CRIME
How Nigeria Lost $157.5bn to Illicit Financial Flows-Buhari

By Mathew Dadiya, Abuja
Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari has disclosed that the country has lost an estimated $157.5 billion to illicit financial flows in nine years – between 2003 and 2012.
The President revealed this on Wednesday while quoting from the 2014 Global Financial Integrity Report in his address to the High-Level National Side-Event organised by the African Union Development Agency and New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in New York, United States at the 74th United Nations General Assembly.
Buhari who spoke on the theme, “Promotion of International Cooperation to Combat Illicit Financial Flows and Strengthen Good Practices on Assets Recovery and Return to Foster Sustainable Development, ” noted that such massive loss of assets, resulted in dearth of resources to fund public services or to alleviate poverty in the country.
According to him, “This is why, as Africans, we have no choice but to break the back of corruption.”
Acknowledging lack of sufficient capital and corruption as impediments to socio-economic development of the continent, the President emphatically restated his administration’s anti-corruption campaign:
“That is why our government has made it a war we intend to win. We will give all it takes to ensure there is no hiding place for purveyors of corrupt practices who are truly enemies of the people.”
Stressing the need to strengthen good practices on asset recovery and return, President Buhari said, “In the last five years, our government has made significant progress to curb corruption,” adding: “We have recovered millions of dollars stolen from our country.”
He noted, however, that “there are still a lot of other funds that are stuck in foreign bank accounts due to international laws, different jurisdictions and justice systems that make it difficult for repatriation.”
Describing Illicit Financial Flows as “illegal movement of funds from one country to another,” President Buhari lamented that, “These flows deplete Africa’s internally generated revenues, foreign exchange earnings, reduce tax revenues, drain natural resources, facilitate corruption and stunt private sector development.”
Citing tax avoidance as another form of illicit financial flow, he quoted the Tax Justice Network and the International Monetary Fund to have estimated over US$200 billion per year as “being lost by developing countries when multinational enterprises do not pay taxes in the countries where they made the profit.”
“This amount is significantly higher than the annual development aid received by these countries which are estimated to be about US$143 billion,” he added.
He commended the organisers of the meeting designed to finding pragmatic ways to promote international cooperation to combat illicit financial flows and strengthen good practices on asset recovery and return, as an arm of sustainable development policies in Africa.
President Buhari also lauded their “shared commitment to root out corruption from our continent.”
The Nigerian leader said, “I am motivated by the belief that, if we join hands, we can bequeath to our children an Africa that is not defined by corruption.”
Emphasizing the imperative of international cooperation towards stemming the incidence of illegal financial flows, President Buhari said, “Any lasting solution to the above challenges will require international cooperation and coordination,” of African countries and their international counterparts.
“This is one reason why the Nigerian Government supports this initiative of AUDA/NEPAD and remains committed until we ensure that there are no safe-havens for stolen assets from Africa,” he declared.
“I have high expectations for this meeting. At the end of the deliberations, I expect other African leaders, to see the pragmatic ideas on how to strengthen our anti-corruption institutions to reduce or effectively eliminate Illicit Financial Flows, ” President Buhari said.
“We need ideas on how to return the stolen assets to their countries of origin. We also need strategies on how to plug the loopholes that enable companies to avoid paying commensurate taxes in their countries of operations. You should deliberate on practical ideas to enhance global acceptable assets tracing and freezing, and boost the recovery governance framework.”
The meeting was also attended by the Presidents of Zambia and Ethiopia.
CRIME
Group Moves to End Cultism in Benue South

From David Torough, Makurdi
A Socio-cultural organization, Ede-ma Development Association (EDE-MA), has backed Edumoga Youth Movement (EYM) and Edumoga Youth Association in its efforts to abolish cultism in Edumoga District of Okpokwu local government area of Benue State.
EYM had recently embarked on a land cleansing ritual, which involved oath-taking by especially youths living in Edumoga District to denounce cultism following a bloodbath arising from cult killings among rival groups.
The cult killings had shutdown the Polytechnic town of Ugbokolo, Ichakwu and Efoyo as well as Amejo Council Ward in the local government area for over two weeks as rival cult groups went on rampage and killed members of rival groups.
.In a statement signed by EDE-MA’s National President and Secretary, Okoh Michael Agbam and Matthew Oboyi, on Friday, the organisation declared total support to the EYM in their battle but cautioned the group to carry out the initiative in accordance with the culture and tradition of the Idoma nation.
EDA questioned alleged inaction by the police in Okpokwu local government when rival cult groups reportedly killed about 10 persons including an innocent youth, which led to a protest.
The police hastily arrested the youth leader of EYM in charge of Ugbokolo, John Agboji Audu, following a petition with unproven allegations by a suspected cult leader in Benue South, John Okwori.
EDE-MA urged the police to do a background check on the petitioner and release the youth leader unconditionally.
It also called on the Benue State Government to set up a panel to investigate increasing cult activities in Benue South, in particular and the state in general.
The socio- cultural organization said, it had kept mute since the commencement of the cult killings because it had thought that security agencies, especially the police, were on ground in the crisis areas to restore public order and confidence.
“Our calm resolve not to immediately speak out was informed by the logic that doing so might be too pre-emptive without proper understanding of the underlying issues surrounding the violence, and of course, it could also be mistaken for outright bias.
“Secondly, we had also expected that the security agencies, especially the Nigerian Police Force, are fully on ground and therefore ought to have quickly responded to such open criminality to restore public order and confidence. This was however not the case in view of the litany of violence in which cult groups openly chase and hack perceived rivals to death in broad day light,” Agbam and Oboyi said in the statement.
“We believe that the vacuum created by police inaction may have inspired protests that ultimately degenerated to mob actions by angry residents following the cult killings, which the Edumoga Youth Association (EYA) and Edumoga Youth Movement (EYM) eventually had to intercede and moderate to restore order,” it also said.
EDE-MA commended EYA and EYM for what it described as strategic initiative to end the malaise of cultism in Edumoga land by enjoining the youth, community and traditional leaders in Amejo, Okonobo and Ugbokolo wards to take oath not to belong to any cult group.
“We had restrained ourselves from making any public comment on the recent unfortunate cult violence that had rocked and literally grounded Ugbokolo Town and surrounding communities of Amejo and Okonobo wards in Edumoga District of Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue State.
“Secondly, we had also expected that the security agencies, especially the Nigerian Police Force, are fully on ground and therefore ought to have quickly responded to such open criminality to restore public order and confidence. This was however not the case in view of the litany of violence in which cult groups openly chase and hack perceived rivals to death in broad day light.
“We believe that the vacuum created by police inaction may have inspired protests that ultimately degenerated to mob actions by angry residents following the cult killings, which the Edumoga Youth Association (EYA) and Edumoga Youth Movement (EYM) eventually had to intercede and moderate to restore order.
“We wish to use this opportunity to commend the resolve of both EYA and EYM for their intervention that ended the daily cult killings. We equally commend them for the strategic initiative to end the malaise of cultism in Edumoga land by enjoining the youth, community and traditional leaders in Amejo, Okonobo and Ugbokolo wards to take oath not to belong to any cult group.
“While the initiative or strategy of oath-taking to renounce cultism may not be fool proof, it is however a traditional method with proven capacity to eliminate or appreciably reduce the menace of cultism and other forms of criminality from Edumoga. In this regard, we enjoin especially the traditional rulers in Edumoga District to give their support and ensure that the exercise is conducted with utmost decorum and civility in line with our culture and tradition.
“As a law-abiding and development-conscious organisation, Ede-ma Development Association (EDE-MA) is worried that the police who are on ground in Ugbokolo and Okpokwu LGA, and who were helpless in the face of the rampant cult killings in Ugbokolo for over two weeks without making a single arrest suddenly leapt to action on the basis of a mere petition by no other person but an alleged cult leader, John Okwori, against Agboji John Audu and some EYA and EYM leaders.
“While we do not, and will never, support a resort to self-help, jungle justice or any form of criminality, we are surprised that the police responded to Mr Okwori’s petition in the manner they did when they failed to undertake any preliminary investigation of the matter, including background checks on the character of the petitioner.
“We are appalled that the police seem to have ignored about 10 homicide incidents and prioritised and prosperity everywhere,” the statement concluded.
CRIME
Man Lands In Police Net In Lokoja For Raising False Alarm Over Missing Manhood

siaka Abdulsamad, a Nigerian man, has been handed over to the police in Lokoja, Kogi State, for raising a false alarm over alleged disappearance of his manhood, Daily Post reports.
Reports of ‘missing manhood’ have been trending in several parts of the country in recent times, with many individuals manhandled and in some cases lynched after being accused of stealing other peoples’ genitals.
It was gathered that security operatives attached to the Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja, apprehended Abdulsamad and handed him over to the police after he ‘wrongly’ accused a staff of the institution of stealing his manhood.
The incident was disclosed in a statement made available to DAILY POST on Thursday by the Head, Public Relations and Protocol Unit of the Polytechnic, Mrs Uredo Omale.
According to the statement, Abdulsamad accused the unidentified staff of the Polytechnic of stealing his manhood after taking his Post-UTME examination in the main campus of the institution, on Wednesday, 20th September, 2023.
The statement explained further, “In the course of the examination, he beckoned on one of the invigilators who is a staff of Kogi State Polytechnic to put him through the log-in details for the examination.
“He however came back to the hall after he was through with the examination and raised false alarm that his manhood was missing, accusing the invigilator who earlier assisted him of being responsible.
“The management of the Polytechnic directed the security unit to transfer the case to the Police for thorough investigation.
“Preliminary investigation by the Police and further medical examination carried out at the Police Clinic, proved that Mr. Isiaka Abdulsamad had no problem with his manhood. This confirmed that he fabricated the story in an attempt to gain attention on trending delicate stories of manhood theft.”
Meanwhile, the management of Kogi State Polytechnic has advised the general public to disregard any rumour that a candidate’s manhood was stolen on the campus of the institution.
The Polytechnic’s management also advised members of the public to desist from making false claims on missing genital organs against innocent individuals.
CRIME
VON Urges Security Agencies To Uncover Killers Of Its Correspondent In Zamfara

The Director General, Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mr Osita Okechukwu, has called on security agencies to fish out those responsible for the murder of the radio station’s Correspondent in Zamfara, Hamisu Danjibga.
Osita, in a statement on Thursday in Abuja, said that late Danjigba was one of VON’s longest serving Hausa Service Correspondents.
He described the deceased as a dedicated and diligent reporter who served in different capacities in his long career.
“There is no doubt that we, the VON family, our colleagues nationwide and his immediate family will miss him; however we take solace on the truism that Almighty God gives and takes.
“Whilst praying for his soul to Rest in Peace, we passionately pray to Almighty God to oblige his family the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.
“Finally we call on security agencies to fish out these terrorists and prosecute them immediately,” he said.
The body of the deceased was dumped in a soakaway at the back of his house in Gusau by those who murdered him, three days after he was abducted.
One person was said to have been arrested in connection with the murder. (NAN)