NEWS
Fake Custom Officer In Police Net For Auction Fraud
A woman identified as Rakiya Musa, a suspected fake customs officer has been apprehended by operatives of the Nigeria Police Force, Zone II Command, Onikan, Lagos over allegations of auction fraud.
This was contained in a statement issued on Sunday by the Zonal Public Relations Officer (ZPRO), SP Hauwa Idris-Adamu.
According to Idris-Adamu, the arrest followed a petition on April 12 from two members of the public to the Assistant Inspector General (AIG), Zone II, Mohammed Ali, against Musa.
She said, “A petition was written by one Josiah Kashim Utenwojo and one Dominic Okoh Henry against the suspect who claimed to be an officer of the Nigerian Customs Service in charge of the Public Auction Unit at Tin Can Port, Apapa Lagos.”
It was gathered that suspect’s built some familiarity with the operatives of security agents which helped her gain the victims’ confidence.
In addition, the victims were introduced to the suspect by a retired Naval officer, Akinwande Kayode and the suspect fraudulently obtained N3.2 million from them.
“Musa lived in the Nigeria Air Force Mess Apapa for three months, thereby making her victims believe she is a Customs officer.
“Upon receipt of the petition, the AIG immediately detailed some crack detectives attached to the Zonal Criminal Investigation Department to investigate and they immediately swung into action.
“After a detailed investigation, it was revealed that the victims were introduced to Musa by a retired Naval officer that she should help them procure auction vehicles from the Nigerian Customs Service.
“Based on the foregoing, the sum of N3.2m was transferred to Musa’s UBA personal account.
“Immediately the fund was received, she became incommunicado, and it then dawn(ed) upon them that they had been swindled; all efforts made to reach her proved abortive.
“However, after a painstaking investigation, she was arrested at Abuja where Customs ID card and Customs Clearing Agent ID were recovered from her and she was brought to Lagos for proper investigation,” she added.
The ZPRO also revealed that the suspect confessed during the investigation that she had been impersonating as a Customs Officer in order to defraud unsuspecting members of the public and that she had been in the business for over 15 years.
Idris-Adamu said that Musa also claimed to have given the sum of N1m to her boyfriend, Akinwande Kayode, the retired Naval officer, from the N3.2 million fraudulently obtained from the victims.
While cautioning members of the public to be wary of whom they trust with their money, she explained that investigations into the matter were ongoing and the suspect would be charged in court upon completion of the investigation.
The President of the African School of Governance, Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu has admonished state actors against resorting to brutal force in the bid to muscle out separatist agitators.
In the aftermath of Mazi Simon Ekpa, the Finland based Biafran nationalist agitator being caught in legal web and the Nigerian government moving swiftly to seek his repatriation, the former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has cautioned that ‘We either fix our problems, or our problems will eventually “fix” us. No alternative to a renegotiated union.’
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The political economist, while expressing his hope in Nigeria, made it clear that “hope is not a strategy”.
He bared his mind in a series of posts on his verified handle on micro-blogging site, X on Friday.
Moghalu wrote, “Despite sustained contemporary difficulties, I am hopeful about Nigeria. But hope is not a strategy. We need to improve state capacity for effective governance.
“We either fix our problems, or our problems will eventually “fix” us. No alternative to a renegotiated union.
“We must learn to be honest with ourselves and address the root causes of our problems. Why ignore them, when the problem is actually quite solvable? The problem with continuing with this approach is that when the danger crystallizes, those who thought they were benefiting from
Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has criticized the federal government’s plan to secure an additional N1.7 trillion loan through Eurobonds to cover a shortfall in the 2024 budget, describing the borrowing as unsustainable and harmful to Nigeria’s economy.
In a statement shared on Thursday via his X (formerly Twitter) handle, Atiku accused the Bola Tinubu-led administration of burdening Nigerians with debt while failing to provide clear answers about the country’s fiscal challenges.
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He also faulted the National Assembly for enabling what he called a “voracious appetite” for loans.
The former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate expressed alarm over a recent World Bank report ranking Nigeria as the third most indebted country to the International Development Association (IDA), calling the development troubling.
“The recent report released by the World Bank, showing Nigeria as the third most indebted country to the International Development Association (IDA), is very concerning,” Atiku stated.
He raised further concerns about the government’s decision to benchmark the proposed loan at an exchange rate of 1 USD to N800, despite the Central Bank of Nigeria’s official rate being over N1,600.
“What makes this particular loan proposal even more concerning is that it is benchmarked at the exchange rate of 1 USD to N800, whereas the current exchange rate from the Central Bank of Nigeria stands at over N1,600 to 1 USD,” he said.
Atiku questioned the need for additional borrowing, given the government’s earlier claims of record-high revenue collection.
“In July this year, Tinubu boasted that the FIRS and Customs under his watch had collected all-time high revenues to finance the budget. Why are they still borrowing?” he said
He accused the government of a lack of transparency, describing the borrowing spree as detrimental to Nigerians already struggling under economic hardship.
“There is something that they are not telling Nigerians, even as they are being crushed by a combination of their failed trial-and-error policies and loan rackets.”
Atiku also referenced a report by BudgIT, a budget monitoring group, which criticized the 2024 budget for its inefficiencies.
He alleged that corruption, rather than infrastructure or development needs, was driving the government’s borrowing decisions.
“These loans are powered by corruption and not for infrastructure and development needs. This voracious appetite for humongous loans is deeply concerning,” he said.
Reflecting on Nigeria’s financial history, Atiku lamented the return to significant foreign indebtedness just years after former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration cleared the country’s debt.
“It is agonizing to see that just a few years after the Obasanjo administration took us out of foreign indebtedness, we are today back at the top spot in the same conundrum,” he stated.
He called for a more cautious approach to borrowing, urging the government to prioritize fiscal responsibility and transparency to avoid worsening Nigeria’s economic challenges.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has taken a historic step, issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The charges include crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed during Israel’s recent assault on Gaza.
In a detailed statement, the ICC accused the Israeli leaders of “intentionally and knowingly depriving the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity.”
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The ICC’s move marks a significant escalation in international scrutiny of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Netanyahu and Gallant are alleged to have orchestrated policies that caused severe harm to the civilian population in Gaza, leading to widespread condemnation from human rights organizations.
Alongside the charges against Israeli officials, the ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif. Deif has long been a central figure in Hamas’s military operations. Israel’s military claims to have killed him in a July airstrike, although this has not been independently verified.
The warrants highlight growing calls for accountability amid the ongoing conflict in the region. The ICC’s actions are likely to provoke heated debate and may complicate diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving the crisis.
With the warrants issued, global attention now turns to how the international community will respond and whether any practical steps will be taken to enforce them.
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