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UCTH Chief Medical Director, Six Others In EFCC Net Over Fraud Charges And Abuse of Office

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UCTHThe Chief Medical Director of the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital (UCTH), Dr Thomas U. Agan, and six others were Monday arraigned at the Federal High Court in Calabar for fraudulent practices and abuse of office among others.

A five-count charge signed by Kayode Oni, Blessing Obasi, Shehu Usman and Esin-Otu Ebipade, for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), indicated that Dr Agan, Offor Jonah Offor, Francis I. Otu, Okocha Anthony, Emmaneul Etta Nkim, Anchor Industrial and Construction Services Nigeria Limited and Basemark Energy Limited were the defendants.

Oni, a lawyer for the EFCC, also tendered a list of 26 exhibits to the court.

The charge read, “That you, Prof Thomas Agan as Chief Medical Director University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Offor Jonah Offor, as Head of Works and Engineering University of Calabar Teaching hospital, Francis I. Otu as Chief Administrative Officer and Head of Legal Services University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Okocha Anthony being the alter-ego of Anchor Industrial and Constructing Services Nigeria Limited, Emmanuel Etta Nkim being the alter-ego of Basemark Energy Nigeria Limited, Anchor Industrial and Construction Services Nigeria Limited and Basemark Energy Nigeria Limited; some time in the month of October, 2015 in Calabar, Cross River State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did conspire amongst yourselves to bid-rig for the purchase of one Advanced Life Support Ambulance Vehicle and one Toyota Bus 30-seater to Messrs Basemark Energy Nigeria Limited and Anchor Industrial and Construction Services Limited contrary to Section 58(4) of the Public Procurement Act (PPA) 2007 and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 58(5) of the same Act.

“That you, Prof Thomas U. Agan, as Chief Medical Director University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Offor Jonah Offor, as Head of Works and Engineering University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Francis I. Otu as Chief Administrative officer and Head of Legal Services University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Okocha Anthony being the alter-ego of Basemark Energy Nigeria Limited, sometime in the month of October 2015 within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did abuse your official position to award contract in a fraudulent, collusive and corrupt manner contrary to Section 58(4)(e) of the Public Procurement Act 2007 Act and punishable under Section 58(5) of the same Act.

That you, Prof Thomas U. Agan as Chief Medical Director University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Offor Jonah Offor, as Head of Works and Engineering University Teaching Hospital, Francis I. Otu as Chief Administrative Officer and Head of Legal Services University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, sometime in the month of October, 2015 in Calabar, Cross River State within the jurisdiction of this Honourbale Court did abuse your official position to award contract in a fraudulent, collusive and corrupt manner and thereby committed an offence, contrary to section 58(4)(b) of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 Act and punishable under Section 58(5) of the same Act.

“That you, Okocha Anthony, being the alter-ego of Anchor Industrial and Construction Services Nigeria Limited, sometime in the month of October 2015 in Calabar, Cross River State within the jurisdiction of this Honourabe Court did obtained unfair advantage by enriching yourself when you fraudulently procured the supply of one Toyota Coaster bus 30 seaters and thereby committed an offence, contrary to Section 58(4)(c) of the Public Procurement Act and punishable under Section 58(6) of the same Act.

“That you, Emmanuel Etta Nkim being the alter-ego of Basemark Energy Nigeria Limited, sometime in the month of October 2015, in Calabar, Cross River State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did obtained unfair advantage by enriching yourself when you fraudulently procured the supply of one Advance Life Support Ambulance and thereby committed an offence, contrary to section 58(4)(c) of the Public Procurement Act, 2007 Act and punishable under Section 58(6) of the same Act.”

The defendants however pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Counsel to the defendants, Mr. Mba Okweni SAN in an oral application pleaded with the court to grant the accused bail, as the matter was bailable.

He also pleaded that the court should “stand down the matter to enable him file the formal application.”

But counsel to EFCC objected to the oral bail application saying, it formal so that they can respond to it accordingly.A

 

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Abike Dabiri returns to Twitter after nearly a year offline – with numerous awards

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The Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa is back on Twitter almost a year after her account was hacked.

The broadcast journalist-turned-politician announced her return to the social media platform on Thursday, May 16, 2024.

It would be recalled that on June 15, 2023, the NiDCOM chairman informed Nigerians that her X account formerly known as Twitter, had been “hacked by some unscrupulous elements.”

She said the “obvious aim of the hackers is to spread falsehood and fake news in her name.”

In a statement by Abdur-Rahman Balogun, the commission’s Head of Media, Public Relations, and Protocols Unit, Dabiri-Erewa advised Nigerians to disregard any message from the account.

“Members of the public are hereby advised to ignore any message from the Twitter handle @Abike Dabiri-Erewa until normalcy is hopefully restored,” the statement read in part.

Announcing her return in a short video showing numerous award plaques, the three-term member of the House of Representatives said she looks forward to meaningful engagement on the social media platform.

She said, “Hi everyone, Abike-Dabiri-Erewa here. I’m back on Twitter. After my account was hacked, I did my very best to get my account back. I mean, it’s not easy to lose over a million followers, but hey, that’s life but I’m back on X. I am looking forward to meaningful engagements on the X platform. It’s nice to be back.”

Meanwhile, Dabiri-Erewa’s hacked account is still active on X. The account which is being used to propagate Islamic content has over 800,000 followers.

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Some youth trading crypto are unaware they’re being used to fund terrorism, says Olukoyede

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Ola Olukoyede, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), says some youths who trade in cryptocurrencies do not know that they are being used to fund terrorism in Nigeria.

Olukoyede spoke on Wednesday during a multi-stakeholders’ national dialogue on preventing terrorism financing and violent extremism.

The EFCC chair said some of the people who receive money to trade in cryptocurrencies do not know that their financiers are sponsors of terrorism.

He added that some of the 1,146 bank accounts recently frozen by the anti-graft agency were conduits for terrorism funding.

“Some of you are aware of our activities in the area of investigating virtual currency trading and the likes of cryptocurrencies,” he said.

“They are potential platforms to fund terrorism. A lot of us don’t understand that. Some of our discoveries during investigation of some of these platforms were mind boggling.

“We thought Binance was a major one. Yes, it was. We are prosecuting them. But there are other platforms we have discovered.

“They used some of these young men. Some of them don’t know that the people who gave them money to trade are people who fund terrorism.”

The EFCC boss said there is a need to adopt technology in tracking money used to fund terrorism in the country.

Olukoyede narrated how he was informed by a friend in the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that dollar bills across the world can be tracked with technology.

“It is important for us to adopt the use of technology,” he said.

“I was comparing notes with an assistant director in the FBI — a friend of mine. He said: ‘My brother, from our systems in the US, we can track every printed dollar anywhere in the world’.”

The EFCC boss added that Nigeria must get to that stage where technology can be deployed to track naira notes used for terrorism financing.

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FCCPC seals warehouse with mislabelled, expired products in Ekiti

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The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) says a warehouse selling harmful products in Ekiti state was raided and sealed on Wednesday.

In a post on X, FCCPC said the raid was carried out after receiving intelligence reports that there were unsafe and expired products in the warehouse located in Ado-Ekiti.

After confirming the reports, FCCPC said the place was sealed.

“Following intelligence reports, our operatives raided a warehouse suspected of selling harmful products, including vegetable oils, cereals and other fast-moving consumer goods,” the commission said.

“During the raid, the FCCPC found evidence of expired goods still on the shelves, deceptive labels on products, fake barcodes, and repackaged, potentially unsafe products.

“The warehouse is now sealed, and the owners along with a supplier are being investigated. Appropriate enforcement actions will follow.”

The commission said it would remain vigilant in protecting consumers and ensuring a fair marketplace in Nigeria.

On April 18, FCCPC raided two 4U Signature supermarkets in the Wuse area of Abuja.

The supermarkets were accused of overcharging customers by implementing prices different from those listed on the shelf tags.

Four days after the supermarket was sealed, FCCPC summoned the owners of Royal Choice, a Chinese supermarket in Abuja, for allegedly refusing to sell to Nigerians.

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Bodex F. Hungbo, SPMIIM is a multiple award-winning Nigerian Digital Media Practitioner, Digital Strategist, PR consultant, Brand and Event Expert, Tv Presenter, Tier-A Blogger/Influencer, and a top cobbler in Nigeria.

She has widespread experiences across different professions and skills, which includes experiences in; Marketing, Media, Broadcasting, Brand and Event Management, Administration and Management with prior stints at MTN, NAPIMS-NNPC, GLOBAL FLEET OIL AND GAS, LTV, Silverbird and a host of others

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