Below The Headlines - 100
Stones are back in fashion and a 419(?) deal happening in Pakistan with no Nigerians involved.
And just like that, we reach a century of this newsletter. Thank you for reading, even when the content is not always ‘uplifting’.
This week I wrote about Nigerian politicians being cynical. Water is also wet, of course.
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For the 100th time, enjoy the usual selection below!
Inside Nigeria
14 Chinese nationals will be deported from Nigeria:
A Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Friday convicted and sentenced 14 Chinese nationals for cyber-terrorism and Internet fraud.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said the suspects were part of a cybercrime syndicate busted in a sting operation in Lagos on December 19, 2024.
In a statement posted on its X handle, the anti-graft agency said the 14 were among 792 suspects arrested for alleged cryptocurrency investment and romance scams targeting Nigerians.
They were arraigned before Justice Daniel Osiagor on separate charges of cyber-terrorism and Internet fraud.
One of the charges read, “That you, Su Zong Gen, sometime in December 2024 at Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, willfully caused to be accessed computer system for the purpose of destabilising and destroying the economy and social structure of Nigeria…”
Initially pleading not guilty, the defendants later changed their plea to guilty during Friday’s proceedings.
Prosecution counsel, T.J. Banjo and M.S. Owede, urged the court to convict them accordingly, just as the defence team did not oppose the application.
Justice Osiagor sentenced each convict to one year imprisonment with an option of N1m fine.
The court also ordered that upon completion of their sentence, or payment of the fine, the convicts should be deported to China within seven days by the Nigeria Immigration Service.
Incredible story. Quite literally back to the Stone Age:
It may be shocking to see a woman in this time and age blending tomatoes with a traditional manual grinding stones instead of an electric blender or a modern manual blender.
But, the shock will quickly disappear when you hear what it takes to purchase one electric blender or what it costs an average housewife to grind a little basket of tomatoes.
In this grilling economy, nobody is ready to waste the little resources at his or her disposal.
So, a return to the cheap old ways has become the new normal.
Economy&Lifestyle discovered that the reasons are not far fetched from the high cost of living and the struggle of households to cut costs by any means.
Most of the users of this traditional grinder have it lying at home for years without use.
They patronize modern grinders as technology improves but the high cost of goods and services resulting from the deprecation of the naira makes such modern grinders more expensive, leading to importation of less expensive but low quality ones that get damaged quickly.
Mrs. Alele Johnson, a petty trader, said she uses a traditional manual grinder for almost every grinding of food items she does including tomatoes.
A story I found interesting. Unlikely to be sustained given the way state capacity works in Nigeria but a good effort nonetheless:
Condoms, injection and implant are the three major family planning methods commonly used among clients in Kwara State in the last three years.
Speaking at a media roundtable on family planning in Ilorin on Thursday, tagged Kwara Family Planning Progress: Sustaining Partnerships for Lasting Impacts, the State Programme Manager (SPM), Dr Wale Adefila, said that the state recorded an additional 17,592 new users of family planning.
Represented by Mr Folusho Oyewale, Dr Adefila said that TCI has injected over N45 million from 2022 to 2025 into family planning, adding that it has trained 65 master trainers and over 100 nurses and midwives for effective family planning activities in the state.
As the TCI winds down in the state, Adefila identified stockouts, user fee charges in private hospitals, insecurity in some parts of the state, and method preference among clients as some of the challenges encountered during their three years of operation in Kwara State.
One thing that makes my blood boil is just how nonchalant and careless people in Nigeria are with public infrastructure and markings. It contributes to the things never having buy-in from the public. The Kogi governor recently commissioned what he called a ‘smart’ police station. Click the link and look at the photo of the building. This is not a problem that more money will solve. It is a problem of care:
The Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo, on Wednesday commissioned a state-of-the-art Smart Divisional Police Headquarters in Ekirin-Ade, Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi State.
The facility, built by the Nigeria Police Trust Fund, features modern tools, digital surveillance systems, and infrastructure to enhance policing.
During the ceremony, Governor Ododo said, “Today, we are not just commissioning a police station, we are unveiling a Smart Police Facility equipped with modern tools, digital surveillance systems, and infrastructure that reflects the future of policing.” He expressed gratitude to the Nigeria Police Trust Fund for the laudable intervention and commended the Executive Secretary, Mr Femi Mohammed Sheidu, for his dedication to improving security in Kogi State.
Do criminals name themselves after their criminal heroes as well? Intriguing:
Youths from the Yaikyo area of Makurdi, Benue State capital, have apprehended a notorious criminal identified as Anini at a local supermarket in the state capital.
The suspect was caught on the night of Thursday, June 26, 2025, during a heavy downpour at Agbatse Supermarket, located behind Jesical Filling Station in the Yaiko axis of Makurdi.
The arrest was executed by the Yaikyo community security team, led by youth leader Mr. Frank Igbakua.
Immediately after his arrest, the suspect was handed over to Operation Zenda, a special unit of the Nigeria Police Force, for further investigation and prosecution.
Community members have praised the swift and fearless action of the youths, describing it as a step forward in the ongoing efforts to rid Makurdi and its environs of criminal elements.
Amazing story here. The NSUBEB Chairman may have saved some children’s lives:
Few days after revocation of Contract for the building of Smart school quarters, the building has collapsed in Lafia after a rainfall.
The Board noted that the Contract for the building of Smart School quarters in Lafia was earlier awarded by the previous administration of the Nasarawa State Universal Basic Education Board, NSUBEB,l under the leadership of Mr. Dan’Azimi.
The new NSUBEB chairman, Mohammed Kassim, who decided to embark on a tour to inspect sites of contracts, discovered the building fell short of standard following poor execution.
Dr. Kassim, who was dissatisfied with the standard of the work, ordered that the work be suspended immediately and invited the contractor to meet him immediately at the site.
However, the contractor failed to appear; a few days later, the building collapsed.
Incredible things are happening:
A 46-year-old Nigerian woman who tearfully opened up about “remaining a virgin” and her lifelong struggle to find love has now received multiple marriage proposals, including from suitors abroad.
In a recent viral interview, the woman, whose identity remains private, spoke about her loneliness despite being “hardworking and independent” since her youth.
She revealed that she has faced constant rejection and isolation. She also shared her desire for a romantic partner.
“I am 46 years old. I have never had sex. If there’s anything you can use to test me, you can do it,” she had said.
“I am not the one pursuing the men away from me. I am selling goods. I do not like following men all around, but I do know how to run after men. Three years ago, I discovered that men see me as an aged woman.
“When children see me, they call me grandma. I noticed that it was becoming too much. That is why I am here for you to help me.”
However, in an update on Kokoro Alate — the same Agidigbo FM programme where the woman first shared her plea for companionship — host and CEO Oriyomi Hamzat revealed that potential suitors have come forward from Nigeria, the United States and London.
Outside Nigeria
A very bizarre sounding story that may end in accusations of 419. Because, as far as I’m aware (and I’ve asked), Gazprom do not currently own any oil blocks in Nigeria (emphasis mine):
Russia has offered Pakistan stakes in its oil and gas fields in Nigeria, a move that will help secure energy supplies and ease pressure on foreign exchange.
Russian energy giant Gazprom wants Pakistan's largest oil and gas explorer – Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) – to enter into joint ventures in its overseas oil and gas exploration projects.
At present, Pakistan produces 15% of crude oil locally whereas remaining needs are met through expensive imports that build pressure on foreign exchange reserves.
Earlier, Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) tried to explore oil and gas in Iraq but that venture did not yield any result. Now, a Pakistani delegation, led by Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik, which is on a visit to Russia, has informed Moscow that Pakistan is interested in getting stakes in the fields that are already being developed to avoid risks.
Ali Pervaiz Malik, who had replaced former petroleum minister Musadik Malik, was keen to address issues of oil and gas sectors. OGDCL Managing Director Ahmed Hayat Lak is also part of the delegation.
Sources told The Express Tribune that the petroleum minister held a meeting with the chief executive officer of Gazprom, a Russian company responsible for overseas investment in oil and gas fields.
During the meeting, the CEO of Gazprom offered Pakistan's petroleum minister to form joint ventures between OGDCL and Gazprom in those fields which were being operated by the Russian company outside Pakistan and Russia.
At present, Gazprom is operating in different countries such as Bangladesh, Vietnam and Nigeria. He informed the Pakistani side that OGDCL could enter into a joint venture with Gazprom in any field.
[…]
According to sources, Gazprom offered the petroleum minister to buy stakes in a developed hydrocarbon block in Nigeria, where no risk was involved. It proposed that Gazprom, a Nigerian state-owned company and OGDCL could become partners in that field.
From Time Magazine’s list of 100 most influential companies for 2025:
Ninety percent of Nigeria’s 40 million small and medium-sized enterprises operate in the informal economy, relying on cash payments and facing barriers to credit and growth. Africa’s fastest-growing fintech, and the continent’s fourth fastest-growing company overall, Moniepoint provides these businesses with a range of banking services, helping them emerge from the shadow economy. “For us, ‘financial inclusion’ isn’t just a buzzword—it’s the difference between survival and growth,” says CEO and cofounder Tosin Eniolorunda. With over 10 million customers (including both businesses and individuals), the Nigeria-based startup enables most of the country’s point-of-sale transactions—over 1 billion transactions monthly. The decade-old company achieved unicorn status last fall, with investors including Visa and Google’s Africa Investment Fund, recently received approval to acquire a 78% stake in Kenyan bank Sumac, and plans to expand to the rest of Africa.
The Economist covers the spate of killings of farmers in central Nigeria:
Those lucky enough to be light sleepers knew exactly what to do once they heard the gunshots: run. For the people squatting in the church, the school and the market stalls of Yelewata, a village in central Nigeria, the rainy night of June 13th was not the first time they had been attacked. After the gunshots came the raids; then, arson. Amnesty International reckons more than 100 people were gunned down, butchered and set ablaze that night.
Raids on villages are a common part of the long-running conflict over land between nomadic herders and settled farmers in Nigeria, especially across its border with the Sahel. Yet in recent years they have become more frequent and deadly.
Competition over resources has intensified and become enmeshed with banditry and, sometimes, jihadism. Successive governments have failed to quell the violence, which has displaced some 1.5m people in Benue, the state in which Yelewata is located and which is known as the breadbasket of Nigeria.
Land disputes between herders, who tend to be Muslims, and farmers, who are more likely to be Christians, go back decades. They have been worsening since the 2010s, as a combination of climate change and population growth has put more pressure on land. Climate-change-induced desertification across northern Nigeria and neighbouring countries in the Sahel, combined with a growing number of settled farmers in central Nigeria, has reduced the amount of land available for grazing. Longer rains have also made the lush lands of Nigeria’s middle belt more desirable.
News about Romance Scams:
A woman from St. Louis County faces up to 20 years in prison for her role in a one-million-dollar Nigerian romance scam.
Shirley Waller, 43, pleaded guilty to multiple charges in court today, which included one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and use of an assumed name to commit mail fraud.
The Nigerian romance scam resulted in an estimated loss of $1 million for victims, as Waller would assist the scammers.
Court documents revealed that a 71-year-old victim tipped investigators after she sent over $35,000 to Waller’s home, unaware it was part of a romance scam. Detectives reported that various Nigerian IP addresses tracked the cash in less than 24 hours.
The case’s detectives believed that Waller’s house received over 70 Express Mail packages within 60 days.
Upon obtaining a search warrant for Waller’s home, officials found an abundance of mail from various victims, primarily sent from elderly individuals.
According to prosecutors, Waller would transfer the victims’ money to Nigeria electronically, such as through cryptocurrency. Prosecutors even say that Waller falsely applied for a loan for $19K, suggesting she was a business owner in Michigan.
When she received the funds, Waller would send them to various countries, including Ghana, Germany and Jamaica.
Staying on the same topic somewhat:
Nigeria’s financial crimes agency says a man who tried to blackmail a Surrey teenager by posting his intimate images online has been sentenced to prison terms totalling 76 years.
RCMP have said that the boy’s sudden death in 2023 came after he fell victim to “financial sextortion.”
Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission says in social media posts that Olukeye Adedayo faced 18 charges, including possession and distribution of child pornography, attempted extortion by threats and money laundering.
It says Adedayo set up an Instagram account using the boy’s name to distribute the images, which the RCMP said the 14-year-old thought he sent to a teenage girl in an online interaction that was over within minutes.
The Nigerian agency says Adedayo pleaded not guilty to all counts but a judge convicted him of all charges and sentenced him last Thursday.
Very nice piece with good photos on Nigerian furniture designers adding cultural touches to their designs:
For three years, a peculiar pivot has happened within Nigeria’s burgeoning design culture – a trend of designers, both emerging and established, looking to the zeitgeist of 70s-90s, or even pre-colonial Nigeria, for inspiration. Within furniture and textile design particularly, rather than attempting to fit into global trends, creatives are embracing their own heritage and identity more than ever before, using local materials found in their environment and constructing furniture pieces inspired by culturally relevant symbols or artefacts (masquerade, cosmology, and ritualistic objects in their culture) and even childhood memories. While their reasons lie in asserting their identity, their effort in building a visual language is made to tackle the idea that innovation only comes from the West.
These creatives are actively gaining inspirations from passed-down stories, or traditions they can interweave with their modern design interface, to make very conscious designs that appear extraordinary and functional at the same time.
This trend is gaining traction particularly at Design Week Lagos, an annual festival founded by Titi Ogufere in 2019 that celebrates West African designs across disciplines such as architecture, interior design, industrial design, furniture, graphics, and technology, positioning Lagos as a global design capital.
A group of 4 astronauts left earth on Wednesday for a space station for the first time to carry out research on behalf of 31 countries:
The Ax-4 research complement includes around 60 scientific studies and activities representing 31 countries, including the U.S., India, Poland, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Nigeria, UAE, and nations across Europe. This will be the most research and science-related activities conducted on an Axiom Space mission aboard the International Space Station to date, underscoring the mission's global significance and collaborative nature to advance microgravity research in low-Earth orbit (LEO).
Unique to this mission, there is a strong focus on scientific portfolios led by countries represented on the Ax-4 mission, to include the U.S., India, Poland in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA), and Hungary. The mission is set to enhance in-country participation in these countries by engaging a broad spectrum of stakeholders. This effort aims to showcase the value and opportunities in microgravity research, fostering international collaboration and scientific advancement. The studies will contribute to the global knowledge base in human research, Earth observation, and life, biological, and material sciences, showcasing the space research capabilities of the crew’s home nations.
Axiom Space (More here - NYT)
By day this same Edikan fella ran a luxury car concierge service. Instagram page here:
A 33-year-old Houston man has been taken into custody for his role in a large-scale business email compromise and money laundering scheme, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.
Authorities have arrested Edikan Adiakpan who is expected to make his initial appearance at 2 p.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter Bray.
A federal grand jury in Houston returned a three-count indictment June 11 charging Adiakpan with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy and illegal money transmission. The indictment alleges that in 2021, Adiakpan and co-conspirators carried out a business email compromise scheme targeting companies in at least eight states, including a California research group focused on developing treatments for U.S. veterans.
Victims received “spoofed” emails that appeared to come from known suppliers and creditors, according to the charges. They were allegedly tricked into sending payments to bank accounts the fraudsters controlled instead of the actual suppliers.
The charges further allege the conspirators laundered the funds by quickly transferring the money between multiple bank accounts they controlled. They then allegedly converted the funds into cashier’s’ checks. Adiakpan allegedly cashed the checks and kept a percentage as a fee.
Another Nigerian citizen, Ayobami Omoniyi, 26, was previously charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud as part of the same scheme and is awaiting sentencing before U.S District Judge Andrew S. Hanen.
If convicted, Adiakpan faces up to 20 years in federal prison on the conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy charges and up to five years for the illegal money transmitting. Each conviction carries a possible $250,000 maximum fine.
United States Attorney’s Office
A team goes around Manchester looking for rogue landlords who rent out their properties in poor condition. This part of the story caught my eye:
In 2020 Awaab Ishak, a two-year-old boy, died in Rochdale from a respiratory condition caused by exposure to mould in his home. Labour’s Renters’ Rights Bill, which has passed through the Lords and could become law by July, includes Awaab’s Law, which would set a legal deadline by which landlords are required to fix serious health hazards.
At the hotel, the mother, Adetoun, 37, waves us inside the room with a wide smile. She is living in the room, which has two double beds, with her daughters, Sofia, 18, Dara, 15, and Ademide, 3, who cheerfully pushes a pink scooter around the room, excited to see visitors.
Adetoun, originally from Nigeria, claimed asylum in 2018 after being rescued from a human trafficking gang who wanted to use her for sex work. She lived in Blackpool, then found a rental house in Wigan being advertised online for £995 a month and moved there in March last year with her children.
“There was damp and mould but I thought it would be OK,” she says of the Wigan property. “Then Ademide kept getting infections in her lungs. She was coughing and very short of breath. We would go to A&E at the Royal Bolton Hospital in the middle of the night because of her breathing.”
Adetoun shows me a picture of Ademide’s former bedroom in the house where they lived for 15 months. The wall next to her bed is covered in thick clumps of black mould. “I told the landlord but he did nothing. I was trying to heat up the house to get rid of the damp and I told him, ‘The wall is sweating.’”
Eventually, Adetoun contacted Wigan council using an online complaint form, which Tonge’s team received on April 30 — they immediately carried out a housing inspection. Eight days later, the family were moved. Wigan council is paying for the hotel.
Temitayo Ogunbiyi is staging her first museum exhibition in the US:
“Play” is a concept that’s universal yet sadly lacking in our daily lives. An indispensable part of childhood, not just for diversion but for healthy development, the recreation of youth wanes with age as more “serious” pursuits replace it: education, work, romance. But the 41-year-old Lagos, Nigeria-based artist Temitayo Ogunbiyi is working to change that. Her first museum exhibition in the U.S., “You will wonder if we would have been friends,” currently on view at the Noguchi Museum, features a selection of her sculptures and drawings that provides a brief but illustrative overview of her mission.
Installed across several of the Noguchi’s first-floor galleries and garden, which feature a permanent display of the modernist biomorphism that made the museum’s namesake sculptor and designer, Isamu Noguchi, famous, the show opens with Ms. Ogunbiyi’s most grabbing works. Sinuous bronze sculptures snake around Noguchi’s basalt monoliths. Inspired by both her life in Nigeria and her time spent with his archives, these delicate forms seem ready to leap into motion while they mingle seamlessly with the carefully placed works with which they commune. The heft of Noguchi’s igneous pillars makes the thin tubing of Ms. Ogunbiyi’s pieces feel even more evanescent. The undulating sections of her works—which were wrapped in a palm fiber commonly used in and around Lagos before being cast—are set in bases that draw from Noguchi’s biography: a sink from his studio, a straw pillow he collected on his travels, his ubiquitous Akari lamps.
Been a while we caught up with news from India:
A 41-year-old Nigerian, Sarah Kumama,was arrested in Bengaluru in connection with a transnational cocaine supply ring that has led to the arrest of 25 people in Tamil Nadu since Jan.Police said Sarah, who also went by the aliases "Happiness" and "Blessings", was taken into custody by a special team. She was a key link in the distribution chain which has networks across multiple cities, including Chennai, Bengaluru, and Mumbai.The crackdown began on Jan 25 with the arrest of Fayaz Ahmed, 31, of Royapettah, and S Chandrasekar, 35, of Koyambedu. Both were caught with cocaine by a joint team from the Anti-Narcotics Intelligence Unit and Choolaimedu police. Fayaz has a murder case pending against him.
Other related arrests include Nigerian nationals Eko Nathanial Chibuzor from Mumbai and Ebere Moses Obogodo from Bengaluru in March. Police said Nathanial was one of the key suppliers to Chennai-based peddlers. Pub DJ Julian Dishan, 33, and bar manager M Arunraj, 29, were arrested for allegedly distributing cocaine at a Nungambakkam establishment. Four individuals under the age of 21 were also on the accused list.