Toronto sisters that blackmailed Nigerian billionaire miss court date in Nigeria

Two Toronto sisters accused of attempting to blackmail a Nigerian billionaire with claims he cheated on his wife have failed to show up for a court hearing, according to local media reports.

According to the website Politics Nigeria, Jyoti and Kiran Matharoo operated a website called NaijaGistLive. The news outlet alleged the sisters cyber-bullied several high-ranking men, including a billionaire named Femi Otedola, and accused them of cheating and seeing prostitutes.

Politics Nigeria said the sisters tried to blackmail Otedola by claiming they had evidence of him having an affair and recorded conversations of “sex romps” with politicians, club owners and businessmen.

The report said the sisters contacted the clients through a third party and demanded they pay “thousands of dollars or risk the release of the recordings/pictures/videos online through their website.”

In a video posted to YouTube on Dec. 29, the sisters apologized to Otedola and his family and said their intention was not to extort or hurt anyone.

On Wednesday, the website reported the sisters and their “Nigerian accomplice” Babatunde Oyebode a.k.a Baudex are facing extortion, cyberbullying and blackmail charges after a complaint to police by Otedola.

Politics Nigeria said the only defendant to appear in court Wednesday was Oyebode, who told presiding Justice E.A Ojo he had “no knowledge of their whereabouts.”

The judge reportedly issued a warrant for the two sisters and requested the case be transferred to the federal high court in Lagos, according to the news outlet.

“The absence of the ladies in court today has fueled rumors that the two sisters allegedly fled Nigeria silently last week,” Politics Nigeria stated.

“It is believed the sisters are still in possession of some digital copies of compromising pictures and videos of randy businessmen and politicians discovered on laptops and iPads seized from them by the Nigerian police.”

Global Affairs Canada has not yet responded to a request for comment but a spokeswoman said in a statement in December that consular services are being provided to Canadian citizens detained in Lagos, Nigeria. However, she said further details couldn’t be released due to privacy issues.

Global News hasn’t been able to independently confirm the allegations contained in the Politics Nigeria article.

Global News

Related story: Toronto sisters arrested in Lagos for allegedly cyberbullying Nigerian billionaire Femi Otedola

Toronto sisters post apology video for causing Nigeria sex scandal

Shell wins case ruling against Nigeria pollution claims

Royal Dutch Shell has won a victory before London's High Court in a case brought by Nigerian farmers and fishermen who claimed their lands were polluted by the company's actions.

Shell had argued the case should be heard in Nigeria, and the court agreed.

U.K. law firm Leigh Day promised to appeal. The lawsuits were filed by the Ogale and Bille people alleging that decades of oil spills have fouled the water and destroyed the lives of thousands of fishermen and farmers in the Niger River Delta, where a Shell subsidiary has operated since the 1950s.

They brought their fight to Shell's home base because they say the Nigerian courts are too corrupt.

AP

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Boko Haram now using babies in suicide bomb attacks in Nigeria

Islamist terror groups in Nigeria are now using female suicide bombers with babies to avoid detection before carrying out their attacks, officials have warned.

Two women carrying babies blew themselves up in the town of Madagali on 13 January, killing themselves, the infants and four others.

They passed a security checkpoint after being mistaken for civilians because they were carrying children, the BBC reports.

Two other women were stopped at a security checkpoint and detonated their explosives.

Officials told the broadcaster the use of babies could signal a "dangerous" trend.

Islamist group Boko Haram is widely suspected of being behind the attack.

The insurgent group has used scores of women and girls in suicide bombings, prompting suspicions some of those are among the many thousands they have kidnapped over the years.

In one particularly horrific example, a female suicide bomber carrying a baby on her back was shot by soldiers at a checkpoint on 28 November, detonating her explosives and killing the woman and the baby.

On New Year's Eve, a 10-year-old girl was used in a suicide bomb attack in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri.

Boko Haram's seven-year insurgency has killed more than 20,000 people, forced 2.6 million from their homes and created a massive humanitarian crisis.

Independent

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Virtual or digital currency is just emerging in Nigeria. But it's feared to be gaining traction on the back of Nigeria's troubled foreign exchange markets.