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Reps Committee Uncovers BPP Director Born In 1996, Employed In 1992

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The House of Representatives on Thursday uncovered a worker in the Bureau of Public Procurement said to have been born in 1996 but was employed in 1992.

The management of the BPP appeared before the House Committee in Public Procurement for 2021 budget defense, where a member, Mr Nicholas Ossai, called the attention of the lawmakers to his discovery on the bureau’s nominal roll, asking the Director-General, Mamman Ahmadu, to explain the irregularity.

Ossai said, “On personnel, a female staff of the bureau named Lantewa Fatsuma Lawal, the Deputy Director, Accounts, with the date of birth as 08/01/1996 received her first appointment on 15/12/1992; that is four years before her date of birth.”

A copy of the BPP’s nominal roll sited after the session has Lawal’s date of birth as 08/01/1996 and her employment date as 01/01/192.

Lawal, who is from Bade Local Government Area of Yobe State, was promoted Deputy Director (Accounts) on Grade Level 16 on 01/01/2019, with a Bachelor of Science degree and a Post-Graduate Diploma.

Ahmadu and other officials of the BPP, however, said there was an error in the dates, making the lawmakers to resolve to carry out an oversight visit to the bureau while demanding more documents.

Asking a series of questions, Ossai quoted Ahmadu as saying N190.3m was given to the BPP for capital expenditure.

On BPP’s Overhead, Ossai recalled that the DG, in his presentation, said the sum of N240.8m had been committed to pending liabilities but the details provided only contained details amounting to N203.6m.

The lawmaker also said while the bureau spent about N22m on welfare packages in 2019, the same amount had been spent as of October 2020.

“Explanation should be provided for the increase in welfare packages and items that made up the welfare packages as well as the beneficiaries,” he said.

Ossai also asked the BPP boss to explain the N17 million spent on legal services as of October, even as he demanded details of the matters for which the services were engaged.

Another member of the committee, Dachung Bagos, also raised an issue on the proposal surveillance of ongoing Federal Government projects for which about N38m was allocated while BPP still had a balance of N38 million.

He said, “If one of your core duties is to supervise government projects, it means that from January to now, who has been supervising all the government projects and handling surveillance on them?”

Responding, Ahmadu said, “We have procured some of the procurement audits and we have submitted the same to you for this year. I think the second one is in the process of production.”

 

BIG STORY

Appeal Court Nullifies Rape Conviction Of Lagos Doctor Femi Olaleye

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The Lagos appeal court has overturned the “rape” conviction of Femi Olaleye, managing director of Optimal Cancer Care Foundation. On Friday, the appellate court ruled that the lower court “erred” in its judgment.

Olaleye was arraigned in November 2022 on a two-count charge of “defilement of a child” and “sexual assault by penetration.”

He was convicted in October 2023 and sentenced to life imprisonment for “rape.”

However, the appeal court held that the lower court relied on “tainted” and “unreliable” evidence.

THE VERDICT

The three-member panel of the appeal court are Jimi Olukayode Bada, Mohammad Sirajo, and Folasade Ojo.

Bada read the lead judgment which was adopted by the two other justices.

The appeal court held that the lower court erred based on the “tainted” and “unreliable” evidence of Oluremi, the defendant’s wife, and the alleged survivor.

The appeal court stated that Oluremi’s conduct showed that she was motivated by greed and the desire to take over the appellant’s assets upon his incarceration.

The appellate court described Olaleye’s wife as a “tainted witness”.

The court also ruled that the lower court relied on the “hearsay evidence” of the other witnesses on the age of the alleged survivor.

The appellate court held that since none of the witnesses witnessed the birth of the alleged survivor, it was wrong for the lower court to rely on their testimonies.

The court ruled that the prosecution’s case that the alleged survivor was a 16-year-old child was bereft of evidence.

The court described the testimonies of the child forensic specialist, that of a medical doctor from the Mirabel Centre, and the investigating officer’s, as “worthless”.

The appellate court said the trial judge “interfered” in the proceedings by bridging the “yawning gaps” in the prosecution’s case.

The court held that the prosecution failed to present material witnesses such as two family members who witnessed Olaleye’s alleged confession.

The court said a trial within trial ought to have been conducted to ascertain the voluntariness of the appellant’s confessional statements while in police custody.

The court of appeal resolved all five issues in favour of the appellant.

The appeal court thereafter discharged and acquitted Olaleye.

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US-Based Nigerian May Get 20-Year Jail Term Over Money Laundry

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A United States-based Nigerian, Samson Omoniyi, who was arrested alongside eight others for alleged money laundering and fraud, may be sentenced to 20 years in prison if found guilty by US authorities.

This was contained in a press statement signed by the Office of Public Affairs of the US Department of Justice late Wednesday.

The statement noted that Omoniyi, alongside his accomplices, was indicted on Tuesday on allegations of conspiracy to engage in money laundering following their arrest across three jurisdictions in the US.

It further indicated that the defendants, who remain innocent until proven guilty by the court, operated a money laundering organisation to launder proceeds from fraud amounting to millions of US dollars, allegedly obtained from defrauding multiple citizens.

The statement read, “An indictment was unsealed yesterday (Tuesday) in Nashville, Tennessee. It charges nine members of a multi-state money laundering organisation with laundering millions of dollars derived from internet fraud, including business email compromise schemes. The nine defendants were arrested in a coordinated takedown across three jurisdictions.

“According to court documents, Samson A. Omoniyi, 43, of Houston; Misha L. Cooper, 50, of Murfreesboro, Tennessee; Robert A. Cooper, 66, of Murfreesboro; Carlesha L. Perry, 36, of Houston; Whitney D. Bardley, 30, of Florissant, Missouri; Lauren O. Guidry, 32, of Houston; Caira Y. Osby, 44, of Houston; Dazai S. Harris, 34, of Murfreesboro; and Edward D. Peebles, 35, of Murfreesboro, were charged with conspiracy to engage in money laundering.

“As alleged in the indictment, the defendants were members of a long-running money laundering organisation operating since approximately November 2016 in and around Tennessee, Texas, and across the country.”

The statement further stressed that the defendants used the structured organisation as a guise to launder the proceeds of their fraud and to enrich members of the syndicate.

“The conspirators allegedly structured the organisation so that recruiters or ‘herders’ recruited and directed participants or ‘money mules’ to launder money obtained from Internet frauds that targeted businesses and individuals in the United States and abroad.

“The defendants allegedly used sham and front companies to conceal the fraud proceeds and enrich the conspiracy members. The conspiracy allegedly agreed to launder more than $20 million in fraud proceeds,” it stated.

According to the statement, each of the defendants could be sentenced to 20 years in prison under the US Sentencing Guidelines as the maximum penalty for their offence.

“The defendants each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if convicted. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

“An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law,” the statement concluded.

Earlier reports had it that two Nigerians, Anthony Ibekie and Samuel Aniukwu, were sentenced by a US federal jury to 30 years combined jail time for defrauding some US citizens of $3,500,000.

According to the US Justice Department, the duo had deceived their victims by telling them that they had received substantial inheritances that required some money to claim.

The duo was said to have requested their victims send money with a promise to refund them once the inheritances were claimed.

It was also noted that the duo carried out romance scams by establishing romantic relationships with their victims and demanding that they send money after building trust with them.

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Australia Bans Social Media Use For Children Under-16

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Australia’s parliament on Thursday passed a world-first law banning social media for children under 16, putting tech companies on notice to tighten security before a cut-off date that’s yet to be set.

The ban came following the passage of a groundbreaking law in parliament.

The new law was drafted in response to what the Labor Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, described as a “clear, causal link between the rise of social media and the harm [to] the mental health of young Australians.”

“We want our kids to have a childhood and parents to know we have their backs,” Albanese told reporters afterwards.

The new law, passed by the Senate with 34 votes to 19, prohibits platforms like TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, X, and Reddit from allowing users under 16.

Companies found in violation could face fines of up to AU$50 million (US$32 million). YouTube has been excluded from the ban due to its educational content.

While the law has been hailed by some as a bold move to protect children, it has drawn criticism from academics, advocacy groups, and tech experts.

Concerns have been raised that the legislation could drive teenagers to unsafe spaces like the dark web or lead to increased isolation.

Questions about enforcement have also surfaced, with critics warning that rushed implementation could create privacy risks if companies require extensive personal data for age verification.

Amnesty International has recommended that the bill be reconsidered, arguing “ban that isolates young people will not meet the government’s objective of improving young people’s lives.”

The bill received over 15,000 public submissions in a single day, many opposing the measure, after tech billionaire Elon Musk drew attention to the proposal on X.

The law will take effect in 12 months, allowing time for the government to trial age-verification technologies.

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