Musiliu Badejo, a Nigerian vendor living in the United Kingdom, has been convicted of selling harmful skin-lightening products via eBay, the e-commerce platform.

A four-year investigation by Southwark council’s Trading Standards team showed that most of Badejo’s products had toxic ingredients in them.

Trading Standards in the UK are local authority departments responsible for enforcing consumer protection legislation.

They investigate commercial organisations that trade outside the law or engage in unethical practices, aiming to remedy breaches through advice or legal actions.

In October 2022, Trading Standards raided Badejo’s flat and found 1,700 cosmetic products.

The 56-year-old was out of the country at the time.

According to the regulatory agency, sampling and analysis confirmed many of the seized products contained banned hydroquinone and corticosteroids, which were not included in the ingredients labelling.

Two of his eBay accounts were suspended by the e-commerce platform after he flouted a warning from Trading Standards asking him to stop selling any more illegal cosmetics.

On April 29, a London court heard that between March 2020 and January 2023, Badejo had used multiple eBay accounts to sell over 20,000 cosmetic products to UK customers.

Badejo was said to have sold over 20,000 bottles. The combined sales value was some £340,000.

The entrepreneur said he imported most of the products from Ghana, Nigeria, and Thailand.

An analysis of five of out seven of the vendor’s products contained either hydroquinone or corticosteroids.

One product called “Pure White dark spot corrector serum” contained both but did not list them as ingredients.

Trading Standards said the serum contained 10 percent hydroquinone — five times the permitted limit.

Badejo, whose goods were valued at over a quarter of a million pounds, received a six-week prison sentence suspended for 15 months and was ordered to pay £4,750 in fines.

Skin bleaching is not a new beauty phenomenon with many seeking to lighten their skin for different purposes.

However, medical practitioners have labelled the practice a public health concern, linking it to a range of adverse effects, from skin diseases to serious systemic problems such as diabetes, hypertension, and renal diseases.

The high court in Anambra has sentenced Nwachukwu Placidus, a former First City Monument Bank (FCMB) branch manager, to 121 years imprisonment.

The ex-banker was jailed on Friday for diverting a customer’s funds estimated at over N112 million for his personal use.

The Enugu zonal command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned Placidus in March 2018 on a 16-count charge bordering on forgery, stealing and obtaining by false pretence.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges when they were read to him.

“Nwachukwu Placidus between February 2009 and November 2014 in Onitsha, Anambra State within the jurisdiction of the Anambra State High Court of Nigeria with intent to defraud obtained the sum of (N112,100,000) One Hundred and Twelve Million, One Hundred Thousand Naira only, from Idemili Microfinance Bank under the false pretence that you have placed the said money in a fixed deposit account with First City Monument Bank PLC for it, which pretence you knew to be false and you thereby committed an offence,” one of the charges read.

The EFCC presented four witnesses and tendered several relevant documents which were admitted in evidence.

Idemili Microfinance Bank LTD, the complainant, alleged that Placidus was handed the funds as the branch manager of FCMB in Onitsha, for a fixed deposit.

However, the microfinance bank said the FCMB branch in Onitsha denied receiving the funds when it was time for withdrawal.

Delivering the judgement, S. N. Odili, the presiding judge, held that “the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt” and sentenced the convict to nine years imprisonment on count three, four years on count four and nine years on counts five to 16 respectively.

The judge ordered Placidus to refund the N121 million fraudulently obtained from Idemili Microfinance Bank.

He was discharged on counts one and two. The sentences shall run concurrently.

Daniel Ojukwu, a journalist with The Foundation of Investigative Journalism (FIJ), has been reportedly detained by the police over an allegation bordering on “cybercrime”.

The management of FIJ said Ojukwu went missing on May 1 while his contact numbers were not reachable as family and friends struggled to reach him.

FIJ said a track of Ojukwu’s devices revealed his last active location to be in Isheri Olofin, Alimosho LGA, noting that the area was the place where the police arrested the journalist.

The foundation revealed that Ojukwu’s family discovered he is being held by the intelligence response team (IRT) of the inspector-general of police (IGP) at the state criminal investigation department (SCID), Panti area of Lagos.

The newspaper claimed that the journalist is being held for the alleged violation of the 2015 Cybercrime Act.

Fisayo Soyombo, the FIJ founder, said he suspects Ojukwu was arrested over a certain investigative story he reported in November 2023.

Ojukwu reported that the office of the senior special assistant to the president on sustainable development goals (OSSAP-SDGs) awarded a contract for the construction of one skill acquisition centre and one block of six classrooms at Ajeromi Primary School in Lagos at the cost of N147 million.

According to the report, the fund for the contract was paid into the “account of a restaurant,” while the project was not situated in its designated location.

The report revealed that the skill acquisition centre was constructed in Ladi-Lak Nursery and Primary School on 2, Randle Road, Apapa, and the block of six classrooms in Metropolitan Nursery and Primary School, Adekunle Deen Street, Off Mile 2-Ijora Expressway, Ijora.

Attempts to reach Benjamin Hundeyin, spokesperson of the Lagos police command, were unsuccessful as his phone line was not reachable, and messages were not replied to at the time of filing this report.