CRIME
Fake Petitioner Exposed in Mischief Against NIA Director
By Tse Joshua, Abuja
A petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) against the Director of Administration of the Nigeria Intelligence Agency(NIA), Alhaji Ismail Yusuf, has been found to have been authored by a faceless individual.
DAILY ASSET also found in its investigation that the purported petition was not only frivolous, it was written with intent to cause mischief, investigations have revealed.
It was discovered that the petitioner’s claim to being a former staffer of the NIA was false as checks revealed to the contrary.
Our correspondent who obtained a copy of the petition purportedly sent to the EFCC on 17th November 2019 by one Aliu Ismail Oguche, discovered that the allegations contained therein were not only frivolous but unsubstantiated and pointer to sinister motives.
For instance, in the document, the NIA Director was alleged to have claimed to hail from Seyawa tribe, Bauchi state instead of Kogi as his home state. Investigations however, revealed that the Director actually hails from Kogi state and has never claimed any other state in the course of his 32 years of service with the Agency. A source knowledgeable about the matter told our Correspondent that Yusuf’s entire personal history, including his state of origin is well known in the NIA and has never been in doubt.
It was learnt that the Director of Administration joined the service of the Agency as an indigene of Benue state until the section of the state he hails from was carved out to form the present day Kogi state in 1991.
Similarly, contrary to the claim that the Director may have corruptly enriched himself and built a hotel in Abuja, investigations showed that in the course of his 32 years’ career, the Director served abroad at different times for cumulative period of 12 years. The property, referred to in the anonymous petition, which is actually, a bungalow, was indeed a personal residence of the Director and had served as the family house which was later converted to commercial use when it was unoccupied while he was on foreign posting with his family.
“The family owns a small business, which includes a bakery and a guest house operated by members of the family. The Director is not directly involved in these commercial concerns” a source familiar with the situation told our correspondent.
Furthermore, even, the allegation that the Director General of the NIA was aware of the “hotel” purportedly owned by his staff, and had visited it was also found to be false.
It was also learnt that the Bureau de Change alleged to be owned by the NIA Director does not exist. No such business was found to be associated with the Director or the guest house being run by members of his family. That the fake petitioner did not mention the name of the Bureau de Change and where it operates in his petition was proof that his allegation was false, our Correspondent found out.
Also, the petitioner did not state his actual physical address, neither did he include his real telephone or email contacts as required by relevant Agencies in petitions of this nature. This obvious red flag led to more doubts about the petitioner’s true identity and a pointer to malicious intent, our investigation also revealed.
“The so called petition is the handiwork of mischief makers, whose motive is not clear, but certainly obnoxious. In essence, the allegations are baseless and should be disregarded in its entirety,” the source maintained.
The Police Commander in Rivers has arrested four suspected members of a kidnapping syndicate and rescued a woman abducted from her shop in the state.
The command’s Spokesperson, Blessing Agabe, disclosed this on Thursday in Port Harcourt.
Agabe said that a white-tinted minibus allegedly used by the gang was also recovered.
She also said that the rescue followed an intelligence-led operation by operatives of the command’s Violent Crime Rescue Unit.
According to her, the victim’s husband, Ikechukwu, 35, reported the abduction on July 11.
“The woman was attending to customers at her shop when armed men stormed the premises and abducted her. The suspects forced the victim into a white-tinted minibus before fleeing the scene.
“Following the report, the command launched an intelligence-driven investigation which led operatives to the gang’s hideout.
“Four male suspects, aged between 28 and 42, were arrested at the hideout. The victim was rescued unharmed during the operation.”
Agabe added that all the four suspects have confessed to their individual roles in the crime.
The spokesperson said efforts were ongoing to apprehend two other members of the syndicate still at large and to recover the firearms used in their operations.
She urged residents to provide prompt and credible information to the police, assuring that “every useful piece of information provided will be treated with the utmost confidentiality”.
She reiterated the command’s commitment to protecting lives and property through intelligence-led policing and lawful strategies aimed at bringing criminal elements to justice.
A Federal High Court in Ibadan on Thursday sentenced a 40-year-old woman, Omodunmami Ayantola to one year in the correctional centre for trafficking 45.6kg of Cannabis.
Delivering judgment, Justice Uche Agomoh convicted and sentenced Ayantola based on her guilty plea and the evidence tendered against her by the prosecution.
Agomoh added that she reduced the convict’s jail term because she did not waste the time and resources of the court before pleading guilty.
She said that the convict was also a first time offender.
“The convict has shown signs of remorse and has promised to turn a new leaf after completing her jail term.
“To serve as a deterrent to others, Ayantola is sentenced to one year imprisonment from the date of arrest.
“The dried weed substance found in her possession shall be destroyed by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA),” Agomoh said.
The prosecuting counsel, D.O. Otunla, had told the court that the convict committed the crime on April 1, at Eleta area of Ibadan, Oyo State.
Otunla said that the NDLEA operatives received intelligence reports from informants that Ayantola was into illicit drug dealing.
According to him, the operatives arrested the convict in possession of a substantial quantity of Cannabis Sativa weighing 45.6kg.
The prosecutor said that the offence contravened the provision of Section 11 (C) of the NDLEA Act Cap n30 Law of the Federation, 2004.
A man suspected of killing his wife and two daughters in Bedfordshire has been in court in South Africa after UK authorities submitted an application to extradite him.
Nothabo Zandile Tshuma, 42, and her daughters Natalie, 15, and Nala, five, were found dead by police in a house in Great Denham, near Bedford, on 6 July.
The Crown Prosecution Service has authorised three murder charges against Ndodana Mkhanyisi Tshuma, 45, who is a British citizen of Zimbabwean heritage.
He has appeared before magistrates in Johannesburg where he confirmed his name and was told a further court hearing would take place on 22 July.
During the hearing he indicated he would be speaking in English.
His mother and sister were seated in the court’s public gallery, and Tshuma waved to his family as he was taken down to the holding cells at the end of Monday’s hearing.
South African police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe explained that the court proceedings concern the extradition request and a charge of illegal possession of firearms.
She said: “We can confirm that South Africa has received a provisional extradition request from Interpol Manchester through to Interpol Pretoria.
“We will be awaiting a full extradition request within 40 days, which will include the case docket as well as supporting evidence.
“However, we can confirm that, for now, we do have the warrant of arrest from UK authorities.”
Police added that he travelled from Heathrow Airport in London to South Africa, via Dubai, and he briefly went to Zimbabwe before returning to Johannesburg.
He was arrested in the Kensington suburb of the city on Friday.
In a tribute, family members said “words cannot begin to express the depth of our emptiness and sorrow in the fact of this tragic and senseless loss of life”.
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