NAIJAFEED

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Police arrest 50 over UN bomb blast

The Inspector General of Police, Mr Hafiz Ringim yesterday disclosed that 50 suspects have been arrested in connection with last Friday's bomb blast at the United Nations House in Abuja which claimed 23 lives with 73 others still hospitalised.

He said four more injured staff whose condition was considered critical have been flown to South Africa for treatment. Four injured staff had on Sunday been evacuated from the National Hospital Abuja to South Africa.

Ringim who had an interaction with the diplomatic community at the headquarters of the Foreign Affairs Ministry said President Goodluck Jonathan will soon make a pronouncement on progress made so far on police investigation into the blast.

He also disclosed that, his office has received a number of requests for police protection from embassies in Nigeria, since Friday's blast, assuring the diplomatic community of adequate security in Nigeria.

A United Nations vehicle damaged following an explosion from a suicide bomber that rocked the Nigerian UN headquaters is seen in Abuja on August 28, 2011. The death toll following the suicide bombing of UN headquarters in Nigeria has risen to 23, with 81 wounded. AFP PHOTO

The IG, who was invited by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru to brief the diplomatic corps on the readiness of the nation's security operatives to offer adequate protection, said: "The security agencies have made some arrests and President Jonathan will soon make some pronouncement in that regard because I want to leave that to him to address the nation.

"All the missions are required to request for specific assistance of security in order to feel more secured and it shall be granted as I have been mandated with other security apparatus to beef up security around all the foreign missions, the entire country as well as the whole of African region", he said.

Speaking earlier, Ambassador Ashiru described the incident as an unfortunate one, adding that everything will be done to ensure safety and protection of all the diplomatic corps as well as that of Nigerian people.

He, however, appealed to all stakeholders to rise up and fight the new trend saying, "concerted effort must be made by Nigeria and the international community to combat the new form of terrorism affecting the whole world."

Ashiru also assured the diplomatic corps of adequate and proper security of their embassies and personnel. "I invited the IGP to address and assure you of our efforts and for you to have confidence in what we are doing to protect you and other people in the country," he said.

Some members of the diplomatic corps commended government for its efforts in securing and protecting their lives, assuring the federal government of their readiness to help in fighting terrorism in Nigeria.

Four more victims flown to South Africa

Meanwhile, four more victims of the bomb attack, were Monday flown out of Nigeria to South Africa, bringing the number of seriously injured who were evacuated since Saturday to eight.

The Co-ordinator of the UN Communications team in Nigeria, Sina Chuma-Mkandawire, who disclosed this, however declined to release the names of UN staff affected by the blast.

"We are not in a position to give you the names or the nationalities of those affected during the attack. What we can give you are the current figures of those affected", she said.

Vanguard

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Monday, August 29, 2011

Student Wins Microsoft Business Solutions Contest

A Nigerian university student, Miss Zulikhat Ibrahim, has won the Microsoft Business Solutions national competition.

Zulikhat, a student of the Crescent University, Abeokuta, Ogun State, beat many contestants from various tertiary institutions in a National Microsoft's Office Suite IT competition to emerge best with a score of 923 out of a total of 1,000 in Advance Excel 2007 within a time frame of 17 minutes, 2 seconds.

The Managing Director and the Chief Executive Officer of New Horizons, Mr. Tim Akano lauded the performances of the newly licensed students and assured the university management that the results were just tip of the iceberg.

Akano who was present at the ICT certificate presentation ceremony which took place on the campus along with Mr. Bolaji Olaoye, the company's GM in charge of Universities Operations pledged that New Horizons would produce more IT skilled students.

He stated that the national competition is an annual event which is anchored by Readmanna Ventures Ltd towards establishing the practical soundness of Nigerian youths in Microsoft Business Solutions Suites skills which are ever in top demand by employers.

Akano said about 40 students of the institution whose International Certificates (IC) had earlier arrived from various international IT and E-Business Technology Vendors abroad were presented with their different IC in Oracle, EC- Council Project Management, Customer Relationship Management, Multimedia/Web Design and Microsoft office suites.

Speaking at the occasion, the Vice Chancellor, Professor KA Okeleye congratulated the internationally certified students and affirmed that these extra qualifications have further boosted the future employability and entrepreneurship opportunity of the awardees.

He said the realization of the need to extend the extra quality that Crescent University has to offer humanity generally is what informed the open-door policy of the University admission system which does not discriminate against Christian youths who seek enrolment to the institution.

Daily Trust

Flood Renders 7,000 Homeless in Lagos

There was an ocean surge at the Alfa beach in Eti-Osa local council development area of Lagos state, rendering no fewer than 7,000 residents homeless.

The state government has however declared that it does not have the required resources to curtail the reoccurrence of the calamity as well as unable to ameliorate the plight of the affected Nigerians.

It has thus appealed to the federal government to wake to the responsibility, noting that the only the massive and enduring structure put in place by the state government could curb future reoccurrence of the calamity.

It would be recalled that there was similar surge about a month ago with both President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Babatunde Fashola separately visiting the place with pledges to assist the community, though with nothing meaningful coming out from the visits.

However, another ocean surge occurred two days ago, this time sweeping almost half of the whole area as it destroyed mostly the economic values of the place.

The state team comprising of the commissioners of environment, Mr. Tunji Bello and his counterpart in the waterfront infrastructure development, Prince Adesegun Oniru visited the devastated area yesterday where they lamented the plight of the people.

According to Oniru who blamed the surge on the effect of the climate change while addressing newsmen at the site, "this is a major surge; you all can see that all the tourism activities in this area have collapsed."

Asked about the lasting solution to the crisis, he said, "The answer to this place is same we did at the Lagos beach and of course we don't have such money again in Lagos; if the federal government does not respond to this, nature will not cease to wreck havoc."

Contributing, Bello said, "Lagos cannot afford to do it, only the federal government can do it because it has many and better resources including the ecological fund to attend to this kind of natural disaster."

Also addressing newsmen, the head of the community, Chief Yusuf Atewolara recalled that both President Jonathan and Fashola at different times visited them when they had similar case about a month ago, saying, "About a month ago, we had similar surge that claimed a great part of our land, the governor came while the president also visited us a week after, they hovered above us in chopper and at the end the president promised us assistance but up till now we have not received any assistance.

"But two days ago, another surge happened, this time it claimed triple what it claimed a month ago because it has destroyed the whole of the major road here; it has destroyed several million naira worth properties. We are hereby pleading with the federal government, state government and other agencies to come to our aid to save coastal areas; the whole road is gone," he decried.

Daily Champion

Related story: Video - Floodwaters submerge Lagos

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Fraudsters who conned pensioner out of £245,000 jailed

Two fraudsters who convinced a pensioner she had won a £5.7m lottery jackpot before conning her out of her life-savings were jailed for a total of 50 months today.

Joshua Obasuyi, 49, and Julius Oweka, 48, were part of a Nigerian gang who tricked U.S. Professor Marie Lowery, 80, a retired lecturer at the University of Houston, Texas, into handing over £245,000.

She was strung along by the London-based conmen for nearly four years, after responding to a spam e-mail that told her she had won the jackpot in a prize draw.

Obasuyi and Oweka were caught in May 2009 in police sting operation following a tip-off from the FBI.

Detectives found more than £66,000 duped from 'lottery winners' around the world had been paid into a bank account at the Nat West in Grays, Essex,

Judge Rosamund Horwood-Smart QC jailed Obasuyi for 30 months and Oweka for 20 months at the Old Bailey, telling them that they were obviously 'well-versed in this type of scam'.

She said.'You were both involved in fraudulent activities with others, and there is evidence of more than one victim.

'In view of Prof Lowery, who was of course vulnerable, she was taken advantage of over many years - remorselessly and without mercy.

'This type of fraud takes advantage of the hopes, dreams and gullibility of others, and is very common and very harmful to our society.'

The court heard that in April 2005, Prof Lowery received an e-mail claiming to be from the fictitious 'Great British Lottery', in which she was congratulated for winning a £5.7m jackpot.

She initially agreed to pay £180 to process her winnings, and later complied with a string of demands for greater sums to be transferred via Western Union.

Throughout the scam, she was presented with bogus certificates and court documents in an effort to convince her that the arrangement was legitimate.

In November 2008, Prof Lowery was e-mailed by a man calling himself Chris Ascuncion, who told her he was a 'claims attorney' acting on behalf of the lottery company and asked for even more money to be transferred.

After beginning to suspect that she was being defrauded, she passed the e-mail on to the FBI - who immediately recognised the scammers' methods.

She arranged with the gang to fly to London and hand over the latest payment, £,3,996 in person.

Detectives from the City of London police then tapped her phone as she spoke with Obasuyi and agreeing to meet at the Crown Plaza Hotel, near Blackfriars Bridge, central London, on May 20, 2009.

Officers pounced at the meeting and were led to Oweka through his contact with Obasuyi

They later raided the gang's office in Croydon, south London, where they found a treasure trove of kit used to carry out the frauds - including a locked briefcase containing bundles of paper with a thin layer of real US dollars on top.

Anthony Wilcken, prosecuting, said computer evidence found at the unit showed they had targeted 'hundreds' of other people, whose telephone numbers and computer passwords were recorded.

'This was undoubtedly part of the fraudster's kit,' he said.

'The documents relating to frauds of that sort were manifest and numerous.'

None of the money Prof Lowery passed on has been recovered.

Obasuyi, from Plaistow, east London, admitted conspiracy to defraud, and two counts of acquiring criminal property.

Oweka, from Croydon, south London, denied conspiracy to defraud, two counts of acquiring criminal property and possessing an article for use in fraud, but was found guilty on all charges following a trial.

Daily Mail

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Boko Haram claims responsibility for UN bombing

Islamist extremist group, Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for the UN bombing in Abuja.

A caller told the BBC on phone that it carried out the attack.

Also, another Boko Haram 'spokesman' claiming responsibility for the deadly attack said, they were guided by the wisdom of Allah.

"Through the wisdom of Allah, we have launched the attack with absolute precision," the man who identified himself as Abu Darda said in a telephone call to an AFP journalist.

"The attack was carefully scripted and executed. We have said it several times that the UN is one of our prime targets."

The veracity of his claim could not be verified."We will provide details of the martyr who carried out the suicide attack," the man said.

"More attacks are on the way, and by the will of Allah we will have unfettered access to wherever we want to attack. We have more than 100 men who are willing to lay down their lives for the cause of Allah."

The blast at about 11 a.m. left a gaping hole in the compound, which houses about 400 people working for 26 U.N. humanitarian and development agencies. It's not clear how many were present, but dozens were injured

.This marks the first attack on the U.N. by militants in Nigeria. Past attacks by Boko Haram, a group that models itself on the Afghan Taliban, have been launched on national government targets, mainly in the north. The largest previous bombing, of the police headquarters in Abuja in June, killed six.

Vanguard

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