Omicron cases in England were found to be linked to travel from Nigeria. There are 134 reported cases in the UK.

The Nigerian high commissioner to London, Sarafa Tunji Isola, said he agreed with the UN secretary general, António Guterres, who criticised measures imposed by various countries against African nations as “travel apartheid”.

Isola told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The reaction in Nigeria is that of travel apartheid. Because Nigeria is actually aligned with the position of the UN secretary general that the travel ban is apartheid, in the sense that we’re not dealing with an endemic situation, we are dealing with a pandemic situation and what is expected is a global approach, not selective.”

He added: “[Omicron] is classified as a mild variant – no hospitalisations, no deaths. So the issue is quite different from the Delta variant. I mean, the position has to be taken based on scientific and empirical evidence. It is not a kind of panicky situation. We must have the facts.”

The UK minister for policing, Kit Malthouse, said the phrase “travel apartheid” was “very unfortunate language”.

“We understand the difficulties that’s created by these travel restrictions, but we’re trying to buy a little bit of time so that our scientists at Porton Down can work on the virus and assess how difficult it’s going to be for us to cope with as a country,” he told Today.

Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said Labour supported the measures because there was a need “to stop there being lots of additional new cases” of Omicron to slow its spread. “That’s what happened in the first wave, it’s also what happened in the Delta wave,” she said.

Dozens of countries have imposed sweeping travel restrictions on African nations, some of which have yet to detect any cases of the variant. It has reignited the debate over the effectiveness of border closures and measures have been met with outrage and claims of scapegoating regions after South Africa raised the alarm about the new variant.

Guterres said bans that isolate specific countries or regions are “not only deeply unfair and punitive, they are ineffective”. He added: “We have the instruments to have safe travel. Let’s use those instruments to avoid this kind of, allow me to say, travel apartheid, which I think is unacceptable.”

His comments echoed those of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organization, who said last week it was “deeply concerning” that southern African countries were being “penalised by others for doing the right thing”, and called for countries to take “rational, proportional risk reduction measures in keeping with international health regulations”.

The WHO’s technical lead on Covid-19, Maria Van Kerkhove, said travel bans had limited the ability of South African researchers to ship virus samples out of the country. “We do not want to see countries penalised for sharing information, because this is how WHO and our partners make assessments and how we provide advice,” she said.

Leaders of African countries have also condemned the bans as unfair. The South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, said on Sunday the measures were “deeply disappointing”, adding: “The prohibition of travel is not informed by science. Nor will it be effective in preventing the spread of this variant. The only thing the prohibition on travel will do is to further damage the economies of the affected countries and undermine their ability to respond to and also to recover from the pandemic.”

The president of Malawi, Lazarus Chakwera, wrote on Facebook: “Covid measures must be based on science, not Afrophobia.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/06/travel-apartheid-nigeria-condemns-englands-covid-red-list-omicron

Rexwalters1:
Shameless thing, they are in the South East because it is now a war zone because of Miscreant minded vandals like you?