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Alhaji Asari Dokubu, the leader of the Niger Delta Volunteer Force (NDVF) and a former Niger Delta agitator, claimed on Friday that the army and navy were responsible for more than 98% of all oil theft in the nation. Following a private meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Dokubo made the accusation.

The former agitator claimed that the people who continue oil bunkering in the Niger Delta region are powerful cabals that frequently operate out of Abuja and have an entitlement attitude. He denied accusations that residents of the oil-rich region were responsible for oil theft and pipeline vandalism.

He argued that ‘notorious’ Army and Naval oil kingpins who have engaged in an unprecedented crude oil theft in the last eight years are not to be held accountable because they lack the resources to carry out the stealing, unlike common Niger Delta citizens who are frequently held accountable for these criminal activities.

He claimed that the way the oil thieves have carried out their criminal actions has robbed the Niger Delta’s residents of their means of subsistence, calling it a crime against humanity.

How Dokubo stated The Saturday Vanguard special report on oil theft from previous week was confirmed by President Tinubu. Informed Niger Delta stakeholders were mentioned in our research as suggesting that Tinubu would have to step on toes to stop oil thieves. In our investigation, we also questioned whether those involved in criminal activity could put an end to it, as Tinubu had urged the military to do a week earlier. The investigation made note of the fact that theft of crude oil involves the army, navy, police, and DSS.

Dokubo explained his visit to State House reporters following the meeting, saying it was to offer the President words of support for his deeds and statements since taking office.

According to him, “The president is a fatherly figure to me. Our relationship spans over 30 years. I came here today to give words of encouragement to the President for the actions and policies so far made in this less than three weeks of governing a very difficult country like Nigeria.

“We discussed a wide range of issues, especially on security and oil theft in the Niger Delta. Myself and my brothers have assured the President that there would be zero oil theft and vandalization in the Niger Delta. We’re going to work with an NNPCL and the IOCs to make sure that oil theft is brought to zero.

“I also want to say that oil theft is encouraged by the military. The military is at the centre of oil theft and we have to make this very clear to the Nigerian public. 99 per cent of oil theft can be traced to the Nigerian military, the army and the navy especially.

“The Army and the Navy intimidate the Civil Defence, who are by status, the people who are supposed to guard these pipelines.
They receive a lot of money from NNPCL and the IOCs and just across the corner, you will see a houseboat, a few meters from the houseboat, you will see an oil bunkering refinery or tapping directly from oil well.

“It is very pathetic now. What is happening in the Niger Delta in the past eight years was unprecedented in the history of oil production anywhere in the world. The vandals do not only attack the pipelines, they have migrated from the pipeline and have gone directly to the oil well heads and they take directly from the oil well heads. They set up haphazard facilities they call local refineries, artisanal refineries; this is crime against humanity because the livelihood of the people is being totally destroyed.

“The livelihood of the people is totally destroyed and at every meter, you see a naval houseboat or an army house boat stationed.

“So the main culprits are the Army and the Navy and there are notorious naval commanders who are known to be kingpins of these bunkering activities. Even if they give one billion contracts to everybody in the Niger Delta, because these military men are armed from the Army and the Navy nothing will happen.

“The President has promised to take decisive action to make sure that this does not continue, and that it is brought to an end. It is very shameful. So I had volunteered to help, to assist and to do the things that are necessary to put a stop to this evil that is being perpetrated against the people of the Niger Delta, the oil community and the whole of Nigerians”, he said.

The former militant added that “his men” were stationed around the nation keeping the calm and claimed that it was his “men” who had made it feasible for Nigerians to travel between Abuja and Kaduna and vice versa.

He said, “I am a participant in this war, I fight on the side the government of the Nigerian state; in Plateau, in Niger, in Anambra, in Imo, in Abia and in Rivers state and in Abuja. Today you’re travelling to Kaduna on this road, it’s not the army that makes it possible for you to travel to Abuja, or travel to Kaduna. It is my men, employed by the government of the Nigerian state, stationed in Niger.

“Today you travel to Baga, you go to Shiroro, you go to Wase. We have lost so many men and in all these engagements, we don’t even have one per cent of the armament deployed by the Nigerian military and we have had resounding success. So this blackmail must end, they have enough resources to fight. Instead of fighting, they are busy stealing, they are busy making the government spend unnecessarily”, he said.

Dokubo also claimed that the military’s claim that they lack the weapons to cope with instability is an attempt to blackmail them and that doing so just served to give the insurgents more ammunition for their cause.

He said that there was a full-scale civil war occurring in various sections of Nigeria and that he had continued to provide mercenary services to the federal government to keep the entire nation safe so that its residents may travel and conduct their daily lives without fear.

“On security, I want to clearly say that there are full-scale wars going on in different parts of this country. In the Southeast, the IPOB/ESN is waging a full-scale war against the government of this country and many local governments, many communities are deserted, schools are closed, and hospitals are closed.

“In the same vein, in Niger, in Zamfara, in Plateau, in Kaduna, in Yobe, in Borno, we’re only talking about Boko Haram. Boko Haram is just the tip of the iceberg, there’s a full-scale war going on and the blackmail of the Nigerian state by the Nigerian military is shameful. They said they do not have enough armament and people listened to this false narrative. They are lying. They are liars, I repeat they are liars because I’m a participant.”

Ijeoma Osamor, the host of the Democracy Today program on AIT, insisted on Friday that Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, did not say that the results of the presidential election on February 25 would no longer be uploaded and transmitted in real-time.

At the Presidential Election Petition Court, where the Labour Party and Peter Obi, its presidential candidate, are contesting the election results, Osamor disagreed with the attorney for the All Progressives Congress.

The fact that the commission, and more specifically, its chairman, broke his promise to upload the results sent to the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System to the INEC Results Viewing portal in real-time was one of the arguments made by the petitioners in support of their requests to invalidate the return of Bola Tinubu as president.

Until yet, the petitioners’ video proof has mostly consisted of clips of the INEC chairman assuring Nigerians that technology would be used in the presidential election.

On Friday, the court again allowed a flash drive as evidence and showed a video of Mahmoud giving a speech emphasizing the use of BVAS and IReV for the elections.

Osamor, who was summoned to appear in court, hosted AIT’s Democracy Today program, which broadcast the incident live.

Abiodun Owonikoko (SAN), counsel for the APC, questioned the reporter during cross-examination, asking if she was aware that the INEC chairman had released a press statement a few days prior to the poll declaring that the election results would no longer be uploaded in real-time.

Owonikoko SAN brought up the subject and mentioned that The Tribune had published something to that effect on February 23.

The reporter asserted, however, that she had attended the press conference and the collation center while covering the story, notably on the specified day.

Mahmoud, according to her, did not make the claim.

She added that although her news organization focuses on providing live coverage of events and programs, the newspaper article might have been based on a reporter interview.

The five-person court panel deferred to Monday, June 19 for a second hearing on the petition filed by LP and Obi after the witness was released.

In the meantime, Bola Tinubu was declared the winner of the February 25 presidential election by the electoral commission, but Dino Melaye’s national collation agent for the Peoples Democratic Party, Dino Melaye, informed the Presidential Election Petition Court that the outcome was rigged and incorrectly calculated.

Melaye provided testimony as a key witness in the suit filed by the Peoples Democratic Party and Atiku Abubakar, the party’s presidential candidate in the election, to have Tinubu’s declaration as the election’s victor annulled.

The witness, who was cross-examined by Atiku’s main attorney, Chris Uche SAN, claimed he declined to sign the final results because he didn’t want to take part in the fraud and malpractices that allegedly tainted the collation process.

He said the results of the presidential election “were wrongly computed by INEC.”

“I didn’t endorse it, because I don’t endorse fraud,” he stated.

In addition, he testified before the court that many other PDP operatives who participated in the presidential election did not sign the results at all levels.

Akin Olujimi (SAN), Tinubu’s attorney, questioned the witness, and the witness responded by asserting that “failure of transmission of what has been recorded is an infringement of the law.”

Additionally, he claimed that without the electronic transmission of results from the polling places to the INEC results viewing page, the election cycle could not be declared to have been completed.

Mr. Kamilu Omokide, the Receiver Manager chosen by the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria for Arik Nigeria Limited, has been detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over allegations of fraud and diversion involving around N120 billion.

According to information obtained by Sources, the EFCC apprehended Omokide and a Captain Samuel Caulcrick in connection with the suspected illicit sale and dismantling of an Arik Air-operated $41 million CRJ 1000 aircraft.

According to documents received on Friday, the two top executives’ incarceration was in response to a plea filed by human rights attorney Femi Falana (SAN), who also serves as a counsel for Arik Nigeria Limited.

The petition described the alleged financial crime and the disposal of assets totaling more than N120 billion.

The petition, addressed to the EFCC Chairman, and dated April 27, read, “We are solicitors to Arik Nigeria Limited (hereinafter referred to as “our client”), on whose behalf and specific instructions we write you. Our client operates an airline in the aviation industry by offering air transportation services for passengers and cargo in Nigeria and has been in business since 2006.

“In compliance with an ex parte order of the Federal High Court, Lagos Judicial Division the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria appointed a receiver manager to manage our client’s assets due to its financial obligation to some banks.

“Pursuant to the said ex parte order, the said receiver manager has been overseeing the affairs of our client’s assets pursuant from 2017 to date. In the course of running the airline business the receiver has engaged in financial mismanagement, diversion of monies, sales of assets and misappropriation of funds belonging to Arik Airline.

The allegations of money misappropriation, asset sales, and money diversion were described in detail in the petition.

The owner of Hilton Hotels, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Dr Ramon Adedoyin, and two of his staff members convicted for the murder of ex-Masters student of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Timothy Adegoke, by an Osun State High Court, have filed appeal against the verdict before a superior court.

Recall that the Osun State Chief Judge, Adepele Ojo, who presided over the matter, in her judgment, had sentenced Adedoyin, and two of his staff members that participated in the evacuation of the deceased from the hotel, Adeniyi Aderogba and Oyetunde Kazeem, to death by hanging.

.Justice Ojo also ruled that the hotel where Adegoke’s death occurred should be forfeited to the state government, while education of the deceased’s children should be funded till they complete tertiary institution from the estates of the convicts.

The judge, however, freed three staff members of the hotel namely; Magdalene Chiefuna, Oluwole Lawrence, and Adebayo Kunle, while the seventh defendant, Adesola Adedeji, who was the receptionist on duty on the day late Adegoke arrived at the facility, was sentenced to two years imprisonment starting from the day of her arrest.

Confirming that the convicts had appealed the judgment of the Osun State High Court on the matter, one of the lawyers that represented Adedoyin in the case, Mr Muhydeen Adeoye, during an interview with our correspondent on Thursday, said, “We have filed an appeal against the judgment of Osun State High Court. The appeal was filed before the Court of Appeal, Akure.”

A Federal Capital Territory High Court has ordered the Department of State Services’ director general, Yusuf Bichi, to allow suspended Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele access to his family and attorneys.

After being suspended by President Bola Tinubu on Saturday, Emefiele was taken into custody by the DSS.

On Friday, Justice Hamza Muazu of the FCT high court issued the directive while reiterating that Emefiele’s access is a fundamental right.

The enrolled order dated June 16, 2023, reads: “The lawyers of the applicant shall have access to the applicant immediately. And regularly at a reasonable time, pending the determination of the application.”

Following an application submitted by Emefiele’s attorney, J.B. Saudi SAN, who informed the court that the DSS had not responded to earlier letters asking access to his client, the court issued the order.

I. Awo Esq., the attorney for the second and third respondents, said that the DSS had not previously been known to deny such requests and that it was improper to deny access.

Awo was confident, nevertheless, that the security agency would follow the court order and permit the named attorneys and family members to visit Emefiele.

The application was not opposed by the Federation’s attorney general’s office.

In the meantime, an extension of time to file their responses to the Originating Motion was requested by the attorneys for the DSS and the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation.

The motion was granted, and the case was further postponed to Tuesday, June 19, 2023, when the substantive suit would be heard.

Early on Wednesday, armed Customs officers allegedly broke into stores in the Agip Market in the Agege neighborhood of Lagos State and stole goods from market vendors.

During a protest on Thursday, the businessmen described their losses and claimed that goods worth millions of naira was allegedly taken by the officials who trashed their stores after displacing the security officers on duty.

The traders claimed that the accused officials took their guards’ mobile phones during the protest, which began around 9am, in order to prevent them from recording the incident or contacting other traders and market leaders who were at home sleeping at the time. Some of the traders were seen crying hysterically as they lamented the development.

The traders were also seen carrying placards bearing inscriptions including “Asiwaju our father, please save our soul,” “Nigerian government, please intervene in our case,” and “Customs broke my shop and made me a debtor overnight,” among others.

One of the aggrieved traders, Ijeoma Eze-Okoye, said the officials allegedly burgled and looted bags of rice, and money, among other goods in shops of traders operating in Akerele and Agip markets in the space of three weeks.

She said, “My shop is at Akerele Market. My shop is the first shop they broke into around 1am about two weeks ago. It was Customs officials that stole my goods. I was informed that Customs officers were at our place (shops) around 1am.

“They said somebody pointed my shop to them and the Customs officers alongside the hoodlums that they brought broke into my shop and looted my goods. They carried bags of rice valued at N6m. They broke into two shops after my own. They carried the bags of rice inside there.”

When questioned how she knew Customs agents were involved for looting her shop, Eze-Okoye responded that the shop’s guards and a nearby neighbor witnessed them during the operation. She added that she reported the incident to the Elere Police Station.

Aina Irawo, a trader whose store was similarly impacted in Agip market, claimed that 200 sacks of rice were stolen from her store by Customs authorities.

Irawo said, “Have mercy on us. Customs officers came to burgle my shop. They carried 200 bags of rice yesterday (Wednesday). They also broke my safe and carted away N6m. Have mercy on us. We are only trading at Agege, we didn’t go to the border.”

Another trader in the market, Arike Olafathia, said, “We sell goods inside Agege. Customs officers do come at midnight to break our shops. When they came, they would seize the phones of our security guards.

“Around 2am on Wednesday, they came with about five Hilux vans and broke into three shops at Agip market in Agege. The security guards told us they were Customs officers. They did this after invading the Akerele market a few weeks ago and took about 250 bags of rice. This is debt! We can’t feed our children. It is too much and that is why we are protesting.”

Contacted, the spokesperson for Customs, Federal Operations Unit, Zone A, Theophilus Duniya‎, said, “We have no record of any operation.”

The national spokesperson for the agency, Abdullahi Maiwada, when contacted, also said, “We discussed that issue with him (Duniya) today, fortunately, I am in Lagos, we were in the same location with him today and he referred to that issue. I saw the text you sent to him, it is good you relate with him.”

Veteran Nollywood actor, Don Brymo Uchegbu has died the age of 56.

The actor reportedly passed on in his sleep last night.

The news about Uchegbu’s death was confirmed by actor Mayor Ofoegbu in a post shared on his Facebook page on Thursday.

Sharing the deceased’s picture, Ofoegbu wrote: “Plan for tomorrow but live for today. Tomorrow is not guaranteed.

“I wrote those lines on my WhatsApp status yesterday evening. My man, my 5 & 6, Don Brymo Uchegbu, passed away in his sleep.

“I received the shocking news this morning and had to verify from his family. Chai Don Brymo my manchi. It’s hard to say goodbye. Nnukwu nwa na Enugu ukwu.”

Randy Waldrum, the coach of the Super Falcons, has unveiled his 23-player roster for the Women’s World Cup, which kicks off in Australia and New Zealand on July 20.

Asisat Oshoala of Barcelona, Rashidat Ajibade of Atlético Madrid, and Onome Ebi, who will be making a record-breaking participation at the Mundial, are just a few of the well-known players on the roster.

Co-hosts Australia, Canada, and the Republic of Ireland are in Group B with Nigeria. On July 21, they start their offensive against Canada.

See full list below:

Goalkeepers: Chiamaka Nnadozie (Paris FC, France); Tochukwu Oluehi (Hakkarigucu Spor FC, Turkey); Yewande Balogun (AS Saint-Etienne, France)

Defenders: Onome Ebi (Abia Angels); Osinachi Ohale (Deportivo Alaves, Spain); Glory Ogbonna (Besiktas JK, Turkey); Ashleigh Plumptre (Leicester City, England); Rofiat Imuran (Stade de Reims, France); Michelle Alozie (Houston Dash, USA); Oluwatosin Demehin (Stade de Reims, France)

Midfielders: Halimatu Ayinde (Rosengard FC, Sweden); Rasheedat Ajibade (Atletico Madrid, Spain); Toni Payne (Sevilla FC, Spain); Christy Ucheibe (SL Benfica, Portugal); Deborah Abiodun (Rivers Angels); Jennifer Echegini (Florida State University, USA)

Forwards: Uchenna Kanu (Racing Louisville, Kentucky, USA); Gift Monday (UDG Tenerife, Spain); Ifeoma Onumonu (NY/NJ Gotham FC, USA); Asisat Oshoala (Barcelona Femenine, Spain); Desire Oparanozie (Wuhan Chegu Jianghan, China); Francisca Ordega (CSKA Moscow, Russia); Esther Okoronkwo (AS Saint-Etienne, France)

Akpo Igwe, a 40-year-old biker, was detained by members of the Benue State Police Command for allegedly raping a pregnant woman in her eighth month at the Irabi Council Ward in the state’s Obi Local Government Area.

A family member of the woman claimed that she had stopped the motorcycle rider to take her home after leaving the market, and that he had then turned into a thicket and reportedly raped her.

The source said, “The incident happened last Wednesday around 7pm when the woman was returning from the market. She flagged down an Okada man and bargained with him to take her home.

“On their way, the Okada man diverted from the main road into a nearby bush, held her down and raped her. In the process, the woman passed out and the Okada man, thinking that she had died, dragged her out of the bush and dumped her by a river bank where she laid till the following day.

“When the victim woke up in the morning, she discovered that she was too weak to stand and so she just laid there praying for help.”

The source added that the victim’s relatives had been looking for her at home all night long until she was discovered near the river bank.

“When we found her in that state, we quickly rushed her to the hospital while the matter was reported at the nearest police station leading to the arrest of the culprit. The woman is about eight months pregnant and is expected to deliver her baby in the next few weeks,” the family source said.

However, it was discovered that the case had been sent to the Makurdi police headquarters.

When contacted, SP Catherine Anene, the state police public relations officer, stated, “The incident is confirmed.”

Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje, a former governor of Kano State, has expressed sympathy to the relatives of the victims of the state’s half-demolished Daula Hotel building collapse.

The former Kano State commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Malam Muhammad Garba, expressed his condolences in a statement on Friday.

“The incident and the attendant death and injuries are regrettable and a huge loss to the state,” the statement quoted Ganduje as saying.

The former governor prayed to Allah to provide the deceased victim’s family the strength to endure their loss and a speedy recovery for the injured.

The victims, according to the governor, were allegedly scavengers looking for iron or metal among the rubble of the structure that had been partially dismantled by the state administration since it took office on May 29.

Ganduje expressed regret over the property thefts that occurred from a number of demolished structures in various locations within the state capital.

The New Nigeria Peoples Party-led government in the state commiserated with property owners who had legitimately acquired and developed assets for use in business and other endeavors only to have those properties demolished without any sort of investigation.

It was stated that the governor was of the opinion that justice will be done because some of the owners had turned to the legal system to seek restitution.

Recall that a portion of the demolished Daula hotel collapsed on Thursday, resulting in the deaths of two scavengers and injuries to three more.