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Port Harcourt Refinery To Resume Operations In April, Gets 450,000 Barrels Crude – Kyari

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The Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, has said the Port Harcourt refinery will commence operations in about two weeks.

According to Kyari, mechanical works have been completed on the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries, stressing that the Kaduna refinery will commence operations in December.

Kyari made this known in a press briefing after he appeared before the Senate Ad-hoc Committee investigating the various Turn Around Maintenance projects of the country’s refineries.

He said, “We are serving this country with honour and dignity. And we will make sure that the promises we make on the rehabilitation of these refineries will take place.

“We did a mechanical completion of the refinery that was what we said in December. We now have crude oil already stocked in the refinery. We are doing a regulatory compliance test that must happen in every refinery before you start it, and I assure you that this Port Harcourt refinery will start in the next two weeks.

“Completing the mechanical work means that you are done with the rehabilitation work, now you have to test to see how it works. Of course, we have also completed the mechanical work on the Warri refinery. It is also undergoing regulatory compliance; processes that we are doing with our regulator, and this will soon be completed and it will be ready.

“Kaduna refinery will be ready by December. We have not reached that stage in Kaduna, but we promise Kaduna will be delivered by December.”

The NNPC GMD also told the Senate that over 450, 000 barrels of oil had been stocked into the Port Harcourt refinery.

He said, “All crude lines are active and have actually delivered over 450,000 barrels into Port Harcourt refinery.

“We are confident of the integrity of it. Yes, there may be security issues, but also government is responding to the situation.”

Meanwhile, the Senate disowned the alleged report of fraud in the Turn Around Maintenance of the nation’s refineries currently being undertaken by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited.

The Chairman of the Senate ad-hoc panel, Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, told his colleagues that he already had some documents on the TAM and that no fraudulent practice had been discovered in the exercise.

Ubah said the country would want to know that progress is being made on the rehabilitation of the refineries

He said, “I have seen some documents indicating that something is being done and there is nothing to suggest that there is a foul play in the exercise.”

He said members of the committee would visit all the refineries to ascertain the progress of work there so that a comprehensive report would be presented to the Senate in plenary soonest.

A member of the ad-hoc committee, Senator Mpigi Barnada, urged the NNPCL management to pay attention to the security challenges in the oil-rich region.

Specifically, he said it would not augur well if the refineries are fixed and insecurity prevented crude from getting there.

BIG STORY

37-Year-Old American Nicholas Giroux Jailed For Life Over Murder Of Nigerian boxer Olugbemi

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A 37-year-old man, Nicholas Giroux, has been sentenced to life imprisonment plus an additional 20 years for killing Nigerian-American boxer, Isaiah Olugbemi, in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.

According to the Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney’s Office, Giroux received the sentence on Friday from Judge Richard Trunnell after pleading guilty to first-degree murder and use of a firearm in a violent crime. The prison terms will run consecutively.

Olugbemi, 27, a father and highly regarded amateur boxer, was shot several times by Giroux on June 17, 2024, along Meadowmist Way in Odenton. He later died from his injuries at the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.

Surveillance video revealed Giroux approaching Olugbemi, firing multiple rounds until he collapsed, and then discharging three more shots before fleeing. Police later recovered 9mm casings from the crime scene.

Investigators noted that Giroux had previously confronted Olugbemi and a neighbour at a cookout about two weeks earlier, where he displayed a firearm, though he did not fire it at that time.

Following the shooting, Giroux confessed during interrogation and directed authorities to the location of the gun he used.

Describing the murder, State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess called it “cruel and senseless,” stressing that the victim had a bright future in boxing.

“Mr. Olugbemi was a father and a rising star in amateur boxing. The callousness and lack of remorse on the part of this Defendant is really disturbing. He deserves this sentence. And to the family and friends of Mr. Olugbemi, I hope that today provides some sense of justice for this terrible ordeal,” Leitess said.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant State’s Attorney Carolynn Grammas, with homicide detectives from the Anne Arundel County Police Department leading the investigation.

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40-Year-Old US-Based Nigerian Daniel Chima Risks 20-Year Jail Term Over ‘$405,000 Romance Scam’

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Daniel Chima Inweregbu, a 40-year-old Nigerian, has pleaded guilty to multiple fraud charges in the United States, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

US prosecutors said Inweregbu conspired to commit mail and wire fraud, while also using a false identity to carry out a romance scam that ran from July 2017 to December 2018.

The scheme, which cost victims over $405,000, involved Inweregbu and his partners contacting Americans through email and messaging platforms. They pretended to be “Larry Pham,” built online romantic relationships, and then tricked victims into sending money to bank accounts they controlled.

Once received, the funds were laundered through intermediaries to conceal their source, ownership, and movement, the DOJ added.

According to court filings:

  • Count 1 carries up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.
  • Count 12 also carries up to 20 years in prison, with a fine of up to $500,000.
  • He must also pay a mandatory $100 special assessment fee for each count.

Sentencing has been fixed for December 4, 2025, before Judge Brown.

This is not Inweregbu’s first conviction. In December 2020, a Federal High Court in Lagos sentenced him to 18 months in prison (with an option of a ₦300,000 fine) for a similar romance scam. He was also ordered to refund $15,000 to the US Consulate.

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Most Trump Tariffs Are Illegal, US Court Rules

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A US appeals court has ruled that most of former President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs are unconstitutional.

Back in April, Trump announced global tariffs on all imports into the United States, including a 14% levy on Nigerian goods. Since then, he has alternated between rolling back some measures and intensifying others.

Trump had argued that the tariffs were legally justified under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which empowers the president to act against “unusual and extraordinary” threats.

But in a 7–4 ruling, the Washington appeals court disagreed, holding that Trump exceeded his authority. The judges noted that the IEEPA “neither mentions tariffs (or any of its synonyms) nor has procedural safeguards that contain clear limits on the president’s power to impose tariffs.”

However, the panel stopped short of cancelling the tariffs outright, leaving room for a potential appeal before the US Supreme Court.

Reacting on Truth Social, Trump insisted his tariffs remain intact:
“ALL TARIFFS ARE STILL IN EFFECT!”

“If these Tariffs ever went away, it would be a total disaster for the Country. It would make us financially weak, and we have to be strong,” he wrote.

The former president also expressed confidence that the Supreme Court would eventually uphold his tariff policies.

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