Below The Headlines - 108
Is an Adamawa girls trip now a crime? And Nigerian Yahoo Boys have inspired another book
Welcome to another week of stories about the shenanigans (and sometimes not) that Nigerians in Nigeria and around the world got up to.
This week on the ‘Reader, I tried to introduce a new framework for understanding how the Nigerian economy works and why economic incentives are badly broken. Tobi issued another call for 10% Less Mediocrity in Nigeria as relates to food security.
And the Frontier Matters podcast returned with a guest - Odun Eweniyi. She had some super interesting insights on the intersection of money and culture in Nigeria. It’s on course to be our most popular episode so far. Go have a listen!
Enjoy the week’s selection and see you next Saturday
Nigerian Media
A girls trip in Adamawa seems to have caused a fuss. Can the girlies not take a trip out of the group chat anymore?
Tension is brewing in Adamawa State following the decision of the local government chairmen to send their wives on a leadership training trip to Istanbul, Turkey.
The 21 wives, along with some senior officials of the Ministry of Local Government, reportedly departed the country last week for the programme, a move that has sparked outrage among workers and retirees who described it as wasteful and insensitive.
The Chairman of Toungo Local Government and state chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, Suleiman Toungo, confirmed the trip.
He defended the initiative, noting that council chairmen themselves had benefited from similar overseas training two months earlier.
“We did our training two months ago, so I do not see anything wrong in our wives going for training outside the country,” Toungo told The PUNCH. “They are our wives and we need their advice. We are looking at the importance of training them on leadership, not the cost.”
The State of Nigerian Education Update - a journalist was able to secure teaching jobs using fake certificates he obtained from Oluwole Market. A well written report I might add:
In 2005, operatives of the Nigeria Police, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the State Security Service raided the forgers’ den. The then Inspector-General of Police, Sunday Ehindero, told journalists that the joint security team recovered over 40,000 Nigerian passports, 1,500 foreign passports, including the United States and Switzerland’s, 10,000 blank British Airways tickets, 50,000 cheque leaves of foreign banks, about 10,000 US Postal Money Orders, blank certificates of occupancy, bills of lading, 500 printing plates and 500 computers.
Others were forged bank account statements, stamps and seals of government bodies, blank marriage certificates, death certificates, certificates of incorporation and International driver’s licences. Ehindero paraded 115 suspects arrested during the clampdown.
Undeterred, the ‘boys’ returned to work after a while, prompting the Lagos State Government to demolish structures they used to perpetuate their illicit activities in 2007. A modern commercial edifice labelled Oluwole Urban Mall was built on the same spot.
Expectedly, three days to the deadline, on a Wednesday, one of the editors reminded me of the story. When it became clear she wouldn’t budge how hard I tried to explain the story idea away, I began to ruminate on fresh angles to explore.
I thought of procuring a West African Examinations Council (WAEC) certificate, a degree and a National Youth Service Corps discharge certificate and using them to apply for a teaching job, considering how teachers can make or mar children’s educational development. “But can they truly be presented to employers without being flagged?” I imagined, yet optimistic I had found a lead.
[…]
During a random online search for private schools, I stumbled on the phone number of Mrs Temitope Sowole, the proprietor of Westlake Schools — touted as a “Nigerian British standard school” — on Sunmola Street, Mende, Maryland, in the Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos.
I phoned Sowole on July 8, asking if the school needed a teacher. “I studied economics and can teach the English language, Social Studies and Civic Education and Economics,” I declared. She asked if I had taught English before, and I answered in the affirmative.
The proprietor consequently told me to send my CV to her via WhatsApp. I did the following day, but didn’t hear from her again until August 19 when she asked that I resend my CV. I was then scheduled for a job interview at the school at 9am on Thursday, August 21.
On the morning of that day, she directed me to the school head, one Mrs Okolie and promised to join us later. A chubby woman who seems to be in her 50s, Okolie received me warmly at about 8.50 am. I gave her both the fake certificates and their photocopies. After checking, she returned the ‘original’ forged copies and told me to write a 250-word essay on why I wanted to join the school. A brief interview followed and she promised to get back to me.
Sowole, who was unable to attend the interview session, called on September 4, informing me that I had been employed and should resume work in four days. She forwarded an appointment letter to me through WhatsApp shortly after I had requested proof of employment.
“Dear Mr Babajide, we are pleased to offer you employment as a teacher with Westlake Schools. Your appointment takes effect from Tuesday [sic] 08/09/2025. Your total monthly salary will be N60,000 payable at the end of each month,” the letter signed by Sowole reads in part.
A traditional monarch intervenes in the world of content creation:
The Eselu of Iselu Kingdom in Yewa North local government area of Ogun State, Oba Akintunde Akinyemi has called for the arrest of a Nigerian content creator over her plan to attempt a Guinness World Record (GWR) for the highest number of sexual partners in one day.
The traditional ruler, made the call in an open letter addressed to the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Sanwo-Olu, copy of which was made available to newsmen in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital.
Recall that the Nigerian content creator had announced plans to attempt a Guinness World Record (GWR) for the highest number of sexual partners in one day. In an Instagram post on Monday, she shared a flier bearing the GWR logo, revealing that the attempt is scheduled to begin on October 30.
The flier, which was shared with her nearly 400,000 Instagram followers stated a target of engaging with “100 men” within the 24-hour period.
The event is set to take place in the Ikorodu area of Lagos, though a specific venue was not disclosed
Oba Akinyemi noted that such conduct has now necessitated the need for the federal government to regulate the way our youths behave, especially on social media.
Story about a 4yr old girl who was sold for N3.7m:
He explained that the case of the missing girl, Jecinta, was by one Sunday Kingsley of Alagbaka Extension, Akure, that his four-year-old daughter went missing while in the care of her mother, Sunday Happiness.
Following investigations, the matter was first charged before the Family Magistrate Court, leading to the remand of some suspects before they were later granted bail.
He said a breakthrough came when Kingsley reported sighting the missing child in Asaba, Delta State, while detectives from the state swung into action.
He said acting swiftly, detectives from the Command’s Gender Desk Team recovered the child and reunited her safely with her family.
He disclosed that a 30-year-old Amaka Chukwuemeka was arrested and confessed to purchasing the child for the sum of ₦3.7 million.
Chukwuemeka reportedly linked the transaction to others within the syndicate, including individuals who allegedly provided forged adoption documents.
The PPRO said some other arrests were made, exposing what police described as a “well-organised trafficking network” spanning multiple states.
This story is a bit awkward to put it mildly. And what if he had delivered the jobs?
Justice F.E. Messiri of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Jabi, Abuja, has convicted and sentenced a former legislative aide and banker, Mr. Goni Yilkan, to eight years’ imprisonment for obtaining N120.5 million under false pretence.
Yilkan, a native of Nguru, Yobe State, was prosecuted by the Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a two-count charge of obtaining money by false pretence, contrary to Section 1(1)(a) and punishable under Section 1(3) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006.
He was arraigned alongside Mohammed Adamu in October 2023 following investigations into a petition by Mrs. Hindatu Bello, who alleged that Yilkan collected N120,580,550 from her under the guise of securing employment for over 60 job seekers in agencies such as the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
According to Bello, the jobs never materialised, prompting her petition to the EFCC.
During the trial, EFCC’s counsel, Cosmas Ugwu, presented six witnesses and documentary evidence, while the defence, led by J.A. Oguche, called two witnesses, including Yilkan.
In his judgment, Justice Messiri held that the EFCC proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, convicted Yilkan, and sentenced him to eight years in prison without an option of fine. His co-defendant, Adamu, was discharged and acquitted.
One of my absolute pet peeves about the Nigerian media is the habit of calling things “strange” when they can investigate a bit better and properly name the thing as closely as possible. Here we see an example where, even though the article includes the most likely disease - Buruli Ulcer - it still begins by calling to “strange”. It then has the nerve, later in the article, to warn about the need for public sensitisation so people don’t attribute it to witchcraft. You don’t say!
The federal government has begun laboratory investigations to determine the exact cause of a strange flesh-eating disease that has killed seven people in Malabu, Adamawa State.
Dr Adesigbin Olufemi, Acting National Coordinator of the National Tuberculosis, Buruli Ulcer and Leprosy Control Programme, disclosed this during an interview in Abuja.
Olufemi said that as of September 10, there were 67 confirmed cases, with eight patients undergoing surgical treatment at the Modibbo Adama University Teaching Hospital (MAUTH), Yola.
“These are undergoing surgical treatment with the support of the government,” he said, emphasising the coordinated efforts to manage the medical emergency in affected communities.
The disease often begins as a boil, later bursts, and then gradually eats away flesh, sometimes damaging the bones in the affected area.
Olufemi stated that although the exact cause remained unknown, Buruli Ulcer was suspected.
“This tropical disease is still under investigation for confirmation.”He explained that Buruli Ulcer is caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans, a bacterium commonly found in swampy environments and around stagnant riverine ecosystems.“Up till now, nobody is sure exactly how it is transmitted. Some theories suggest insects like water fleas or mosquitoes may inoculate individuals when they bite,” Olufemi added.
Well, well, well, what do we have here?
Operatives of the Intelligence Response Team of the Nigeria Police Force have rescued a 38-year-old Ivorian, Kacou Alleby, in Ogun State, after he was reported kidnapped, only to later discover that the incident was staged.
PUNCH Metro learnt from a statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, on Thursday that the operation followed a distress request received from the INTERPOL National Central Bureau in Abuja on behalf of authorities in Côte d’Ivoire.
Alleby was said to have been reported kidnapped on September 12, 2025, with his family contacted through torture videos and voice notes demanding a ransom.
Hundeyin added that the operatives later tracked the suspects to Matogun, Ogun State, where a 28-year-old female, also an Ivorian, identified as Angela Arisa, was arrested.
The statement read, “The Nigeria Police Force, through the Intelligence Response Team, has successfully rescued one Kacou Alleby, male, aged 38, an Ivorian national, following a distress request received from the INTERPOL National Central Bureau, Abuja, on behalf of authorities in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. The victim was reportedly kidnapped and held hostage on 12th September, 2025.
“The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, immediately issued directives to the IRT operatives, who then promptly launched a coordinated operation to rescue the foreign national. After intelligence gathering, the location of the suspects was found in the Matogun area of Ogun State. In the swift operation, one Angela Arisa, female, aged 28, also an Ivorian national, was arrested.”
[…]
According to the police image maker, investigations revealed that the victim and the female suspect had conspired to stage the kidnapping in order to extort money from his family in Abidjan.
He further disclosed that they jointly produced the fake torture videos to mount pressure on his relatives, adding that efforts were ongoing to track down other accomplices linked to the crime.
Non-Nigerian Media
A strange and terrible story from Ireland:
Members of the tight-knit community of a remote island in the west of Ireland where relatives of missing boy Daniel Aruebose reside have told of their sadness and shock over the case.
Last week skeletal remains were discovered by gardai following a search for Daniel’s body in Donabate in north county Dublin. The remains were exhumed and removed from the wasteland near the Gallery Apartments where he lived. A post-mortem examination is under way.
Daniel, born on December 12, 2017, is believed to have died in 2021. His parents have said that he died of natural causes.
The child’s father was born and raised in Inishmore, one of the Aran Islands off the coast of Galway, but now lives in Brazil. His mother, who is originally from Nigeria, lives in Dublin.
If you know where Olumide Adebiyi is, please contact this newsletter and we can split the $10,000 reward:
Olumide Adebiyi Adediran is wanted for Violation of Conditions of Release. In August of 2001, Adediran allegedly entered a bank in Champaign, Illinois, and attempted to retrieve funds from a deposited fraudulent check. He also allegedly used stolen information of United States citizens to open bank and charge accounts. Adediran fled the Central District of Illinois at the end of December 2001, shortly before his trial in the Central District of Illinois was set to begin on federal charges of Bank Fraud, Identification Document Fraud, and Credit Card Fraud. On January 2, 2002, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Adediran in the United States District Court, Central District of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, after he was charged with Violation of Conditions of Release.
The view from China on Nigerians buying solar panels from them:
Wealthy Nigerians are fueling a surge in Chinese solar panel imports, underscoring the country’s deep energy crisis, where more than one-third of the population continues to live without access to electricity.
While acknowledging the electricity access problem, Ebipere K. Clark, a consultant specializing in energy, infrastructure, finance, and climate action, notes, “…but this is not driving solar panel purchases. The more wealthy are buying panels for their rooftops. This is commercial and industrial as well as residential customers.”
He adds that the main reason Nigerians are turning to solar energy is for energy security and predictability, “against an epileptic grid.”
These frequent grid failures have made electricity supply unreliable, prompting the emergence of solar panels as more dependable alternatives. And now, some Nigerian and Chinese companies are working on establishing local solar panel manufacturing to expand energy access and create employment opportunities.
Meet Benson Jerry:
“The day I became a man was the day I lost my dad,” Benson Jerry says candidly of the moment he learned his father had passed away.
Speaking to Olympics.com, from an empty classroom on a rainy autumnal day at the NFL Academy in Loughborough College in the United Kingdom, the affable Nigerian barely skips a beat as he recounts the day his life changed forever.
[…]
Born and raised in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, Jerry describes the world outside his family home as ‘unruly and violent’, with regular fighting and even killings as a result of cultism.
“You have choices to make,” he muses. “It depends on what you want in life. That’s just the mindset. But my parents trained us well.”
The discipline and positive values instilled in him by his upbringing would prove profoundly consequential as Jerry adjusted to his new set of circumstances. Now living with his brother, he had to shoulder responsibilities well beyond his years.
“When I lost my dad, I needed to hustle for myself because if I didn’t do it, nobody would be able to feed me,” he says plainly. “[My brother] said, ‘You need to stand up and then do everything yourself because now that we’ve lost our dad, this is where the whole thing changes’.“
Things then did indeed change.
In 2019, a school coach reached out to Jerry via text, encouraging him to take part in American football trials run by a talent scouting friend from the United States.
Jerry didn’t hesitate. With no idea what the sport was, but desperate not to let the the opportunity go past, his bewilderment ballooned when he was handed a pair of cleats.
“Let me use the word ‘big shoe’,” he says, laughing, using his hands to scale out an enormous imaginary piece of footwear. “That’s how I saw it when I saw it for the first time.”
The trial ultimately didn’t lead to anything, but it did spark a curiosity in Jerry, who furiously turned to YouTube to begin studying more about this new sport
Nigerian premium leather is now finding uses at home:
Most Nigerian leather, often semi-finished, is exported to Europe and Asia and turned into luxury items bearing international brand labels, with zero trace of its origins.
But with her homegrown brand, Isi Omiyi creates high-end pieces to try to reclaim Nigeria’s leather identity.
In her apartment in the Lagos metropolis, she has created a boutique corner where bags, wallets and shoes are carefully displayed on shelves, some carrying price tags of up to $1,500.
“Leather is part of our heritage. I can’t just stand by and watch others receive all the credit for work that we started here,” the 56-year-old designer told AFP.
Her mission is to amplify “Made In Nigeria” craftsmanship.
She “would like these foreign brands to indicate on their products: ‘originally from Nigeria’ and ‘made in Italy’, ‘made in France,’ or elsewhere, because most of them don’t,” Omiyi said.
According to the country’s export promotion agency, Nigeria exports 90 percent of its leather, mainly to Italy and Spain, which make up around three-quarters of the total volume.
Leather exports generate about $600 million in annual revenue, said Oluwole Oyekunle, a researcher at the Nigerian Institute of Leather and Science Technology in Samaru in northern Kaduna state.
Female MMA fighter? Well I don’t watch MMA so I don’t know:
For years, African MMA fighters had little choice but to leave the continent to pursue professional success. Opportunities, infrastructure, and visibility were primarily found overseas, making the journey especially challenging for women. However, that is no longer the case. PFL Africa has arrived, providing a professional platform on home soil and is committed to giving both men and women the chance to thrive.
At the forefront of this change is Nigeria’s Juliet Ukah, the first female fighter signed by the organisation. Undefeated with a record of 7-0, Ukah stumbled into MMA almost by accident. After stepping in for another fighter with little knowledge of the sport, neither the rules nor the techniques nor the rhythm of a professional bout, she considered pulling out. “I wanted to pull out,” she told Forbes.com, just three months before the PFL Africa Championship in Benin. The risk seemed too great, but she stayed, won her first fight, and began a career that would defy expectations and break barriers for women in African combat sports.
That initial fight ignited a spark within her. Each subsequent match served as a lesson, and each victory affirmed her place in the cage. The woman who once doubted herself now stands as one of the faces of a global promotion. “At first, I didn’t really believe I could do this,” she reflects. “But with time, I realised: I can actually be the fighter I am today.”
Microsoft seized a lot of phishing websites:
Microsoft said on Tuesday that it seized 338 websites linked to a Nigerian-based service that allowed users to carry out phishing campaigns
The service, called “Raccoon0365,” allowed users to engage in phishing campaigns that involved thousands of emails at a time, according to Steven Masada, assistant general counsel for Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit.
The phishing operation ended up stealing at least 5,000 Microsoft user credentials.
Phishing is a cybercrime in which criminals impersonate trustworthy domains to deceive users into revealing sensitive information like passwords or banking details.
How did the phishing scheme work?
Raccoon0365 operates through a private Telegram channel with over 850 subscribers.
The service enables users to impersonate trusted brand names and get targets to enter Microsoft login details on fake Microsoft platforms. According to Micorsoft’s Masada, the service has generated at least $100,000 in cryptocurrency payments for its operators since launching in July 2024.
The French woman who lost 700k to a fake Brad Pitt scam has written a book about it:
Wealthy divorcee Anne Deneuchatel made headlines earlier this year after she revealed she was swindled out of more than £700,000 by scammers who used AI to pose as Brad Pitt.
The 53-year-old French woman said she was left penniless and suffering from severe depression after falling victim to the online love scam and became the target of online trolls.
After admitting herself to a psychiatric hospital this year, Ms Deneuchatel is back in the spotlight ahead of the release of her new book ‘Je ne serai plus une proie’ (I Will No Longer Be a Prey), in which she reveals intimate details about her online relationship.
The interior designer-turned author said she was lonely and in an unhappy marriage with a ‘selfish and manipulative millionaire businessman’ when she received a message from a stranger on Instagram, claiming to be Brad Pitt’s mother.
After she was introduced to the American actor and they began chatting on messaging channel Telegram, she said she became ‘addicted’ to talking to him and lived in ‘total fantasy’.
[…]
The people behind the con were identified as three men living in a villa in Nigeria.
A random story about the growth in North Korea’s exports caught my eye:
North Korea’s exports climbed to the highest amount in five years last year, data showed Monday.
North Korea exported a total of $360.4 million worth of goods in 2024, up 10.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA).
The figure marks the highest since 2019. North Korea’s exports have been steadily increasing over the past three years after posting a sharp decline in 2020 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Such an increase in exports was largely driven by a rise in shipments of wigs and faux lashes, as well as minerals, including tungsten, the agency said.
North Korea’s imports, on the other hand, fell 4.4 percent on-year to $2.3 billion. Accordingly, the reclusive country’s overall trade volume shrank 2.6 percent on-year to about $2.7 billion.
China continued to remain North Korea’s top trading partner, accounting for 98 percent of its entire trade. The regime’s trade deficit with China, however, shrank 8.4 percent from $2.1 billion in 2023 to $2 billion last year.
Along with China, Argentina, Vietnam, the Netherlands and Nigeria were among the top five trade partners of North Korea, the data showed.
Brad Pitt from Ikorodu!!!
loooooooooooooooool