Nigerian man, 50, extradited from Canada to face U.S. fraud charges for alleged sweepstakes scam

A Nigerian citizen living in Canada was extradited to the United States on Thursday to face federal charges after allegedly taking part in a scheme to defraud thousands of victims of hundreds of millions of dollars.

American investigators allege the 50-year-old man was part of a conspiracy to run a fraudulent "sweepstakes" scheme designed to steal a total of $300 million U.S. The alleged fraudsters were able to defraud their victims of a total of $900,000 U.S.

A federal grand jury indictment, returned in September 2018, charges the man with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Each count upon conviction calls for up to 20 years in federal prison.

According to the indictment, the defendants carried out their sweepstakes scheme from 2012 to 2016.

Elderly victims targeted

The man allegedly purchased lists of elderly potential victims and their addresses from an email service provider. He and other conspirators based in the Toronto area, sent packages containing fraudulent sweepstakes information to conspirators living in the U.S.

The packages contained thousands of mailers, which the U.S.-based conspirators sent to victims notifying them that they had won a sweepstakes contest.

Each mailer included a fraudulent cheque issued in the name of the victim, usually in the amount of $8,000, and a pre-addressed envelope.

Victims were instructed to deposit the cheque into their bank account, immediately withdraw between $5,000 and $7,000 dollars in cash or money orders and send the money to a "sweepstakes representative" to facilitate the victim collecting his or her prize.

By the time the victim was notified by the bank that the deposited cheque was fraudulent, the cash or money order had been sent by the victim and received by alleged conspirators.

The man, who remains in federal custody pending his initial appearance in Austin, Texas Friday afternoon, is one of eight defendants charged in connection with this scheme.

Despite the fact that the man was living in Canada, U.S. special agents were able to track him down — something they attribute to their strong relationships with international law enforcement agencies.

CBC

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The Hushpuppis And Nigeria’s Image

Nigeria's wet markets thrive despite coronavirus pandemic

Just a few months after Epe Fish Market was under lockdown to stem the spread of the new coronavirus, vendors at the site in the southern Nigerian state of Lagos are back buying, selling and trading animals.

A vendor descales an endangered pangolin with a machete. Nearby, grasscutter rodents are skinned. Most of the sellers wear masks.

Experts say COVID-19, which has killed around 1,000 people in Nigeria, jumped from animals to humans, possibly at a wet market in China. But few in Epe were worried.

"We are not afraid of it because the coronavirus is not inside the meat," said vendor Kunle Yusaf. "We do eat the meat, even during this coronavirus, and we do not have any disease."

University of Cambridge epidemiologist Dr Olivier Restif called for more education around safe animal trade and hygiene.

"We're very concerned with the risk that it poses," he said of markets where live animals are kept in close quarters. But he warned that simply banning markets could alienate people and drive trade underground.

The WWF International wildlife charity said the pandemic "should be a wake-up call." But the booming trade at Epe illustrated unchanged attitudes despite the nearly 800,000 killed worldwide by the virus.

Nigeria is also a hub for illegal wildlife trade to Asia.

Nigeria's National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) did not respond to requests for comment.

The WWF said the economic strain of the pandemic has sapped conservation budgets in many countries.

Chinedu Mogbo, founder of Green Fingers Wildlife Conservation Initiative, a wildlife sanctuary near Epe, hopes to encourage Nigerians to cut bushmeat consumption and avoid animal-based traditional medicine, which can fuel the unhygienic animal handling that can aid virus transmission.

"I believe they will appreciate them more, coming up close to see them," Mogbo said.

By Angela Ukomadu and Libby George

The Chronicle Herald

Armed fighters take hundreds hostage in Nigeria's Borno state

Armed fighters have taken hundreds of hostages in a northeast Nigerian town where residents had only just returned after fleeing their homes, residents and militia sources said on Wednesday.

The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) group, a splinter group of Boko Haram, overran the town of Kukawa in Borno state late on Tuesday, the sources told the AFP news agency.

They seized residents who had returned to the town in a government operation on August 2, after spending nearly two years in displacement camps, said Babakura Kolo, head of a local militia.

"The terrorists attacked the town in 22 trucks around 4:00 pm (16:00 GMT) yesterday and engaged soldiers guarding the town in a fierce battle," he said.

Kukawa's residents had returned to their homes just 16 days earlier under military escort, on the orders of the Borno state authorities.

They had been living in camps in the regional capital Maiduguri, 180km (120 miles) away, where they fled following a bloody attack in November 2018.

A town chief who accompanied the residents to the town said the people had returned with the hope of cultivating their farmlands "only to end up in the hands of the insurgents".

"We don't know what they would do to them but I hope they don't harm them," said the chief, who asked not to be identified for safety reasons.
Squalid refugee camps

A security source who confirmed the incident to AFP said fighter jets were deployed from Maiduguri on Wednesday to "tackle the situation", but did not give further details.

The decade-long conflict in northeastern Nigeria has forced more than two million people out of their homes, most of them from the northern part of Borno.

Many have moved into squalid displacement camps in Maiduguri, where they rely on handouts from international charities.

In the last two years, local authorities have been encouraging the displaced to return home, despite concern by international charities that this is not safe.

Residents have been returned to five major towns since 2018, where they are confined under military protection, with trenches dug around to try to fend off attacks.

Despite the fortifications, the armed fighters have continued to launch attacks.

Since 2009, Boko Haram has been carrying out attacks in Nigeria and neighbouring countries in the Lake Chad region, with no signs of slowing down despite counterattacks by a joint multinational force across borders.

Boko Haram has been responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people and the abduction of thousands of others, including hundreds of schoolgirls from Chibok in 2014.

In 2015, Boko Haram split, giving way to the formation of ISWAP, which has pledged allegiance to the ISIL (ISIS) group.

Since then, ISWAP has also gone on a spree of violence, attacking government forces and carrying out abductions and extortions.

The key strongholds of the armed groups are located in southern and southwestern regions of Lake Chad, the confluence of the borders of four African states - Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Al Jazeera

Nigeria gets first electric motorcycles

MAX.ng, a motorcycle-hailing and delivery service provider, has introduced its MAX Series M1 fleet of electric motorcycles in Nigeria.

The motorcycles were launched in Ogun State to ease transportation and boost economic activities in the state.

Chief Executive Officer, MAX.ng, Adetayo Bamiduro said the introduction of the electric motorcycles was in line with the firm’s commitment to make mobility safe, affordable and sustainable.

He said MAX.ng’s electric motorcycles had been in the works for over two years, culminating in a successful pilot after which improved models of the motorcycles were deployed.

According to him, MAX.ng is in partnership with Rubitec Nigeria Limited, a renewable energy company, to provide charging stations for the motorcycles.

He explained that the electric motorcycles use a battery-swap model that allows riders replace their depleted batteries with fully charged ones with the process taking less than five minutes, thus eliminating the wait-time for fueling traditional combustion engine motorcycles.

He noted that although in partnership with Asian and European partners, including Yamaha and Breakthrough Africa, the MAX M1 is an indigenous electric motorcycle, the first in the country.

Chief Executive Officer, Rubitec Nigeria Limited, Mr. Bolade Soremekun said MAX.ng has consistently shown that it is a company that takes its social responsibility seriously, in line with Rubitec’s desire to improve the standards of living of people in its communities and beyond.

“I am thrilled that this is happening here in Nigeria, especially considering the epileptic nature of power supply. It just shows that with innovation, we can overcome almost any challenge,” Soremekun said.

Baale of Gbamu-Gbamu community, Chief Kehinde Adekunle, expressed appreciation on behalf of the community.

He said Gbamu-Gbamu was a trading community, but the market people had always had issues transporting their goods to major markets due to the high cost of transportation.

He noted that the MAX electric motorcycles would enable the traders to move their goods faster and at a reduced cost which would allow them to make more profit.

Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer, MAX.ng, Mr Chinedu Azodoh said the key advantages of electric motorcycles are beyond cost implications.

“They are more durable and cost-effective when compared to combustion-engine motorcycles and are therefore easier to maintain. Electric motorcycles are also eco-friendly and MAX.ng’s motorcycles have the added prestige of being manufactured in Nigeria for Nigerians,” Azodoh said.

He said MAX.ng is working with different partners to roll out electric vehicles into the Nigerian market and with the successful launch and deployment of the MAX Series M1, the company intends to mass-produce the vehicles with a target of reaching thousands over the next one year period.

The Nation

Nigerians land scholarships abroad. Now they are stranded as their government fails to pay the money

When Nigerian student Mercy Eyo landed a foreign postgraduate scholarship in July 2019, she had just lost her father. A year earlier, her mother had passed away.

She was elated about the prospect of starting a master's degree in global health care management at Coventry University, in the United Kingdom, with a scholarship from a Nigerian government agency.
"I was super excited ... I felt it was a consolation that would change my life forever," Eyo said.

"It was that one little time I had hope in the Nigerian dream," she told CNN, "because I wanted to return home afterward to offer what I had to the society."

Living hand-to-mouth
 
However, that dream has turned into a nightmare for Eyo who said she is now living a hand-to-mouth existence and awaiting scholarship funds that have failed to arrive 12 months later.

Eyo, from Bonny Island, southeastern Nigeria, is one of more than 200 students who landed a scholarship through Nigeria's Niger Delta Development Commission in 2019.

CNN has seen a scholarship letter dated July 29, email exchanges between her and the awarding body and scanned copies of the letters she sent to the commission in December 2019 requesting funds to process her travel arrangements.

She was told to make her way abroad and the money would later follow, but despite selling her laptops, phones and other valuable properties, Eyo wasn't able to raise her travel funds and visa processing fees and lost her place at the UK's Coventry University.

She remains in Nigeria with no signs of the funds promised to her.
"These are things that make me cry sometimes or feel depressed," Eyo told CNN.

Other scholarship students from Nigeria that CNN spoke to were able to make their way abroad. But they are also still waiting for the promised funds.

They told CNN that their emails and correspondence with the agency have been mostly ignored since September 2019.

The scholars are scattered in various universities across the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada.

Andrew Saba is studying for a master's degree in public health at the University of Aberdeen.
"I don't know the worth of a Nigerian life to the people in power. I feel betrayed by Nigeria ... I can't understand how a country can abandon her brightest of minds in a foreign land. I can't relate to priorities of the country," said Saba.

"I am disappointed. It is supposed to be a joyful thing to get a scholarship from your country. Numerous countries give their citizens scholarship... but ours require extra activism to work. This is not how it should be."

The students said they are going through a lot of hardship due to a lack of funds and are unable to engage in menial jobs to survive because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Each masters' scholar is owed $30,000, while the PhD students are owed $90,000, which runs for the duration of their three-year program.

Others say they live on charity from family at home and friends abroad, while looking for new jobs to start paying their debts and bills.

Some of them have been told by their universities that their graduation isn't possible until their debts are paid.

In May, after growing pressure, the agency paid a "take-off" grant of around $1,290. This was an initial payment that was supposed to help the students with their initial visa processing and traveling costs last year.

Protests in UK 
 
Students recently held protests at the Nigerian High Commission Office in London. The protesters caught the attention of President Muhammadu Buhari who, on August 4, ordered the NDDC to immediately pay the outstanding sums owed to the students stranded across the globe.

The NDDC promised to pay the fees by the end of that week, adding that the death of the executive director of finance as well as the coronavirus pandemic was responsible for the delay in paying their fees.

"President Buhari ... has ordered that all stops be pulled to pay the students by the end of this week. We expect a new (executive director of finance) to be appointed this week. As soon as that is done, they would all be paid," the statement released on August 4 by Charles Odili, NDDC director of corporate affairs, said.

So far, none of the students CNN spoke to has received their outstanding payment.
CNN has contacted NDDC to find out why the payments to the students has still not been made two weeks after the President's order. The NDDC has not yet responded to the request for comment.

The scholarship program was developed to fund the study of marginalized young people from Nigeria's oil-rich Delta region in studies that could aid its development.

Despite accounting for 70% of Nigeria government revenue, the Niger Delta remains impoverished and faces numerous challenges such as oil spills, gas flares and vandalism.
The NDDC was established to drive the development of the region.

Corruption probe
 
The NDDC agency is currently embroiled in a multimillion-dollar corruption probe. Nigeria's President Buhari has ordered a forensic audit of the commission's activities from 2001 to 2019 after it was unable to account for around $209 million spent in less than a year.

Kemebradikumo Pondei, the acting managing director of NDDC last month appeared to faint while taking questions from Nigeria's lawmakers on how the agency spent around $100 million in the past few months.

While responding to questions on the students' scholarships and other incidents of unaccounted spending, he slumped, causing chaos in the room and forcing the investigative hearing to be stopped temporarily.

After the hearing the NDDC issued a statement saying that Pondei had been ill and had attended the hearing against his doctor's advice. Critics have suggested the incident was a ploy to thwart the probe.
It has not resumed since, although the agency was ordered to repay funds, according to local media reports.

Impact of pandemic
 
The events at the hearing have become the subject of memes and jokes among Nigerians.
But life is no joke for some of the students stranded abroad without the money promised for their fees and upkeep.

John Essien was a medical doctor in Nigeria and is now studying a for a master's in health economics and health policy at the University of Birmingham in the UK.

Essien said he sold properties and took loans to fund his overseas travel after delays in securing his scholarship money before he left Nigeria in September 2019.

"I knew previous scholars faced delays in getting paid. But I wasn't expecting it to exceed three months. When it did, I realized I wasn't prepared for what was to come," he told CNN.

Three months of waiting passed and his debts rose, Essien said. He was forced to rely on friends for money to eat and pay his rent.

In December 2019 he got a part-time job as a dishwasher with a company in Birmingham.

At various points, he said he has worked as a receptionist, porter, carpenter, bartender, and crowd control officer at Premier League soccer match venues.

Essien said he has been in contact with the other Nigerian students who received scholarships from the NDDC.

They all have tales of severe hardship. One of the students contracted Covid-19 while working as a carer in a home, another one has also had access to the school's student portals blocked for non-payment of fees.

Essien said this month he narrowly escaped eviction from his apartment after missing his payment deadline by more than 20 days.

The huge economic impact of the pandemic also means that his former means of income have dried up. "With less than one pound in my account, how do I continue begging around? Why should I deal with this kind of mental pressure?" he asked.

CNN