There have been a few things that happened in Nigeria this year that had shaken the internet as the arrest of 32-year-old billionaire Invictus Obinwanne for wire fraud.

Invictus was arrested by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI on Friday in the US for allegedly stealing from unsuspecting Americans up to $11 million, about N3.9 billion, mostly through email scams.

The question many are asking now is, what next? If convicted, how long is he likely to spend in jail? How much of his wealth is he likely to forfeit to the authorities, etc?

Well, in Nigeria, Obinwanne could be looking at a possible 5-year jail term, because under the Cybercrime Act 2015, Internet fraudsters are liable to a fine of up to N10 million or a term of imprisonment of 5 years, if convicted.

However, a person convicted of wire fraud faces significant potential penalties in the US.

READ MORE HERE - https:///33IuOLG

Football world governing body FIFA has banned former Nigeria coach Samson Siasia from all football activity for life after being found guilty of accepting to receive bribes in order to manipulate matches.

Siasia who led Nigeria U20 and Nigeria U23 teams to second-place finishes at the 2015 FIFA U20 World Cup and the 2008 Beijing Olympics was also fined CHF 50,000, about 18.6 million naira.

Read the juicy details here - https:///2ZcpJaV

The Nigerian Army has buried five army officers who lost their lives in the line of duty while fighting the dreaded Boko Haram insurgency.

The burial was held in Maiduguri, Borno State in the presence of senior army officers including the incoming Theatre commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj-Gen, Olusegun Adeniyi,

The Commander commiserated with the family of the deceased soldiers saying they are heroes and should be seen as such.

READ MORE HERE - https:///2KCyE1l

The leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, has landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, from India, where his planned medical treatment was aborted.

But he was immediately taken into custody by the Department of State Services which whisked him away on arrival at the airport.

El-Zakzaky arrived via an Ethiopian airline around 12.05pm and was driven away by the security operatives shortly after.

READ MORE HERE - https:///2Z3udkk

Perhaps, you didn’t know that the inauguration of Buhari’s ministers is being challenged in court.

Well, the inauguration is being challenged by one Mr Musa Baba-Panya over the exclusion of an FCT indigene from the President’s cabinet.

So, the Federal High Court Abuja will, on Monday, deliver its ruling in the suit brought by Mr Baba-panya on Thursday through an exparte motion, asking it to stop the president from going ahead with the inauguration.

In suit number: number: FHC/ABJ/CS/878/19, Baba-Panya, who is also an indigene of Karu in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), said the president’s action was contrary to an Appeal Court judgment delivered on March 15, 2018.

President Buhari is the 1st defendant while the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) is the 2nd defendant in the case.

READ MORE HERE - https:///31KJQPw

The news filtered in on Thursday that Nigeria’s number one civil servant, Head of Service Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita is being questioned by the anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC over alleged 3-billion-naira fraud.

Here are 7 things you need to know to keep a tab on the story as it develops.

1. Contractor Kickbacks Got Her Into Trouble: You know, getting a government contract is like fishing. You can’t catch any without your hand soaking in the water. And for contractors handling projects for all Nigeria’s several federal ministries, that “water” allegedly became Oyo-Ita. And according to the EFCC, bribes received from contained amounted to up N3 billion naira which is now being investigated.

2. She Cashed Out Time Big Time On Overtime Allowance: If you know about civil service remunerations, you would understand that at some level, you get paid overtime, especially if you have to work outside your duty station.

It is called Duty Tour Allowance, DTA. And according to the EFCC, Oyo-Ita and her allies allegedly turned this into cash cow as they allegedly falsified this DTA allowances.

3. She Is Not Alone: Yes, like every financial crime...

Read the rest here - https:///2H9HVvE

The Nigerian Army has announced yet another set of postings which centred largely around the Boko Haram war in the North-east.

The reshuffle, which took effect from August 14, comes amidst pressure on the military to end the 10-year insurgency that has cost the nation much hardship in human and asset toll.

PREMIUM TIMES reports that top officers affected in the latest exercise include Bulama Biu, a major-general and commander of the Boko Haram war.

He was immediately replaced by AK Ibrahim, a brigadier-general who was transferred from the Army Headquarters to 7 Division Headquarters in Maiduguri. Mr Ibrahim was made the theatre commander of Sector 1 Operation Lafiya Dole and acting-general officer commanding (GOC) of 7 Division, the main formation overseeing the Boko Haram war.

Read more here https:///2Kzaxk6

Deji Adeyanju, an associate of Omoyele Sowore has revealed that the leader of the #RevolutionNow is hale and hearty in the custody of DSS in Abuja.

Adeyanju said the Take it Back Members visited defiant Sowore in DSS Detention on Monday evening and were allowed to see him at 6 pm.

He said Sowore is in high spirit and unmoved to the fight against injustice in Nigeria.

He took to his Facebook wall and announced to all well-meaning Nigerians that the #DayofRage leader is still standing tall, Unbowed and unbroken. ‬

“At 6 pm today, 5th August 2019, members of the Take it Back Movement were allowed to visit Sowore, for the first time since his armed abduction. He’s in high spirit & unmoved,” he said.‬

Meanwhile, Premium Times reports that the #RevolutiionNow leader said he is pleased that the protest went ahead despite the government's effort to quash the protest on Monday.

“I am pleased that the peaceful #RevolutionNow protests went ahead,” he said.

Read more here >>>https:///2YrJzDV

In March 2014, over half a million fresh graduates gathered for a job test organised by Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS at various locations across Nigeria.

The job applicants were competing for some 4,500 job slots advertised by the Immigration service.

Unfortunately, due to a shoddy arrangement by those entrusted with the test organisation, there was stampede across the venues, and 16 of the young people lost their lives.

Hundreds of the young people who took part in the test did not protest the deaths or the poor handling of the exercise. Not even a stone was thrown by any of them.

They simply picked themselves up, thanking God that they survived the stampede, and went ahead to sit for the test. Those who were angry enough grumbled like a dog, cursed under their breath and took to their social media handles to vent. And that was it.

Despite the public outcry and condemnation that followed the incident, the man under whose watch the incident happened, Abba Morro, walked free. In fact, he would go-ahead to complete his term as a minister under the then much-hated president Goodluck Jonathan.

Read More>>>>http://nigeriatodaynews.com/news/Sowore-There-Will-Never-Be-Revolution-Nigeria#.XUdiKMj93mo.whatsapp

Last week, China joined the league of used car exporters to Africa, shipping its first batch of 300 used cars to Nigeria alone, a historic move that could disrupt the booming used-car market on the continent, but with foreseeable consequences for Nigeria’s environmental crisis.

According to a statement from the Chinese ministry of commerce, the country has shed its inhibition to explore the huge potential in the global used-car market with a few countries with high demand for used vehicles from Europe and North America.

These countries included Nigeria in Africa and the South-East Asian nations of Cambodia and Myanmar. Some shipments also went to Russia.

Compared to its over 3 billion population, China’s car ownership is still below 500 million vehicles at 340 million, according to China’s Ministry of Public Security report in July 2019, but the global giant has successfully pioneered a major shift from fossil-fuel-powered-vehicles since 2012, that it now must find a profitable market for its used petrol cars.

Read More >>>https:///2T3Ffoh

The presidential candidate of the People's Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, has decried the alleged wanton deaths of Nigerian soldiers and the abysmal coverup of the incident by the Nigerian military.

Atiku was reacting to a Wall Street Journal investigative report alleging that over 1,000 Nigerian soldiers were killed by Boko Haram and buried secretly by the Nigerian Army to hide their unabating losses from the insurgents.

READ MORE HERE - https:///2MwOuMw

At least 1,000 Nigerian soldiers fighting the protracted war against the cut-throat Boko Haram terrorists have been allegedly killed and buried secretly in order to claim false victory against the insurgents.

The soldiers were buried secretly without informing their families.

Read all about it here - http://nigeriatodaynews.com/news/Nigerian-Military-Bury-Soldiers-Secretly-Night

At least 1,000 Nigerian soldiers fighting the protracted war against the cut-throat Boko Haram terrorists have been allegedly killed and buried secretly in order to claim false victory against the insurgents.

The soldiers were buried secretly without informing their families.

Read all about it here - http://nigeriatodaynews.com/news/Nigerian-Military-Bury-Soldiers-Secretly-Night

Isreal will launch a satellite to cover the whole of Africa on August 3.

The satellite called Amos-17 is the advanced version of Amos-16 which was launched in 2016.

Spacecom, the telecommunication firm which operates the Amos fleet satellite says it Amos-17 will cover the whole of Africa.

The satellite is said to be a solution to Africa's problem of unstable internet, unstable TV broadcast and poor cellular services. it will provide the continent with high-quality broadcast and adequate frequency in a way that has not been before.

Amos-17 is really a satellite of its kind.

Read full gist here - http://nigeriatodaynews.com/news/Israel-Launch-Amos-17-Satellite-Africa

Football star and PSG forward, Neymar Jr has a reason to celebrate.
Police in Brazil probing rape allegations against him have closed the case due to a lack of evidence.
The Sao Paulo attorney general's office said Monday, AFP reports.
The police decision will be sent to prosecutors on Tuesday, who will have 15 days to evaluate the case, a spokeswoman for the attorney general's office told AFP.
A final ruling on the case will be made by a judge.
A spokesman for Neymar said he was not able to comment on the police decision. Sao Paulo police are due to hold a news conference on Tuesday.
Neymar has vehemently denied allegations he raped a Brazilian woman in a Paris hotel in May.

Read the full story here http://nigeriatodaynews.com/news/Rape-Neymar-Off-The-Hook-Brazil-Police-End-Probe

A piece of equipment that will process crude oil for Nigeria’s Dangote refinery set sail on Monday from China to Nigeria.
Oil company Sinopec said this in a tweet on Monday.
The Dangote refinery is one project everyone in Africa is holding their breath for, as construction reaches advanced stages.
The 650,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery in Lekki, Lagos is set to be Africa’s largest and could transform the country from fuel importer to a net exporter.
“On July 29, the world’s largest atmospheric tower built by Sinopec slowly left a wharf in Ningbo,” the Sinopec tweet said.
“Following the Maritime #SilkRoad, it will travel to #Nigeria and be installed at the world’s biggest single-train facility - Nigeria’s Dangote Refinery,” the tweet explained.
For the type of refinery, the company is building, the atmospheric tower is the primary unit processing crude oil into fuels.
It will likely take at least a month to reach Lagos.
Read More here http://nigeriatodaynews.com/news/Atmospheric-Tower-Dangote-Refinery-Leaves-China-To-Nigeria

Chairman of Silverbird Group, Senator Ben Murray-Bruce has directed his company to henceforth purchase only electric vehicles, beginning a self-imposed green revolution to drive the adoption of electric vehicles in Nigeria.

“I have just given a company-wide directive that all new vehicles purchased on behalf of Silverbird Group will be electric vehicles,” he announced in a tweet on Saturday.

“We are going to be the first company to go all green,” he said, adding that Silverbird Group “will not issue any car-loan to any staff except they want to buy an electric car”.

The electric vehicle obsessed common sense senator failed to have his bill seeking to phase out petrol vehicles from Nigeria by 2035 scale through the national assembly in April this year.

But this move shows he is not willing yet to give up on his dream of persuading the authorities in Nigeria to phase out fossil fuel-powered vehicles, following in the footsteps of UK and France which have set 2040 as dates to phase out petrol cars.

You can read the full gist here[b] http://nigeriatodaynews.com/news/Senator-Bruce-Orders-Silverbird-Workers-To-Purchase-Only-Electric-Cars[/b]

Kehinde is a Marketing Executive. On July 5, he tried booking a Gokada ride to quickly attend a meeting in Apapa from his office in Ikeja. He tried at least 5 times, and all his attempts returned a “no driver available” report. Then at the 6th attempt, a rider accepted the request but told him to cancel since he was still on a trip. And then he abandoned the option and hitched a commercial bus instead, he told Nigeria Today.

“It’s total madness. These guys are beating the system. Gokada has got to do something fast,” a clearly infuriated Kehinde said.

Narrating a similar experience, another Gokada user, Emmanuel, an office assistant in Ikeja told Nigeria Today how he eventually got rid of the app.

“It rained that day and that the traffic was really bad. So, I really hoped that a Gokada will come handy. And then I tried for more than 20 minutes before I got a driver. So, I called this guy, he picked the call and told me where he was, about 800 metres from my location and I told him where I was.

“It shouldn’t take him more than 5 minutes to arrive. He said he was coming. I waited for 10 minutes; he didn’t show up. Another thirty minutes; this guy still didn’t show up. I called him but he wouldn’t pick. And then I left and boarded public transport.

“After that day, I decided to uninstall. I was hoping that maybe something happened, but until the end of that day, that guy didn’t call. I was so disappointed,” he said.

He added: “The company really needs to work on their drivers. Sometimes, when you get a driver, you wait for him to call, he won’t. And then you decide to call but then the number isn’t connecting. And I’m wondering why the app is sending me a driver whose phone is switched off.”

After listening to these stories, this reporter decided to conduct further investigation. The reporter downloaded the Gokada app and tried to order a ride severally to no avail. And then he decided to head to the nearest bus stop - Stadium bus stop in Surulere where he saw two Gokada motorcycles stationed.

Also Read: Foreign Investors Battle For Africa’s Okada Business[http://nigeriatodaynews.com/news/Foreign-Investors-Battle-For-Africa%E2%80%99S-Okada-Business]

He entered the location and a destination and confirmed the request, but the report came back negative as you can see in the picture above.

He then decided to approach the drivers who already rushed him asking his destination just the way regular unbranded Okadas do. When he demanded that they use the app, they declined.

These experiences portray an unravelling threat to the relatively new motorcycle taxi hailing services proliferating in the commercial city of Lagos.

Hailed as a huge relief to commuters in the traffic-ridden mega-city when it launched in Lagos in 2018, Gokada uses a mobile app to connect desperate users hoping to beat the unrelenting Lagos’ traffic with motorcycle drivers operating a 200cc grade motorbikes approved by the Lagos authorities for major roads in the state.

It was a major hit in the first year, as the firm boasted over 5,000 rides per day and then acquired more than 1,000 motorcycles to meet the growing demand.

Like most on-demand transport services, the motorcycle taxi relies on an online connection between riders and drivers, but over the past month, the drivers have been scuttling this setup, choosing instead to go offline and pick passengers like other unregistered and unregulated local motorcycle taxis. This has created an artificial scarcity of drivers, forcing the users to flag them offline and negotiate a fare which is usually higher than those estimated by the app.

App’s Low Fare Estimates Driving Drivers Offline

A Gokada driver, Anthony (the other name withheld) who spoke to Nigeria Today said Okada's app underestimates the fares and that accounts for why he always prefers to go offline or renegotiate the app’s fare estimates when he gets a rider through the app.

According to him, he doesn’t embark on any trip without renegotiating the fare.

“We have a target to meet daily. And we must fuel the bike. And there must be something left to take home. But the prices that the apps give are just not fair to us,” he said.

Compared to unregistered motorcycle taxis, Okada's fares are about 25 to 50% cheaper. For instance, a 15km ride from Ikeja city mall to Oshodi on a Gokada could cost between N750 to N1,050. This destination could be as high as N2,000 to N2,500 on an unregistered motorcycle taxi.

Gokada Begins A Crackdown

This development hasn’t gone unnoticed by the management of the company. Last week, the firm sent out emails to their users promising a N5,000 reward to any rider who reports any driver picking passengers offline.

According to the firm, vices for which the N5,000 reward could be earned when reported also include reckless driving, driving without helmet, overcharging, breaking traffic rules and taking more than a passenger per trip.

“Please note that it is important to capture the pilot’s plate number to enable us to identify the reported pilot. We are only a step away from delivering the best bike-hailing experience you can get! The reward is unlimited, as long as you have a bad experience with any pilot,” the mail said.

Founded by Deji Oduntan, and Bangladesh techpreneur Fahim Saleh in January 2018, Gokada has been described as the future of transportation in the country. But this breach of trust by its partner drivers poses a significant threat to the survival and growth of the hailing service. The managers, therefore, need to look for a creative solution as soon as possible.

[http://nigeriatodaynews.com/news/Hiding-In-Plain-Sight-How-Gokada-Drivers-Are-Boycotting-The-App-And-Turning-To-Offline-Demand