News & Announcements

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has disproved social media rumors that it is now hiring through a shady application portal for its 2023–2024 recruitment process, which is dated April 7, 2023.

The commission claimed that although the fraudsters have not yet started the application process, they went farther and offered a link and urged the public to “post to other WhatsApp groups to help others.”

On Monday, the Commission made this information public on its website.

In order to give the appearance that their plans were real, the con artists naughtily inserted the word “career” to the end of the Commission’s website URL, making it read www.efcc.gov.ng/career.

Although cautioning the public not to fall for trickery, it does not mention that the information spread via social media is false.

It also stated that visitors to the commission’s official website, www.efcc.gov.ng, may learn more about the organization’s operations and employment openings there.

“The attention of the EFCC, has been drawn to some information circulating in the social media, inviting unsuspecting applicants to submit applications through a dubious EFCC Recruitment 2023/2024 Application Portal dated 7th April, 2023.

“The Commission wishes to notify the public that it is currently not recruiting. Any information to the contrary circulating in the social media is false and the handiwork of mischief makers aimed at defrauding hapless job seekers,” part of the statement read.

Professor Onje Gye-Wado, a former deputy governor of Nasarawa State, was freed four days after his abduction.

Gye-Wado was abducted by gunmen on Thursday in the state’s Rinza village (Wamba Local Government District). For his release, his adductors sought N70 million.

On Monday morning, DSP Ramham Nansel, the state’s police public relations officer, verified his release to our correspondent.

“He was released around 9pm yesterday (Sunday), due to sustained pressure from the search and rescue team. No ransom was paid,” he said.

According to a family source who described Gye-kidnapping, Wado’s the assailants smashed over the fence, entered the house through his wife’s window, and then took Gye-Wado to an unidentified location.

“His wife came in for Easter celebration and they broke into the house through her widow and took him away to an unknown destination. We are hoping that the security agencies will make efforts towards rescuing him unhurt,” the source said.

Before the tragic episode, Professor Onje Gye-Wado, who held the position of Deputy Governor of Nasarawa State from 1999 to 2003, had narrowly evaded being kidnapped multiple times.

On May 31, 2023, loan apps on the Play Store won’t be able to access the contacts or photographs of its users.

The Federal Government announced that it will enforce Google’s most recent policy at the same time as Nigerian authorities were attempting to stop lending app companies from violating their users’ privacy.

The Federal Government recently made significant moves to address how lending applications are violating users’ privacy. Importantly, out of the 200 lending applications currently active in the nation, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission recently registered 170 of them.

Google stated in its April 2023 policy adjustments that the new policy update would give loan app users in Nigeria and other countries who have grown accustomed to the shoddy loan retrieval techniques used by most loan apps some relief.

Google said, “Policy preview (effective May 31, 2023): This article previews changes included in our April 2023 policy updates.

“We are updating our personal loans policy to state that apps aiming to provide or facilitate personal loans may not access user contacts or photos.

“We are introducing additional requirements for personal loan apps targeting users in Pakistan. Personal loan apps in Pakistan must submit country-specific licensing documentation to prove their ability to provide or facilitate personal loans.”

This new regulation follows the company’s revisions to its Developer Program Policy, which required digital money lenders in Nigeria, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Kenya to comply with legal requirements by January 31 or face being shut down.

The company claims that only digital money lenders who have complied with and finished the Limited Interim Regulatory/Registration Framework and Guidelines for Digital Lending, 2022 (as may be amended from time to time) and obtained a verifiable approval letter from the FCCPC will be permitted on Play Store in Nigeria.

Babatunde Irukera, the Chief Executive Officer of the FCCPC, commented on the new policy and said it was a welcome development that demonstrated Google was institutionalizing its regulatory policy.

He said, “It is a welcome development effort and is consistent with the position the FCCPC has taken and what we are enforcing.

“Google is now institutionalising our regulatory effort as a policy, which is very welcome. It is certainly important for proper regulatory oversight of the industry, and we commend Google for taking a position that is consistent with our position as regulators.”

He added, “Recall that we took this position earlier and what has happened is that Google has looked at the regulatory landscape, looked at the regulatory priorities, and is supporting those priorities by institutionalizing those regulatory priorities and position.”

According to recent statements made by the FCCPC, 173 applications for digital lending to operate throughout the nation have been granted. 54 of these received provisional permits, while 119 received complete approvals. This action was required after loan apps began tormenting Nigerians by sending slanderous messages to their connections and other forms of harassment.

The Limited Interim Regulatory/Registration Framework and Guidelines for Digital Lending 2022 from the commission aims to regulate the digital lending industry and make registration and approval requirements for businesses wishing to participate in the sector.

Although Google’s policy prohibits “apps that promote personal loans that require payback in full in 60 days or fewer from the date the loan is offered,” many lending apps in the nation disregard it, putting many Nigerians at risk of having their private information leaked.

Irukera recently said on Arise TV that the commission’s recent registration drive will protect Nigerians’ privacy, adding that “We also want to restrain what kind of information they are able to pull off people’s phones and what they are able to do with that information, especially with respect to making contact with people on the contact list, and their loan recovery practices; the kind of language the times they call, what kind of calls they make, what kind of messages they send, what kind of information they are able to

According to the Nasarawa State Police Command, one of the prisoners who escaped during the raid on the Kuje Correctional Center in the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja last year has been apprehended.

Salisu Buhari, a 24-year-old man from Nasarawa State, was named as the escapee prisoner in a statement released the media on Sunday by the state’s police public relations officer, DSP Ramhan Nansel.

The command’s spokesperson added that its agents also detained Zubeiru Ali, who worked with Buhari to rob citizens of the state’s Nasarawa Local Government Area of their motorcycles.

Nansel said, “On April 6, 2023 around 10pm, police operatives attached to Nasarawa Division in a sting operation arrested the duo of Zubairu Ali, 27 years, and Salisu Buhari, 24 years, for motorcycle theft in Nasarawa LGA of Nasarawa State. 

“Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspects are responsible for most motorcycle snatching and theft in Nasarawa LGA and its environs. 

“Upon interrogation, Salisu Buhari confessed to have escaped from Kuje Prison when the facility was attacked last year, linked up with his crony, and went into criminal venture.”

The PPRO further stated that the State Criminal Investigation Department in Lafia had been assigned to conduct a comprehensive investigation after Commissioner of Police Maiyaki Baba ordered all criminal elements to leave the state without further delay.

The Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has bemoaned the allegedly unfair treatment the Igbos currently endure in Nigeria and said that having their own independent nation will be the answer.

Igbos are not wanted in the country, according to recent events, according to IPOB, which also claimed that security personnel attacked its members during a peaceful rally in Aba, Abia state.

The group’s spokesperson, Emma Powerful, made this known in a statement on Sunday.

Powerful complained in the statement that although security forces permitted Shi’ites to demonstrate peacefully, they were attacked in Aba, Abia State.

The statement read in part, “We are surprised that the Nigerian government and its security agencies, especially their army and police allowed the Shiite Islamic group who protested peacefully twice in Abuja to do so without humiliation or attack, but murdered IPOB members who were protesting peacefully in Aba, Abia State for asking for the unconditional release of their leader, Kanu on the 3rd of April 2023.

“It is now on record that Ndigbo are not wanted in Nigeria due to the hatred shown to us. We must organise ourselves immediately and leave Nigeria for the other nationalities who are allowed to act freely in Nigeria.”

A Gambian Pastor, Owen Abraham, has allegedly absconded with 52 phones, money, and valuables of residents of Aponrin in Agbowo, Ibadan who came for a crusade organised by him.

Some of his victims said he told them he was led by God to come to Ibadan from Gambia for the crusade.

Abraham on the last day of the three days crusade claimed that the Holy Spirit directed him to tell people to submit their phones and valuables, but later absconded with it.

A victim, Mrs Grace Akintola said many widows went for the crusade because the Pastor promised to give each person a bag of rice and money, adding that Abraham also promised to empower students with scholarships.

She said, He lured us into three days of fasting and prayer and was nowhere to be found on the last day of the crusade as all efforts to reach him proved abortive.

Mrs Akintola, a widow while recounting her ordeal said, “The Pastor approached an Igbo lady in our area to assist him to gather widows and students, he said he wanted to help us.

“Someone in my area invited me for the crusade, the crusader wear Pastor regalia, he said he will buy a house for one of us, he said the house is fully furnished.

“He promised money to give to some people who attend the crusade, even politicians can not give out such money.

“On the last day of the crusade, he sold a bottle of water for us at the rate of N4,800, he said perfume is inside the bottled water, and many people paid for the water.”

A 60-year-old father and his two sons have been taken into custody by the police in Bauchi for reportedly beating and hurting a member of the Federal Road Safety Corps while they were on patrol.

They are also said to have burned down the FRSC patrol van.

The FRSC operatives who were on duty along the Bauchi-Gombe route stopped the suspects, but the driver refused to stop, according to the Police Public Relations Officer, Bauchi State Command, who confirmed the event to journalists over the phone.

He claimed that the suspects, Umar Gwallaga (60), his two sons, Nasiru Umar Gwallaga (42) and Usman Umar Gwallaga (39), were traveling from Bauchi to Gombe in a Mitsubishi Pajero Jeep when they were stopped.

Wakil, a Superintendent of Police said; “On March 7, 2023, at about 6.00 am, one Nasiru Umar, 42 years old of Gwallaga, Bauchi, Bauchi State, loaded his family members in his Mitsubishi Pajero Jeep from Bauchi to Gombe State.

“On reaching Tashan Durumi village, in Kirfi LGA, a patrol team of FRSC on a Federal highway, performing their strategic duties while on stop-and-search, stopped the vehicle but the driver refused to stop.

“At about 3.00 pm, while he was returning from Gombe to Bauchi, he was stopped and asked to present particulars of the vehicle, he then came out of the vehicle and attacked one of the FRSC personnel, Anas Aliyu, and as a result, he had a dislocation on his hand.

“He further went and attacked the patrol team driver and then set the patrol van on fire, in the process, his father, Umar Ahmed Gwallaga, 60 years and his younger brother, Usman Umar Gwallaga, 39 years old, joined him in attacking the personnel,” Wakil narrated.

He added; “Presently, the suspect and his conspirators were arrested and are under Police detention at Kirfi Police Division.

“The Commissioner of Police, CP Aminu Alhassan has directed the DPO Kirfi, to conduct preliminary investigations while the case file should be transferred to the SCIIB for further discreet investigations. If the suspects are found wanting, the Police Command would charge them to court for arson.”

The police spokesman emphasized that the state commissioner of police had given the general public the advice to always respect and obey personnel who are performing their legitimate duties and had issued a warning that no one would be spared because anyone found guilty would be made to suffer the full force of the law.

The Sector Command reported that on April 7, 2023, the FRSC Bara Unit Command’s first incident report, headed “Mob Assault on Patrol Team,” claimed that at around 3.05 pm, its patrol team along Bara-Gombe road had an encounter with an offender driving a Mitsubishi Pajero Jeep with the VIN BAU 976HB.

“As a result of the encounter, the patrol vehicle was set ablaze and was burnt completely. The offender has been arrested and is under Police custody.”

Yusuf Abdullahi, the FRSC Sector Commander, denounced the occurrence and called it extremely regrettable.

He questioned why people would use the law against themselves.

In order to act as a deterrence to others, Abdullahi pledged that the FRSC will pursue the issue to a logical conclusion and guarantee that justice is served.

The start of the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Exams has been rescheduled, according to the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board.

In a statement released in Abuja on Sunday and signed by Dr. Fabian Benjamin, the board made this disclosure.

According to Benjamin, the UTME, which was originally planned to begin on April 29, will now begin on April 25, 2023.

He added that the board’s rescheduled mock-UTME would take place on April 18, 2023.

”JAMB had earlier conducted its 2023 Mock-UTME on Thursday,  March 30, in 725 centres across the country.

”However, the exercise ran into some technical hitches in some centres, thereby denying some candidates the opportunity to sit for  the examination.

”The board’s mock examination was designed for the purpose of testing its preparedness and that of its partners for the UTME as well as give prospective candidates the opportunity to have hands-on experience of the CBT test environment.

”It is, therefore, in order to give those candidates, who were unable to sit for the examination owing to no fault of theirs, the opportunity to take the examination that the mock examination had been rescheduled to hold on Tuesday, April 18,” he said.

He explained that candidates who were present and screened for the test but were unable to sit for it had a new opportunity to retake the practice test on April 18.

Hence, Benjamin announced that the results of the candidates who passed the mock exam on March 30 had been made public.

He added that the board has moved up the administration of the 2023 UTME, which was formerly planned to take place from Saturday, April 29, to Tuesday, April 25.

He claimed the change in the UTME’s date was made to make room for some other significant and important national duties.

”By so doing, the board hopes that no citizen will be denied the opportunity of exercising their civic responsibilities.

”It should be noted that the board does not have the liberty of shifting forward its examination as other public examinations are billed to commence their exercises in the early part of May 2023.

“Yet another factor is the need to accommodate those institutions with stable academic calendar to resume as scheduled,” he added.

He said that in order to ensure that its candidates received the best, the board would continue to collaborate with pertinent governmental agencies.

According to him, the board asked for everyone’s understanding while it carried out its crucial job.

The wife of renowned Nigerian businessman and elder statesman Aminu Dantata, Hajiya Rabi Aminu Dantata, passed away in a hospital in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Sanusi Dantata, her grandson, announced her passing on Saturday on his verified Twitter account.

He said in the tweet, “Please pray for our mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, Haj. Rabi, wife of Alhaji Aminu Dantata, who died yesterday after a protracted illness!

“May Allah forgive her, accept her good deeds, and grant her the highest rank in Paradise, Ameen!

“Innalillahi Wa Inna Ilaihirrajiuun!.”

Before dying away in her late 70s, Mama Rabi, as she was affectionately known, fought a protracted illness.

She was Aminu Dantata’s second wife and she is survived by her husband, six children, and a large number of grandkids.

One of her children, Tajjuddeen Dantata, is well-known in Nigeria’s business world.

The family has asked for prayers on behalf of the deceased, pleading with Allah to pardon her, acknowledge her deeds, and grant her the highest position in heaven.

Before Ferencz made history as a prosecutor, he was a US soldier who saw the liberation of multiple concentration camps and exposed horrifying Nazi atrocities.

When he tried Nazi war criminals in Nuremberg, Germany, he was barely 30 years old.

In Nuremberg, which Adolf Hitler intended to use as the capital of his Reich, the victorious allies began putting prominent Nazis on trial in late November 1945 after winning World War II.

These included Hermann Göring, the commander of the German air force, and Rudolf Hess, Hitler’s deputy.

After almost a year, the International Military Tribunal’s trial came to a close with 12 execution warrants.

The so-called Following Nuremberg Trials followed the main trial from 1946 to 1949.

There were 12 of these trials, and Ferencz served as the lead prosecutor in the one that addressed the Einsatzgruppen, the mobile Nazi killing squads.

For their roles in the death of more than a million people, the trial led to the conviction of 20 Nazi officers for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and membership in a criminal organization.

On lesser accusations, two additional people were found guilty.

It is believed that what happened in Nuremberg directly led to the creation of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which Ferencz referred to as his “baby” after campaigning for its establishment.

In an interview with dpa in 2020, he said: “I learned that a war can make mass murderers out of otherwise decent people… War itself destroys all sense of morality, and it’s been glorified for centuries.”

Ferencz appealed to the younger generation to follow his example.

“We must protect the rights, the minimum rights of all human beings to live in peace and dignity in every country,” he said at the time.

“That’s my goal. If you share the goal, do whatever you can.”