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2023 polls: Arrest terrorist Simon Ekpa harboured by Finland now – Ohanaeze tells FG

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Apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has asked the Federal Government to expedite action in its plan to arrest Finland-based Simon Ekpa.

Ekpa has been threatening in online video broadcasts that the 2023 general elections coming in less than 10 days will not hold in the South East heightening tension among the people of the zone.

The self-acclaimed disciple of IPOB leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, had vowed to unleash mayhem on anyone who dared to come out on the election day.

The same Ekpa’s Autopilot group has sustained the Monday sit-at-home order in some parts of the South-East despite IPOB’s announcement, through its spokesperson, Emma Powerful, that it has suspended the civil action.

Concerned by Ekpa’s latest threat, the Federal Government of Nigeria was reported to have met with the Ambassador of Finland in Nigeria, Leena Pylvanainen, as it seeks ways to stop further carnage in the South-East region.

At the meeting with Pylvanainen, Nigeria’s foreign Affairs Minister, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, represented by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Zubairu Dada, was reported to have expressed displeasure over the orders given by Ekpa to his teeming followers who consequently embarked on killings, maiming, burning and other destructive activities.

The Nigerian Government said Ekpa’s action was fast becoming a threat to the forthcoming 2023 election, and that the FG would not take it lightly with him and the Finland governments if something drastic was not done.

The Nigerian Military had also earlier vowed that it would not allow anyone to truncate the 2023 polls.

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While hailing the latest move by the Nigerian government, the Ohanaeze’s factional Secretary-General, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro said urgent action must be taken to stop Ekpa from carrying out his threats.

He said in a statement made available to newsmen on Thursday that “one Simon Ifeanyi Njoku Ekpa has by his utterances and actions ascended the height of a global terrorist and sponsor of terrorism in Nigeria and particularly in the South-East.

“Simon Ekpa is liable for the violence, killing of Igbos and Nigerians in the Eastern part of the country and should be arraigned by the Finnish Government and the Nigerian government without further delay before he escapes from Finland.”

Isiguzoro while declaring that Ekpa’s case had gone beyond dialogue, noted that “Ndigbo have assembled all documents to prove that Simon Ekpa is sponsoring the killing of the Igbo and other Nigerians, especially the security agents, burning of public properties (INEC and court buildings), as well as disruption of economic and social activities in the South-East for the last six months.”

He stressed that Ndigbo would collaborate with other Nigerians to apprehend and hand over to security agencies those enforcing the Ekpa’s sit-at-home from the 23rd to 28th of February 2023 in an attempt to disrupt the 2023 Presidential elections which is to hold on February 25.

“Elections must be held in the South-East as Simon Ekpa is working with Igbo adversaries to suppress Igbo votes.

“This must be resisted; local vigilantes and community-based security outfits should join hands in the efforts to stamp out terrorism and banditry in the South-East,” he declared.

The Ohanaeze scribe urged the Federal Government “to mount fierce pressure on the Finnish Government to surrender Simon Ekpa to face prosecution in Nigeria.

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“Finnish authorities should stop from shielding a global terrorist who is responsible for the killing over of 2000 Nigerians in the South-East.

“In our commitment to ensure that Ekpa is arrested, the $50,000 bounty on him has been increased to 100,000 dollars for anyone in Finland and Europe who has useful information on his new location.”

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Alleged £1.87m Fraud: UK set to deport Nigerian Pastor, Tobi Adegboyega

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A Nigerian pastor whose church was shut down over an alleged £1.87 million fraud has lost his fight against deportation, despite claiming it would breach his human rights.

An immigration tribunal has ruled that Tobi Adegboyega, 44, the cousin of John Boyega, the Star Wars actor, should be deported back to his native Nigeria after investigations, including by The Telegraph, exposed misuse of funds by his church.

Mr Adegboyega was head of SPAC Nation, a controversial church shut down after failing to properly account for more than £1.87 million of outgoings and operating with lack of transparency.

He claimed deportation would breach his right under the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) to a family life – having married a British woman.

He also said the attempt to remove him by the Home Office failed to take account of his community work with SPAC.

Describing a “charismatic” community leader of a large, well-organised church, his legal team claimed that he had “intervened in the lives of many hundreds of young people, predominantly from the black communities in London, to lead them away from trouble”.

He claimed his work had been “lauded” by politicians including Boris Johnson and senior figures within the Metropolitan Police, although no testimony by them was submitted to the court. He said that without his personal presence in London, projects that he had masterminded would fall apart or reduce in size.

However, the tribunal was told the Home Office contended “all is not as it seems”.

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“Various manifestations of [Mr Adegboyega’s] church have been closed down, by either the Charity Commission or the High Court, because of concerns over its finances and lack of transparency,” according to the judgment.

‘Selling their own blood’

“Former members of the church have alleged that it is a cult, in which impoverished young people are encouraged to do anything they can to donate money, including taking out large loans, committing benefit fraud and even selling their own blood.

“It is alleged that the church leadership lead lavish lifestyles and there have, it is said, been instances of abuse. The [Home Office’s] case before us was that all of this needs to be taken into account when evaluating whether [Mr Adegboyega] is in fact of real value to the UK.”

Mr Adegboyega has lived in the UK unlawfully since overstaying on a visitor’s visa that allowed him to enter Britain in 2005. In 2019, he applied for leave to remain under ECHR’s right to a family life. His application was initially dismissed by a first-tier immigration tribunal before he appealed. In the tribunal, he maintained no one had ever faced criminal charges over his church’s finances, that many of the attacks on him and SPAC Nation were politically motivated and that claims it was a cult were unfounded.

However, the tribunal was told the Charity Commission concluded “there had been serious misconduct and/or mismanagement in the administration of the charity which was sustained over a substantial period of time”.

The tribunal also found Mr Adegboyega’s evidence to be “hyperbolic in many instances” and had “sought to grossly inflate his influence”.

“We find it to be implausible that he has the time to undertake all of this work personally,” it said.

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The tribunal concluded: “We are not satisfied that the good work that SPAC Nation undertakes generally would collapse or even significantly suffer should the Appellant be required to leave the UK.

“Weighing all of the foregoing in the balance we conclude that the decision to refuse leave to remain was wholly proportionate.

“[Mr Adegboyega] seeks to rely on family and private life relationships, all of which have been established whilst he was in the UK unlawfully, and which would survive his return to Nigeria.

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REVEALED: Emefiele, cronies acquired 753-Duplex Estate with Forex kickbacks — EFCC

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Court papers filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission have linked the immediate-past Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, to the massive Abuja property with 753 duplexes and other apartments located in the Cadastral Zone area of the capital city.

The anti-graft agency on Monday announced the recovery of the property from an unnamed ex-government top brass, describing the property as the biggest single recovery it had made in the course of fighting corruption since its establishment in 2003.

The recovery followed a ruling delivered on December 2, 2024 by Justice Jude Onwuegbuzie of the FCT High Court in Apo.

In the court documents obtained by our correspondent on Tuesday, the EFCC ran a narration linking Emefiele to the massive property spanning 150,500 square metre and identified as Plot 109, Cadazral Zone C09, Lokogoma District, Abuja.

Emefiele is currently being prosecuted by the EFCC in three separate cases before different judges.

Before Justice Hamza Mu’azu, he is being tried for procurement fraud, forgery of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s signature, and other charges.

Before Justice Rahman Oshodi at the Special Offences Court in Ikeja, Lagos, Emefiele is charged with alleged fraud involving $4.5bn and N2.8bn.

Additionally, Emefiele is before Justice Maryann Anenih of the FCT High Court in Abuja for allegedly approving the printing of N684.5m notes at the cost of N18.96bn.

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According to the document, Emefiele allegedly carried out “monumental fraud” as the CBN governor with his cronies to acquire several properties including the estate.

“The commission whilst investigating the alleged monumental fraud carried out by the immediate past Governor of the CBN and his cronies traced and discovered several properties reasonably suspected to have been acquired and or developed with proceeds of unlawful activities.

“The property highlighted in Schedule A to this application is one of the said properties recovered, having been reasonably suspected to have been acquired/ developed with proceeds of unlawful activities.”

The EFCC alleged that “in the cause of this investigation, it was revealed that the erstwhile CBN governor negotiated kickbacks in return for allocation of foreign exchange to some companies who were in desperate need of foreign exchange for their lawful and legitimate businesses.

“Our investigation equally revealed that erstwhile CBN Governor received kickbacks from some contractors who were awarded contracts by the Central Bank of Nigeria.”

The anti-graft agency also alleged that Emefiele connived with several cronies, including one Ifeanyi Omeke, who “ran several errands for him, which included purchase and perfection of title documents for several properties located in highbrow areas of Lagos and Abuja.”

It said the documents for the Abuja property were recovered during a search of Omeke’s office and that investigators located the property on September 17, 2024 “with the assistance of a surveyor from the Abuja Geographical Information Systems, using search results and coordinate.”

The EFCC said its investigation “revealed that the said property has been abandoned and deserted with only a guard manning the said property since June 2023 upon the arrest of the erstwhile CBN Governor. “

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The PUNCH reported that the Department of State Services arrested Emefiele in Lagos the following day he was suspended by President Bola Tinubu.

In October, the EFCC arrested Emefiele in less than an hour he regained his freedom from the DSS.

According to the EFCC, the massive property, allegedly acquired by Emefiele, through cronies, was originally meant for a mass housing development.

The EFCC said its investigation revealed that Emefiele used three companies to pay a total of N2.2bn to buy the property.

It said the seller “received the aggregate sum of N2,200,000,000.00,” adding that “the said three companies used for the payment of the property are enmeshed in criminal maneuvering of layering proceeds of illegal activities of Mr. Godwin Emiefele.”

According to the EFCC, one of the companies was used to pay N900m, the second paid N700m, while the third paid N600m, totalling N2.2bn.

It said the directors of the companies were arrested “and their statements voluntarily obtained in the course of investigation.”

“The funds used in the acquisition of the property highlighted in Schedule A to this application are not legitimate earnings of Godwin Emefiele but funds acquired through illegal and unlawful activities.

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“That I know as a fact and verily believe that the source/origin of the funds used in the acquisition and/or development of the properties sought to be forfeited are proceeds of unlawful activities to wit: corrupt enrichment, receiving of gratification or kickbacks and abuse of office,” an EFCC investigator stated in the affidavit filed in court.

The EFCC noted that the court had on November 1, 2024 made an order for the temporary forfeiture of the property “after evaluating facts placed before it.”

It, therefore, urged the judge to order the permanent forfeiture of the property to the Federal Government as no one had come forward to challenge the facts placed before the court, in spite of adverting the interim forfeiture order in The PUNCH edition of November 6, 2024.

According to the EFCC, the court acceded to its request and has now permanently forfeited the property to the Federal Government.

Efforts to get the reaction of Emefiele’s legal team were unsuccessfuly. One of the lawyers, Matthew Burkaa( SAN), did not pick up calls to his line and had also yet to respond to a text message seeking Emefiele’s side of the story as of the time of filing this report.
(Punch)

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We received N80,000 Minimum Wage in November, no strike plan – Enugu labour leaders

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The Organised Labour in Enugu State has refuted the media reports that the new minimum wage was yet to be paid in the state, saying that the implementation of the N80,000 minimum wage, which is above the N70,000 national minimum wage, commenced in November 2024.

The workers also said that they had no plan to go on strike.

They said that observed discrepancies in consequential adjustment in the implementation of the N80,000 minimum wage had already been conveyed to Governor Peter Mbah assuring that it would be addressed subsequently, as he had already earned workers’ trust by his commitment to their welfare since his assumption of office.

This was made known in a joint statement in the state capital on Tuesday by the Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Enugu State Council, Comrade Fabian Nwigbo; Chairman of the Trade Union Congress, TUC, Comrade Ben Asogwa; and the Chairman of the state’s Joint Public Service Negotiating Council, JNC, Comrade Ezekiel Omeh.

The statement read, “The Orgaised Labour in Enugu State wishes to make clarifications in several media reports, which wrongly project Enugu among the states that are yet to pay the national minimum wage.

“We want to acknowledge the fact that the Enugu State Government paid the N80,000 minimum wage approved by the governor in the November 2024 salary.

“However, the minimum wage paid did not reflect the consequential adjustments inherent in minimum wage implementation.

“As labour leaders, we have already communicated to His Excellency the observed discrepancies and in his usual magnanimity to the welfare of workers, we strongly believe that he will address this subsequently.

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“Our confidence in the governor remains intact, considering his usual dispositions to the wellbeing of workers.

“It is worthy of note that he continued to pay wage award of N25,000 he approved for workers from December 2023 till October 2024 when the new minimum wage of N80,000 was approved and consequently reflected in the November salary.

“We also recall his good faith in ensuring that local government employees were included from the onset in the new minimum wage of N80,000, having earlier upgraded them to full N30,000 minimum wage upon assumption of office after several years of waiting.

“Likewise, he approved the payment of the N1.9bn four-year accumulated leave allowances owed to teachers of public primary schools in the state and eight-month salary arrears valued at over N467m, which were also owed the academic, non-academic, and casual staff of the Enugu State College of Education Technical, ESCET, Enugu, before his assumption of office.

“Consequently, in the same culture, we trust him to address all the concerns regarding consequential adjustments in the implementation of N80,000 minimum wage.

“So, we have not gone on strike. We do not also contemplate or foresee any strike in the near future because there is no need for that yet.”

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