Abdul's Blog: 12/20/17

Wednesday 20 December 2017

US pastor and wife convicted of defrauding congregation in $2m Nigerian Oil Scheme

A Virginia pastor and his wife have been convicted of defrauding members of their congregation and investors in a $2m Nigerian Oil Scheme

The couple involved in the fraud case is identified as Terry Wayne Millender, 53, a former senior pastor of Victorious Life Church in Alexandria, and his wife, Brenda Millender, 57.

President Donald Trump threatened to cut funding Wednesday to countries that vote against the United States on a motion at the United Nations condemning Washington’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

“All these nations that take our money and then vote against us at the Security Council and they vote against us potentially at the Assembly,” Trump said at the White House.

Cristiano Ronaldo raised fears he would miss the first top-flight Clasico clash of the campaign when he was absent from full training on Wednesday.

Real Madrid confirmed the star forward had "worked separately from the group" amid reports he suffered a calf injury in the Club World Cup final triumph over Gremio.

29-year-old Sevilla midfielder, Steven N’Zonzi has been pictured at Gatwick airport in the UK amid speculation he could be set for a transfer move to Arsenal.

N’Zonzi is expected to find a new club in January following a bust-up with Sevilla boss, Eduardo Berizzo during the side’s 3-3 draw with Liverpool in the Champions League.

It has been reported that for three days running, flight operations at the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) of the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos have been crippled due to the incessant power failure at the terminal.

According to SaharaReporters, virtually all the airlines operating at the terminal on Tuesday experienced flight disruptions while passengers were made to wait endlessly to check in for departure.

The Nation reports that after over six hours meeting, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday approved over N 173.45 billion for projects covering roads, power, education, water, health among other projects.

The Ministers of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, Power Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu and FCT, Mohammed Bello briefed State House correspondents at the end of FEC meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Rodrigo Alves who is known worldwide as the Human Ken Doll, and recently revealed that his plans to remove his ribs had been scuppered as doctors feared his lungs would collapse, has once again, booked himself in for another procedure as he showed-off the results of a chemical peel.

Former Arsenal defender Emmanuel Eboue has revealed that his 10-year-old son decided to join Arsenal over London rivals Chelsea – and the youngster has already been likened to Gunners legend Gilberto Silva by manager Arsene Wenger.

Manchester United star Ashley Young, Arsenal legend Robert Pires and current midfield maestro Santi Cazorla all have their sons enrolled in Arsenal’s Hale End academy and Eboue has spoken for the first time about the tough decision his son Mathis had when deciding which London-based team he wanted to play for.

Dr Boboye Oyeyemi, Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) says plans are underway to compel traffic offenders to pay one hundred thousand naira as penalty for a traffic offence.

Oyeyemi said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sideline of the Technical Working Group (TWG) on Nigeria Road Safety Strategy on Wednesday in Abuja.

Innoson Group, on Wednesday, said the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission lied in the reasons the anti-graft agency gave for the arrest of its chairman, Innocent Chukwuma.

The Innoson boss was arrested at his Enugu residence on Tuesday morning by EFCC operatives.

Grammy award-winning singer, Janet Jackson and her ex-lover Jermaine Dupri have taken one step further to reconciling, following her split from Qatari billionaire husband Wissam Al Mana.

The old flames were spotted together over the weekend at a private bash, where the singer celebrated the end of the US leg of her “State of the World” tour at STK Atlanta, according to Page Six.

Bursaspor’s Nigerian midfielder Mikel Agu is in line for a return to action for the club’s first team after scoring twice in a training match on Wednesday.

Super Eagles star Agu, who required surgery on his right knee in November, is contention for Saturday’s Turkish Super Lig home clash against Genclerbirligi.

A married couple living at no 26 Aunty Toyin street, Kodeibo Estate, Ijegun Road, Isheri Oshun, Lagos have been arrested by the Lagos state police command for sexually assaulting and violating their househelp.

The husband, Chigozie Ezeofo was accused of trying to analy penetrate Miss Blessing Joseph, 19, whenever his wife was not around.

Former Arsenal midfielder and Czech national side playmaker, Tomas Rosicky, ended his professional football career on Wednesday after years of injuries often kept him off the pitch.

Mr. Rosicky, 37, came through at Sparta Prague, where he is now also finishing his playing days.

A civil servant with Benin Owena River Basin Development Authority (BORBDA), Mr. Monday Isiorh Okoh, has been sentenced to 35 years in jail for mismanaging the agency’s N2.5 million.

Okoh, who was a Salary Officer with BORBDA was dragged before Justice E. Edigin of High Court 3, Benin City by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) for mismanaging over N2.5 million belonging to the agency through multiple bank accounts.

Angola’s state oil company (Sonagol) has announced an investigation into “possible misappropriation” of funds by Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of the former president, during her time as the company’s chief executive.

“We have established an internal commission of inquiry to investigate the information published,” Sonangol spokesman Mateus Benza said on Tuesday.

Burkina Faso is banning imports from North Korea to comply with tough UN economic sanctions punishing Pyongyang’s weapons programmes, the government said Wednesday.

The decision comes after an inquiry by the United States in October showed that Burkina Faso was still trading with North Korea despite sanctions imposed the month before.

Though the Innoson vs GTBank case is pending in court, Innoson has taken the battle to social media. There have been numerous sponsored social media campaigns against the Bank such as #BewareOfGTBank and #WhatIsWrongWithGTBank.

The company has also gone Television, with its owner, Dr Innocent Chukwuma granting an interview to TVC, where he claimed he had obtained a judgement of N8bn against the bank. He added that the bank pleaded with him over their inability to pay, and that he graciously offered to accept shares of the bank as payment.

President Muhammadu Buhari today swore in seven new permanent secretaries.
They were inaugurated inside the Council Chambers of the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja before the weekly cabinet meeting began.

Gumaro Pérez Aguilando was attending the school event in the town of Acayucan on Tuesday, when a pair of gunmen burst into the building and killed him in front of a classroom full of schoolchildren.

After receiving an envelope from the pastor of a mega church, a young Nigerian, Wilson Levinson, took to Facebook to curse everyone against tithing.

He wrote on the social media platform;

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger may have thought he had enough on his plate with a hectic Premier League Christmas schedule without having to contend with unwanted intruders at the Emirates Stadium.

It has been reported that a council investigation from 14 months ago discovered “extensive evidence of mouse activity” throughout the club’s ground – including across the hospitality levels.

A 22-year-old Ghanaian prostitute, Queen Farcadi has revealed how much she rakes in from her line of business.

During her interview with Berla Mundi on the “Late Afternoon Show” on a Ghanaian Tv she disclosed how much she earns from engaging in prostitution.

Veteran Nollywood actor and former broadcaster, Sadiq Daba is fairing well in a hospital, London Urology Associates in the United Kingdom where he has been receiving Intensive Care treatment.

A pastor whose pregnant wife was killed in November 2015 during a home invasion robbery has remarried.

Pastor Davey Blackburn, of Indianapolis, announced his new marriage on Facebook on Monday. He made the announcement with a simple bible verse and a picture from his wedding day.

The Intellectual Think Tank for Advancement Initiative (ITTA), a civil society organisation, has called on a former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to formally declare his intention to contest for president in 2019 general elections or be dragged to court.

The Chairman of the group, Mr Theophilus Ohuoba, told newsmen on Wednesday in Abuja that the time was ripe for Atiku to make public his intention to run for the position.

Police has arrested a teenager who pushed his girlfriend into the river, jumps in to drown her before begging to be rescued himself as his girlfriend escaped from his grips.

The 19-year-old Afghan asylum seeker is now facing attempted murder charges after the incident which took place at the Berlin’s Havel River.

Two top officials, according to reports have been executed by Kim Jong - Un. This is coming just five days after the mishaps at North Korea’s test missile site.One of the men executed was killed after he allegedly took responsibility for issues that arose at the Punggye-ri nuclear base, which led to the date of a rocket launch being pushed back.

Five days ago, a high-ranking official once described as the ‘second most powerful man in North Korea’ disappeared from public life, sparking speculation he too may have been executed by death squads.

A policeman in China has been hailed as a hero after using his own clothes to keep an abandoned baby warm.

The newborn, a boy, had been left abandoned in a park in Chuxiong, Yunnan, Province, on a freezing winter night.

Amaju Pinnick reckons the Super Eagles star performed very well in 2017 and should have made the final cut for the Player of the Year gong.

Nigerian Football Federation president Amaju Pinnick believes Super Eagles attacker Victor Moses did just enough to deserve a spot on the final shortlist of nominees for the prestigious CAF African Player of the Year award.

Three men have been arraigned in court for breaking into a church and stealing Bibles in Kenya.

David Mwangi Wanjira, Peter Maina Kiburi and James Kamau Njeri were accused of breaking into Wings of Life worship Centre and committing felony in Muthaiga on December 1.

Cardinal Bernard Law, who was forced to resign as archbishop of Boston in 2002 over a sex abuse scandal, has died aged 86 in Rome.

Cardinal Law was accused of having moved paedophile priests from parishes rather than confront accusations.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Tuesday, December 19, arraigned the duo of Temitope Oluwasanmi and Augustine Olayinka before Justice Mojisola Dada of the Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja on a seven-count charge bordering on conspiracy, stealing and fraudulent diversion of funds to the tune of N116m.

The first defendant, Temitope Oluwasanmi, an employee of Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) Plc, was arrested by operatives of the EFCC sometime in October 2017, following a petition received by the Commission from the bank.

Today, an Egyptian military court sentenced a colonel Ahmed Konsowa to six years in prison after he announced plans to stand in the 2018 presidential election.

Konsowa was given the jail term for “stating political opinions contrary to the requirements of military order”, his lawyer Asaad Heikal said. The colonel had announced he would be a candidate for president in video messages and a statement on Facebook on November 29.

A 25-year-old South African woman and a man from Ivory Coast were arrested for drug smuggling in two separate cases at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand.

Thai media report that Ms Nozipho Nene arrived on an Emirates flight from Dubai with a kilo of cocaine in her travel bag.

The Enugu State government has pledged wellbeing of street beggars evacuated from various parts of the state. This is pledge is coming after some beggars were arrested on Monday in various locations by the state government officials.

The action according to the Commissioner for Gender and Social Development Peace Nnaji is aimed at stamping out beggars from the streets in Enugu State, part of the vision of the Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of empowering them.

A man was allegedly arrested by police operatives for not being able to “produce receipts for the two phones on him”. According to an online report, the man was in a cab to Rivers State University for a meeting before he was allegedly arrested by officers of the “Operation Delta” Police, Mile One division in Rivers state.

An American lady, Jalecia Jennings has taken to Facebook to call for justice against her abusive ex, after he set her house on fire.

She shared photos of him and the destroyed home and wrote;

A tricycle operator, Olasunkanmi Abdul-Kareem, 42, on Tuesday in Igando, Lagos State, lost his 17-year-old marriage for raping his wife in the presence of their children many times.

Delivering judgment, the president of Igando Customary Court, Lagos, Moses Akinniyi, said the marriage between Bolanle AbdulKareem and Olasunkanmi Abdul-Kareem had been dissolved.

A female lawyer, Tolu Olaoye, has been arraigned by the Lagos State Police Command for allegedly inflicting a cut on the forehead of her maid, 15-year-old Abigail Opebiyi.

The victim lived with Olaoye on El Shaddai Crescent in the Ipaja area of the state.

Olaoye was arrested on Friday on the directive of the Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi, after a video of the assault went viral.

A 27-year-old man, Lawal Abubakar, on Tuesday told a Kubwa Grade 1 Area Court in Abuja, that a 12-year-old girl he abducted was his girlfriend.

‎Mr. Abubakar of Byazhin, Kubwa, Abuja, pleaded guilty to charges of abduction and gross indecency of a minor leveled against him, but said the girl was his girlfriend.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said the persons behind the large sums of foreign and local currencies recovered in April by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in a residential apartment at the Osborne Towers, Lagos would be sanctioned.

According to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the President spoke at the Presidential Villa, Abuja while receiving the report of a panel established to review the operational, technical and administrative structure of the National Intelligence Agency.

Abdulaziz Yari, governor of Zamfara state and chairman of Nigeria governors’ forum, says there is nothing wrong with the approval of $1 billion for the fight against insurgency.

Addressing reporters after a meeting at the presidential villa in Abuja, Yari said the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan got twice the amount approved for the current administration.

Atletico Madrid reported Barcelona to football’s governing body FIFA over illegal contact made to star forward Antoine Griezmann, Atletico club sources confirmed on Tuesday.

“The complaint has been presented for repeated contact between Barcelona, the player and his team,” an Atletico source told AFP.

Zambia's police force has scrapped plans to employ eight Chinese nationals barely 24 hours after it unveiled the scheme, following a public outcry.

The new reservists were commissioned in the capital, Lusaka, on Monday.

An 18-year old boy, Saidu Abdullahi, has been arraigned before a Katsina Senior Magistrates’ Court for allegedly having sexual intercourse with his eight-year-old sibling.

Abdullahi, a junior secondary school student, lives with his family at Jabango Quarters, Katsina.

James Faleke, running mate to late Abubakar Audu in the 2015 gubernatorial election in Kogi state, says Yahaya Bello, governor of Kogi state, is a disgrace to the state.

Faleke said this in response to the double registration controversy involving the governor.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had accused Bello of registering twice. It also sacked three of its staff which it said were involved in the act.

The Director General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons(NAPTIP), Julie Okah-Donli, has disclosed that more than 25,000 Nigerians have been held in slave and sex camps in Lybia.

Okah-Donli made this known while defending the agency’s 2018 budget before the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters on Tuesday.