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Ike Ekweremadu, Wife Jailed In UK
A Nigerian lawmaker, Ike Ekweremadu, has been sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison for his involvement in a crime that exploited a young man’s kidney.
The sentencing of Ekweremadu, his wife, Beatrice, and Dr. Obinna Obeta took place at the Central Criminal Court in London, where they were found guilty of violating the Modern Slavery Act after a six-week trial.
Meanwhile, Dr. Obeta was sentenced to 10 years behind bars after the judge determined that he had intentionally chosen a young, impoverished and vulnerable victim.
Beatrice Ekweremadu, who had a lesser role in the crime, she was sentenced to four years and six months in prison.
Recall that Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice, and Dr. Obinna Obeta was found guilty of conspiring to send a young man, referred to as David Nwamini, to Britain to exploit him for his kidney, which was needed for the Enugu West lawmaker’s daughter, Sonia.
The three individuals were convicted after a six-week trial at London’s Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey for violating the Modern Slavery Act.
Davies told the jury that the behaviour of Ekweremadu showed “entitlement, dishonesty and hypocrisy”.
He said Ekweremadu, who owns several properties and had a staff of 80, “agreed to reward someone for a kidney for his daughter – somebody in circumstances of poverty and from whom he distanced himself and made no inquiries, and with whom, for his own political protection, he wanted no direct contact”.
Davies added, “What he agreed to do was not simply expedient in the clinical interests of his daughter, Sonia, it was exploitation, it was criminal. It is no defence to say he acted out of love for his daughter. Her clinical needs cannot come at the expense of the exploitation of somebody in poverty.”
Despite the conviction, Ekweremadu continued to maintain his innocence and claimed that he was the victim of a scam.
Similarly, Obeta denied the charges and asserted that the man was acting altruistically without any promise of reward for his kidney. Beatrice also denied any knowledge of the alleged conspiracy, and Sonia did not provide evidence in the case.
In the days leading up to the sentencing, the Nigerian Senate, the House of Representatives, and the Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) wrote letters to British authorities, urging them to show leniency towards the lawmaker.
Former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, also wrote to the British authorities to plead on behalf of the embattled legislator.
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NNPC JV Unveils New Crude Oil Grade ‘Nembe’, Commences Exports With 1,900 Barrels
Precious ADELOLA
The NNPC/Aiteo Joint venture has announced the introduction of Nembe Crude Oil Grade, a new crude oil grade into the international crude oil market.
The announcement of the Nembe Crude Oil Blend, produced by Aiteo, the Operator of the NNPC/Aiteo Oil Mining Lease (OML) 29 Joint Venture (JV), was made at the ongoing Argus European Crude Conference in London, on Tuesday.
OML 29, an asset located onshore Nigeria, is operated by Aiteo Eastern Exploration & Production Ltd, Africa’s leading indigenous hydrocarbon producer, following a historic acquisition from Shell in 2014.
The Nembe Crude was previously blended with the popular Bonny Light grade and exported via the Bonny Oil & Gas Terminal.
The unique selling point of the Nembe Crude Oil grade with an API gravity was highlighted by both the Aiteo E & P and NNPC Limited Leadership at the Argus Conference in London.
The Nembe Crude Oil grade also has a low sulphur content and low carbon footprint due to flare gas elimination, fitting perfectly into the required spec of major buyers in Europe.
Two cargoes of 950,000 barrels each of the Nembe Crude Oil grade have since been exported to France and the Netherlands. With its attractive Assay of API 29 and low sulphur content, the Nembe Crude Oil grade commands a premium to the global Brent benchmark.
With the NNPC-Aiteo OML 29 JV back on-stream, Nigeria now boasts of an additional crude oil export of 2 Cargoes at 950,000 barrels each per month and 1.2 Bcf of export gas monthly.
This remarkable achievement signals the commencement of activities at Nigeria’s newest crude oil terminal, the Nembe Crude Oil Export Terminal (NCOET), which was licensed in line with the extant laws and Crude Oil Terminal establishment regulations.
The terminal was conceived as a Floating Storage and Offloading Vessel (FSO) with a storage capacity of two (2) Million Barrels and the ability to offload crude oil to any export tanker from AFRAMAX to Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC).
It has a loading capacity of 25,000 barrels per hour and will be exporting over 3.6 million barrels of Crude oil monthly at full scale of operation.
Currently, hydrocarbon production from OML 29, which was hitherto constrained due to evacuation challenges owing to the security issues around the Nembe Creek Trunk Line (NCTL) corridor, has now been resolved through a collaborative and creative approach that led to the innovation of the Alternative Crude Oil Evacuation Solution.
The Argus European Crude Conference 2023 in London is a gathering of energy majors, refiners, NOCs, traders, financial institutions, and other representatives from across the global oil markets. The event also provides a critical opportunity for business leaders to connect, discuss, share and learn from one another.
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Nigeria Owes NNPCL US$3.1bn, As Subsidy Hits US$921.5m Monthly
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JUST IN: Tribunal Sacks Gov Uba Sani, Declares Election Invalid
Governor Uba Sani of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was removed from office on Thursday by the governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Kaduna State.
The panel ruled that the state’s 2023 governorship election was invalid.
According to information gathered by Biztellers, the judges avoided the actual auditorium and instead communicated the decision via zoom.
It commanded the holding of new elections in seven wards across four local government units in the State.
Isa Ashiru, a candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party, and the PDP filed the petition.